Gary
After his first volume of autobiography detailed Alexei's eccentric upbringing and first forays into comedy, his second is a more conventional tale of showbiz ups and downs (but mainly ups).
The older Sayle keeps a lot tantalisingly out of reach - he thinks much about the technique of comedy, but rarely analyses his own magic nor that of others. Big breaks come along - MCing at the Comic Strip, a part in a big budget Hollywood movie, a solo tour - but they just seem to happen, as if to another person altogether. For such an aggressive presence in culture and avowardly uninterested in being liked, he seems reluctant to dish the dirt on his friends and collaborators, perhaps only Rik Mayall attracting the mildest of rebukes.
For all that unexpected vanilla flavouring, he is still a compelling companion, a sharp observer of a changing culture and a man always aware that every sucess came at a price. Maybe the most revealing story in the volume concerns his willingness to stay in touch with his contemporaries from his teenage aand early twenties years, now embittered men expecting the big shot to buy the drinks (which he does). It's a kind of performative "staying in touch with my roots" but you get the feeling that he knows that it's a charade. That he didn't feel the need to go any further into those contradictions is a little frustrating.
But if loyalty (and he is clearly loyal to those to whom he owes a debt for the support they gave him when he needed it most) is a personality flaw, then it just might be that Sayle is just a nice guy despite all that stagey shouting. Or maybe that's why a biography will be more interesting than an autobiography.
After his first volume of autobiography detailed Alexei's eccentric upbringing and first forays into comedy, his second is a more conventional tale of showbiz ups and downs (but mainly ups).
The older Sayle keeps a lot tantalisingly out of reach - he thinks much about the technique of comedy, but rarely analyses his own magic nor that of others. Big breaks come along - MCing at the Comic Strip, a part in a big budget Hollywood movie, a solo tour - but they just seem to happen, as if to another person altogether. For such an aggressive presence in culture and avowardly uninterested in being liked, he seems reluctant to dish the dirt on his friends and collaborators, perhaps only Rik Mayall attracting the mildest of rebukes.
For all that unexpected vanilla flavouring, he is still a compelling companion, a sharp observer of a changing culture and a man always aware that every sucess came at a price. Maybe the most revealing story in the volume concerns his willingness to stay in touch with his contemporaries from his teenage aand early twenties years, now embittered men expecting the big shot to buy the drinks (which he does). It's a kind of performative "staying in touch with my roots" but you get the feeling that he knows that it's a charade. That he didn't feel the need to go any further into those contradictions is a little frustrating.
But if loyalty (and he is clearly loyal to those to whom he owes a debt for the support they gave him when he needed it most) is a personality flaw, then it just might be that Sayle is just a nice guy despite all that stagey shouting. Or maybe that's why a biography will be more interesting than an autobiography.