Nine Ways To Banish Misery
- Published
Put gloom on the back burner and lighten up with one of these amusing activities
Don Jon
Nationwide 15 November
This year’s Crazy, Stupid, Love follows a man dissatisfied with his sex life due to his love of porn, who learns the lessons of life while dating two women. Directed by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, it stars Scarlett Johansson and Julianne Moore.
Greenwich Comedy Festival
London 2-3 November greenwichcomedyfestival.co.uk
There’s nothing like a bit of live comedy to lift your mood. This year’s line up includes Sara Pascoe, and Josie Long showcases two new short films.
Once a Catholic
Tricycle Theatre, London 21 November-18 January 2014 tricycle.co.uk
Everyone’s favourite actress, comedian, playwright and author Kathy Burke directs in this must-see riotous comedy play, set in a convent school in London on the eve of the Swinging Sixties. While the nuns are preaching chastity and diligence ahead of exam time, the pupils in class 5A at Our Lady of Fatima are choosing a less holy route to see out their last year in uniform with only bad habits and boys on their minds.
Man Repeller
Seeking Love. Finding Overalls By Leandra Medine (£16.99, Grand Central Publishing) out 31 October
This US fashion blog-turned-book promises to be laugh out loud funny – so apologies in advance to anyone sat near us on the commute for any unsettling outbursts of laughter. From turbans to jumpsuits; the items women love but men can’t stand are the focus of Medine’s musings. Named last year as one of Time Magazine’s best blogs, with 1.5million hits a month, more of 24-year-old Medine’s high fashion and blunt honesty are expected.
Funny Women Comedy Workshop
The Lowry, Salford 24 October, 6.30pm; £5; funnywomen.com
Try your hand at comedy writing and performing with this confidence boosting taster event – part of Manchester’s month-long Women in Comedy Festival.
Bridget Christie Minds The Gap
BBC Radio 4 Wednesdays 6.30pm; until 30 October
Hear this year’s Edinburgh Comedy Award winner in her four-part stand-up series on feminism. Christie asks why misogyny, “like shiny leggings, has made an unexpected comeback.”
Raised By Wolves
4Funnies Channel 4; autumn
Not content with being a bestselling author, Caitlin Moran has written a sitcom pilot with her sister Caroline. A re-imagining of their home-schooled, upbringing on a Wolverhampton council estate; it’s set to be a wittier Shameless.
Powder Room
Nationwide 29 November
Sheridan Smith and Jaime Winstone head up this fly-on-the-wall-style British comedy, which delves into the lives of several women during one turbulent night out. Based on Rachel Hirons’ hit play When Women Wee, it is set in the toilets of a nightclub.
Celebrate Nora’s Work
The Most of Nora Ephron By Nora Ephron (£21.99, Knopf) out 29 October
One for fans of the late, great, hilarious American writer; this book brings together Ephron’s screenplay for When Harry Met Sally, essays on journalism, politics, food and being a woman including I Feel Bad About My Neck, bestselling novel Heartburn and play Lucky Guy.