The Fry Chronicles: The Early Years of a Cultural Icon

Binge-watching British panel shows led me to binge-read autobiographies by my favorite British comedians. To kick things off, I read Stephen Fry's The Fry Chronicles, which mainly covers the seven-year period of his life from when he entered Cambridge to his thirtieth birthday. Stephen is a raconteur par excellence, which accounts for why one book would be insufficient to cover his entire life story. His troubled childhood was previously discussed in the enigmatically titled, Moab Is My Washpot, but The Fry Chronicles is mostly light and amusing, with only hints of the addictions and travails that would hit him in his thirties.

Beginning with Stephen's acceptance to Cambridge (a minor miracle given the fact that he seems to have spent his childhood getting kicked out of various boarding schools and spent time in jail for identity theft), the book paints a Wodehousian idyll of university life and the remarkable theater scene at Cambridge. If you're a comedian who went to Cambridge, most people immediately assume you were a member of the famed Footlights troupe, but surprisingly, Stephen fancied himself more of a dramatic actor. He appears to have been in every play produced on campus, and it was only during an occasional foray into an English seminar (studying seems to have been no one's priority at Cambridge) that he made friends with Emma Thompson. In his second year at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, he watched the Footlights show starring Emma and Hugh Laurie and they mumbled some greetings at each other. The next year, when Laurie was the Footlights President, he asked Stephen to help him write the Christmas pantomime. Just like that, the comedy duo of Fry & Laurie was born.

The book offers a dazzling look into Stephen's charmed life in comedy, packed with star-studded cameos from people like Tilda Swinton, Douglas Adams, Rowan Atkinson, and all the comedy greats of the period. Cambridge really is a who's who of famous people and Stephen appears to have met them all. This autobiography is packed with stories of hits and misses (usually more hits) including his re-write of the musical, Me and My Girl, which became a huge smash on the West End and Broadway. I always knew Stephen was a Renaissance man, but I didn't realize just how much he had accomplished beyond his well-established comedy career.

Of course, a charmed career is no consolation for a person struggling with undiagnosed bipolar disorder, and Stephen candidly discusses his constant sense of unworthiness despite all the fame and adulation. In true Brit fashion, he self-loathingly describes his self-loathing, telling the reader he knows how whiny and terrible it must sound. But it only endeared me further to this marvelous man and I shall eagerly await the next installment of his memoirs. If you love Stephen Fry or simply love the dizzying world of British comedy, I suggest you pick up a copy of The Fry Chronicles and start reading.