List #95: Pop Culture Wish List, part 8

While we're in the zone of fulfilling my pop culture requests, I would like to put forward some additional items for consideration.

See Part 1 here.
See Part 2 here.
See Part 3 here.
See Part 4 here.
See Part 5 here.
See Part 6 here.
See Part 7 here.

Item 15: A Nish Kumar comedy tour that also incorporates his singing and guitar talents

Nish Kumar is very funny! He has an amazing bit about the drummer for Coldplay that I have tried to recreate, verbatim, for several of my friends.

One particular episode of Taskmaster revealed that he is also a talented musician! Do both! Both is good!

Item 16: Dan Levy as host of The Great Canadian Baking Show

Wait a minute ... this happened! I just really, really, really need those two seasons to be somewhere I can easily (and legally) access them. It seems like such a good fit for Dan Levy, whom I adore.


 

List #95: Pop Culture Wish List, part 7

While we're in the zone of fulfilling my pop culture requests, I would like to put forward some additional items for consideration.

See Part 1 here.
See Part 2 here.
See Part 3 here.
See Part 4 here.
See Part 5 here.

See Part 6 here.

Item 13: The Psmith stories transposed to contemporary NYC and starring Natasha Lyonne

P.G. Wodehouse's Jeeves stories are iconic and the recent series adaptation of the Blandings stories is quite good fun (Rec. #379, Rec. #431). The Psmith stories, however, are largely an untapped resource frankly crying out for a modern take. Example: Psmith, Journalist (Rec. #289).

And who better to be unruffled, game for anything, and quick with a sardonic takedown than Natasha Lyonne? Dooooo iiiiiiiit.

Item 14: A book from Kashana Cauley

Kashana Cauley has written so much, in so many places! (New York Times! Rolling Stone! The Believer! Slate!) The time has come for a book, please. A collection of essays? All the cool Twitter people are doing it!

And Cauley is indeed a cool Twitter person. See: List #66, Rec. #662.

Streaming Suggestion of the Week #35: Britain's Best Home Cook

Stream what: Britain's Best Home Cook is addictive comfort-viewing in the vein of The Great British Bake Off. It even has Mary Berry as a judge!

Some differences from GBBO: contestants cook and bake; they live together and there is footage of them playing board games; the host is Claudia Winkleman, who is possibly the most charming person in the world.

Stream why: I would argue that the current iteration of Britain's Best Home Cook (series 2) is better than the current iteration of GBBO. Controversial!

Stream where: Hulu

Connection to previous Wreckage: Since Rec. #802, the show has taken my advice and swapped out one of the not-Kyles.

List #95: Pop Culture Wish List, part 6

While we're in the zone of fulfilling my pop culture requests, I would like to put forward some additional items for consideration.

See Part 1 here.
See Part 2 here.
See Part 3 here.
See Part 4 here.

See Part 5 here.

Item 11: A surreal sketch show with Aparna Nancherla and Jo Firestone

Look. Both Aparna Nancherla and Jo Firestone are doing fine. They have successful comedy careers -- lots of gigs, Netflix stand-up specials, appearances on The Tonight Show, magazine profiles, a perpetually resurrected podcast ... the works.

But, still. They work so well together. I would like the two of them to write and host some kind of leaning-into-the-void absurdity. I'm thinking the fully committed surreality of Maria Bamford's Lady Dynamite. Hey! Have Maria Bamford as a recurring character!

Item 12: A miniseries adaptation of Widdershins

The webcomic Widdershins (Rec. #870) is funny and exciting and smart. It's structured around several small stories within one longer arc, which means it's perfectly set up to be a miniseries. Lots of memorable characters and big action sequences and sharp one-liners. Creator Kate Ashwin has even helpfully cast one of the leads --- Dev Patel as Sidney Malik.

List #95: Pop Culture Wish List, part 5

While we're in the zone of fulfilling my pop culture requests, I would like to put forward some additional items for consideration.

See Part 1 here.
See Part 2 here.
See Part 3 here.
See Part 4 here.

Item 9: A remake of You Can't Take It With You directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu

The film Birdman had its flaws (I would have appreciated a content warning about the attempted rape scene!), but one thing it did well was show that director Alejandro González Iñárritu would be able to direct farce. People in general aren't good at directing screwball anymore, so that was an exciting discovery!

You Can't Take It With You is just begging for a modern remake. I'm thinking along the lines of Awkwafina, Maria Bamford, Susan Blackwell, Ana de Armas, William Jackson Harper, Aasif Mandvi, Melissa McCarthy, Lee Pace, Maya Rudolph ...

Connections to previous Wreckage: I extolled the wonders of screwball comedy in a three part series.

Item 10: A new book from Kira Henehan

I loved Orion You Came and You Took All My Marbles (Rec. #195, QfFC #75). I would very much like another novel by Kira Henehan, please.

Streaming Suggestion of the Week #34: Three Identical Strangers

Stream what: Long-lost triplets find one another. Then the mystery begins.

Stream why: It's fascinating. 

Stream where: Hulu

Connections to previous Wreckage: See Rec. #829 and Rec. #864.

List #95: Pop Culture Wish List, part 4

While we're in the zone of fulfilling my pop culture requests, I would like to put forward some additional items for consideration.

See Part 1 here.

