Fully
Booked:
Comedians Taking Humour From Stage to Page
Walk into the biography section of your
local bookstore and you will find the life
stories of a number of famously funny
people.
There’s Tina Fey on the left and David
Sedaris on the right. And if you’re lucky,
you might be able to find a copy of Mindy
Kaling’s new book, Why Not Me?
But the real question remains: are comedians good at writing books or do their
lives just make for good writing?
For comedian, author and radio presenter Meshel Laurie, story writing and stand
up are inherently linked.
“I write everything to be said aloud. I’m
chasing a rhythm and chasing words
that sound good together – flamboyant,
beautiful, interesting,” Laurie said.
It’s the same passion for prose that entices comedian Greg Fleet into pursuing
writing full time. The actor and director
said he would prefer to do new stand
up only once or twice a year, which may
disappoint die-hard Fleety fans.
“Ideally, I want to make a living writing
books [and] plays and getting them put
on,” Fleet said.
He recently ventured into publishing
this year, with his highly anticipated
memoir, These Things Happen. Fleet’s
story involving his addiction to ice, and
many other things, proved to be a hit
(no pun intended). The Sydney Morning Herald nominated it for book of the
week.
Fleet said his writing is influenced by
his love of watching or experiencing
things that are both “deeply funny and
deeply tragic”.
Although he doesn’t consider himself
a comedian, writer Benjamin Law conveys much of the same tone in his own
memoir, The Family Law.
Law’s book about growing up with his
Chinese family in Queensland has already been picked up for an SBS television series, airing in January 2016.