27. Helen Lederer

This week we’re travelling to leafy South London and visiting the glorious home of comedy legend Helen Lederer. Helen is probably best known as a trailblazing stand-up comedian and actress, appearing in such iconic shows as Absolutely Fabulous, Bottom, Girls on Top and Naked Video. But she is also a celebrated novelist and humour writer with her book Losing It nominated for the P. G. Wodehouse Comedy Literary prize. She also founded her own comedy prize CWIP - Comedy Women in Print. We talked to Helen about breasts in 1970s literature, the Four Marys, embarrassing teenage diaries and the power of funny women. BOOKS Daisy Buchanan - The Sisterhood Nina Stibbe - Reasons To Be Cheerful Nina Stibbe - Love Nina Helen Lederer - Losing It Muriel Spark - The Driver’s Seat Muriel Spark - The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie EM Delafield - Diary of a Provincial Lady Leslie Thomas - Tropic of Ruislip Helen Fielding - Bridget Jones’s Diary Susan Jeffers - Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway Charlotte Mendelson - When We Were Bad Melissa Broder - The Pisces Annabelle Gurwitch - I See You Made an Effort Noel Streatfeild - The Circus is Coming Arianna Huffington - Thrive Laurie Graham - Life According to Lubka Laurie Graham - Mr Starlight Laurie Graham - Gone With The Windsors Eckhart Tolle - The Power of Now Lydia Davis - Can’t and Won’t Helen Lederer - Coping Jane Asher - Easy Entertaining Enid Blyton - Malory Towers In the Fifth Laurence Olivier - Confessions of an Actor Helen Lederer - Single Minding DC Thomson - The Best of Jackie Sofie Hagan - Happy Fat Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.