It is only through the wonders of the internet that I have been blessed enough to come to know the bountiful charm, blinding brilliance, razor wit, sparkling talent and genuine warmth of the national treasure known simply as Stephen Fry.
This man is possessed of attributes so delightful, enriching, uplifting and wondrous that it seems more than a little selfish of you to keep him mostly to yourselves. He is more than a national treasure, he is a treasure of the human species.
I therefore call upon you to release, provide and promote his works, in toto, via legal and easily accessed channels, to the planet entire, immediately.
Or, at the very least, to all English-speaking nations.
Please?
It would be easy: just create the Stephen Fry channel.
It’s not exactly difficult to find Fry-related material. The man is bleedin’ ubiquitous on the Web, in video, radio, podcast, blog and Twitter format.
In fact many UK folks are sick to death of him, considering he’s been hailed as a “national treasure” and naturally this tends to lead to a backlash. (Especially in Great Britain. There’s nothing they hate more than success! We’re sort of the opposite here. Our media put our stars on pedestals; theirs knocks 'em down.)
Mind you, I’ve loved him since I first saw “A Bit of Fry and Laurie” on Bravo back in the very early '90s, so I don’t mind his ubiquity. Do a search for Fry on YouTube and you’ll get all the Fry you could want – even some of his early radio shows (“Saturday Night Fry”) are on there.
I first remember noticing him for his performance in Wilde which I loved. But that was simply admiring his acting, I didn’t But I didn’t really notice anything else particularly until I ran across his speech against the Catholic church, which impressed me enormously, both in the quality of his thinking and the beauty of his language.
Then, through the magic of the internet, I discovered his documentaries, starting with one about the white rhino and most recently Fry in America and his new series on language.
After watching an hour long “happy 50th Birthday” bio-documentary about him, I was completely and truly seduced. He’s a marvel.
And I feel for him deeply that in spite of his incredible array of accomplishments and the way he is loved and appreciated for his kindness and generosity of spirit he is still evidently something of a tortured soul who constantly questions his worth and battles bi-polar disorder to boot.
The Brits don’t have him at the moment. He’s here in Australia doing live QI shows. We have two Royal visitors at the moment, the Queen and Stephen Fry. In fact Fry quipped on Twitter, “Perth hosting #CHOGM this w/end so I won’t be the only queen in Western Australia it seems.” (CHOGM is the Commonwealth Heads Of Government Meeting.)
I think just about every episode of QI is available on YouTube, along with any number of other Fry recordings.
I know some Brits are sick of him, but I still can’t get enough.
He’ll also be appearing this winter in the Downey Jr. *Sherlock Holmes *sequel as Mycroft Holmes, possibly the most brilliant piece of casting since the dawn of time.
My opinion of him has varied over time. I still think he’s better than anyone we have over here, but I’ve seen enough flubs to realize he’s not quite as smart as everyone thinks. I think the best things he’s done have been the ones he cares the most deeply about. I found his documentaries on HIV and manic depression very moving, even though those aren’t issues I have any reason to care about personally.
No, I understand what the OP is getting at. To give just one example, his new autobiographical book The Fry Chronicles is currently one of the most popular titles on the UK Audible site, but it is totally unavailable on the US Audible.com (as are several of Fry’s other works). Amazon.com (the US site) lists the print version but says it’s “temporarily out of stock.”
They’re not just being stingy to americans - I’m on the UK audible site, and the Stephen Fry biographies are “unavailable to my location”. They just want to keep all the Fry for themselves.
‘A stupid person’s idea of what a smart person looks like’ - a mean, but neat, summing up of Stephen Fry that’s done the rounds over here (talking of backlash). I like him myself, mind - he’s an engaging figure. If he could take a pickaxe to Alan Davies’ head on QI I’d elevate him to hero-worship.
He’s a bit too nice to be a UK national treasure - although he’s shown flashes of truculence that are endearing. He recently dismissed the MP’s expenses scandal as petit-bourgeouise hand-wringing which was close to the mark (IMHO) but massively out of line with public opinion. That said, it would be so easy for such an articulate guy who’s always getting asked for an opinion to turn into a bit of a rent-a-quote gobshite. It’s to his credit that he manages to steer a course away from this.
You can buy the audio CD from Amazon UK. (My regular Amazon login/password works fine over there.) Or you can grab the enhanced ebook from iTunes, if you want the video extras.
If there’s one thing of which I’m sure, it’s that Fry is never far from reach!
One of his *Fry in America *shows is sort of famous round’bout’chere. He was in Alabama and broadcast from the Iron Bowl- the U. of Alabama v. Auburn U. football game- and he was awestruck by the fact “this is a local derby!” Here it is.
It was a funny sort of wake-up call to some of us (and majorly pissed off a few) because the Auburn-Bama game is THE game of the year and always has been in this state. Since I couldn’t care less about football I actually do Christmas shopping on the day of the Iron Bowl because it comes after Thanksgiving yet the stores are- while not abandoned- a fraction of their usual Christmas season crowds. Other states have similar games, but it’s funny to see the southeast college football culture through foreign eyes and remember “other places see this as really weird, not just the norm”.
Of course many Brits would probably be surprised that few people in Alabama (probably few in the U.S.) could tell you anything about Manchester United other than “isn’t it a soccer team in England?”, and I’m certainly one of them.
