“We really wanted to make sure it
wasn’t a big old ethnic comedy with
gongs… and chopsticks,” Law said.
The writer says the series is actually “very Australian” and the comedy
comes from “things like divorce, being a
gay kid and not really being aware of it,
and wanting to be an actor”.
Law jokingly warns others against attempting to write a memoir in your
twenties.
“It’s really stupid,” he laughs. “It’s really hard. We’re too young. I was too
young.”
Meshel Laurie also struggled with her
first book, The Fence Painting Fortnight
of Destiny, saying she was most concerned about the word count.
Laurie once read about Ernest Hem
mingway’s rule of writing a thousand
words a day.
She has since tried to adopt the method,
even if it happens to be “a thousand shit
words”.
It sounds quite philosophical coming
from the Buddhist, who is gearing up for
the release of her second book. Buddhism for Breakups is based on her
separation from her husband.
Although it would be a painful topic for
many, Laurie does not shy away from
such themes because she believes in
the power of comedy, which makes people comfortable enough to explore heavy
issues.
“Because it’s funny, it’s safe,” Laurie
said.
This could be the winning formula that
sees more and more comedic memoirs
topping the literary charts year after year.
Rather than fighting for a spot on a lineup, perhaps future comedians will simply
be fighting for some room on the shelf.