See Part 2 here.

See Part 3 here.

Item 7: A TV series from EGG Comedy

Comedy duo EGG (Anna Leong Brophy and Emily Lloyd-Saini) are extremely talented sketch writers and performers. (I saw them in Edinburgh in 2018! See Rec. #749.)

They've had scripts in development, and I'd love to see them and their work on my TV screen.

Item 8: A Katie Presley podcast

Writer Katie Presley is sometimes a panelist on NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour (see also List #92), and she has a lot of Very Good Opinions (see Rec. #673), and I would like her also to have her own podcast so I can hear her thoughts on more things.

That is all.

List #95: Pop Culture Wish List, part 3

While we're in the zone of fulfilling my pop culture requests, I would like to put forward some additional items for consideration.

See Part 1 here. See Part 2 here.

Item 5: A musical about the life of James Baldwin

In the life story of novelist-poet-playwright-essayist-activist James Baldwin, we've got a fraught upbringing and teenage ministry and life in Paris. We've got Richard Avedon, Sidney Poitier, and Marlon Brando. We have queer life and Black life and French life. We've got civil rights activism and even FBI surveillance.

We also have music. Jazz in France with Nina Simone, Miles Davis, Ray Charles, and Josephine Baker.

In 2016, Meshell Ndegeocello created a musical/theatrical tribute to Baldwin (Can I Get a Witness?), but I'm thinking something less ... churchy.

Connections to previous Wreckage: Rec. #23 and Quote for These Times #2

Item 6: Helen Zaltzman as host of The Great British Bake Off

With Sandi Toksvig departing as co-host of the current iteration of The Great British Bake Off, it's very fun to imagine new possibilities. Helen Zaltzman would be great! She is an adept podcast host (List #92 and Rec. #773) and could definitely transition to wacky banter with Noel Fielding.

Zaltzman herself is willing (see above)!

Streaming Suggestion of the Week #33: W1A

Stream what: The TV series W1A is a mock-documentary look at working life at the BBC. (It's British. Obvs.)

Stream why: It's got the satire and highly stylized language of Armando Iannuci's work (like Veep), but with room for some subtle earnestness. Plus, the cast! They've got David Tennant as the narrator, for goodness' sake. 

Stream where: The whole thing (it's only 14 episodes) is on Netflix.


Connections to previous Wreckage: W1A showed up as Rec. #601, Rec. #741, and QfFC #102.

List #95: Pop Culture Wish List, part 2

While we're in the zone of fulfilling my pop culture requests, I would like to put forward some additional items for consideration.

See Part 1 here.

Item 3: An adaptation of To Say Nothing of the Dog by Tarsem Singh

To Say Nothing of the Dog, by Connie Willis, is perhaps my favorite book of all time (Rec. #100). I have hand-picked Tarsem Singh for an adaptation based on his direction of the insanely beautiful and surreal The Fall (Rec. #49).

Someone else might try to make To Say of the Dog twee. It is not twee. It is epic and deserves to be treated as such.

Item 4: New original songs from Nellie McKay

I adore singer-songwriter/activist Nellie McKay (Rec. #608, Rec. #667, Rec. #695, Rec. #777), and I was lucky enough to see her perform last year.

For the past decade or so, she's mainly been doing collections of nostalgic covers, which are great! But I long for the creative highs of her early original albums, like Get Away from Me (Rec. #206), Pretty Little Head (Rec. #320), and Obligatory Villagers. More, please.

List #95: Pop Culture Wish List, part 1

The success of Knives Out means that Rian Johnson is going to make more Benoit Blanc content. This is good! I approve.

Several female writers whose work I follow closely have new books (see List #93). This is also excellent!

Parasite was the surprise winner of the Best Picture award at the Oscars last night. Good job, everyone!


While we're in the zone of fulfilling my pop culture requests, I would like to put forward some additional items for consideration.

This list will likely occupy us for a few weeks, at least.

Item 1: Richard Ayoade and Aisling Bea in a romantic comedy

Last year was a big one for Aisling Bea! She mainstreamed it alongside Paul Rudd in a Netflix series and, more delightfully, created and starred in her own brilliant show (Rec. #831). Richard Ayoade is a perennial favorite of mine (List #63).

They've demonstrated ample chemistry together in an episode of Ayoade's Travel Man series (Rec. #396). More of that, please!

Item 2: Sled Dog stories from Blair Braverman as a series of children's books

The content for this one pretty much already exists as Twitter threads. It just needs a publishing deal!

Dogsledder Blair Braverman is already a published author, and she puts her words to excellent use when sharing tales of puppies learning to run, field trips off the farm, and messages from the pack. See Rec. #609 for direct links to even more examples of Sled Dog Story Time, and get ready to Feel Things.

Streaming Suggestion of the Week #32: Some Kind of Wonderful

Stream what: As the movie poster promises, Some Kind of Wonderful is a John Hughes production (although he didn't direct it). It holds up noticeably better than several of the other Hughes movies from the '80s.

Stream why: This take on teen life is told explicitly through the lens of socioeconomic disparity. It also has excellent, excellent quotes (see previous Wreckage).

Stream where: Amazon Prime and Hulu

Connections to previous Wreckage: Some Kind of Wonderful was Rec. #101, and it also brought us Quote for These Times #15.