Hugh Laurie: Wodehouse Saved my Life (1999)

http://www.pgwodehousebooks.com/lauriesaved.htm

by pclark • 13 years ago

124 56 13 years ago

pgwodehousebooks.com

hcarvalhoalves• 13 years ago

I'm trying to understand why this is on the front page, and what it means.

wpietri• 13 years ago

Hugh Laurie and P.G. Wodehouse are both nerd favorites. And it's a slow Saturday night.

pclark2• 13 years ago

I find literary discussion interesting, and I like to see articles like this occasionally appear on Hacker News. see: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4652309 & http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5049352

Also, reading Wodehouse will improve your life. Or make you smile. He's just so brilliant. I'll happily be flamed for submitting articles about such matters.

gnufied2• 13 years ago

It is odd you call it "literary". Throughout his life I think Wodehouse was acutely aware that - his work will not be nearly as respectable as say Dostoevsky. Having read almost everything Wodehouse ever wrote (and foreword, preface whatever) - My assumption is Wodehouse will be probably amused to be considered in same league as Dostoevsky or Jane Austin.

I find it sad that, comedy is not considered nearly as respectable. Jeeves would certainly do his typical cough - if an Author of comedy is considered for Nobel prize in literature.

gruseom5• 13 years ago

Hear, hear!

djt• 13 years ago

Your comment makes me feel old

Most older nerds grew up around comedy like monty python, stephen fry plus books, D&D, Warhammer etc etc. Even if you didn't watch much of them you at least knew of them and had heard the catch phrases etc.

We used BBS's for communicating but i was really expensive as it was a phone call, often interstate.

There was no such thing as reddit or the internet, the memes were catch phrases from these collective activities and back then it wasn't cool to be a nerd. No such thing as BroGrammers back then.

Hugh Laurie was a major influence for a older generation of nerds, which is why it is front page.

hnriot• 13 years ago

I'm from that generation. You forgot The Well, by the way. But Hugh Laurie wasn't an influence for me, not in the same way say, Douglas Adams was.

msh• 13 years ago

What are Stephen Fry plus books? (I know who stephen fry is, but what are plus books?)

primitur3• 13 years ago

Sir, is it not the case that such an establishment as ours, indeed, does provide an endless source of discourse with regards ones inspirations? Were it not for P.G. Wodehouse, what good would one such as Steve Jobs, or any other manner of autocrat, be?

As the case shall be discovered, much in our circle is derived from sources beyond our own immediate horizons. P.G. Wodehouse, though not new, nor hackerly, certainly demonstrates a prowess with language most indoubtedly motivated by an inner force, a muse as you wish, which allows its effect upon the minds of many.

In short, if one cannot see P.G. Wodehouse in hackerdom, then it may well be simply because one has not read a single of his words. I encourage such circumstances to be resolved, post-haste, lest ye miss the beat of certain drums whose temper has wrought much upon our field ..

biggfoot2• 13 years ago

... and there is certainly no shortage in the supply of autocrats, I mean what?

swalberg• 13 years ago

If you have not watched Laurie and Fry's TV Series "Jeeves and Wooster", make it a point to do so. It's really a funny, intelligent series. The use of language is clever and the two have their characters nailed down. My wife and I just finished going through it for the 3rd time.

Wooster is a rich nitwit, Jeeves is his valet. They get into impossible situations usually involving Wooster or one of his inept friends getting into trouble with the law or a woman and have to get bailed out in some equally impractical way.

vixen99• 13 years ago

Yes but then read the books. Wodehouse was a supreme prose writer. Carve up those words, as must happen in adaptations, and you lose an immense amount of the fun. Just try it if you don't believe me. Joy in the Morning is one of my favourites.

The amazing thing about Wodehouse is that his stories came almost entirely out of his head and secondhand sources. By no means did he lead the kind of life described in his peerless stories.

mavelikara• 13 years ago

Agree with everything above; Wodehouse's skillful use of words is most of the fun in Jeeves. A screen adaptation is bound to come out inferior.

aptwebapps• 13 years ago

But please don't read "Ring for Jeeves" as your first Wodehouse book. I don't know what happened to that one, but it's several notches below the rest, IMO.

justincormack• 13 years ago

I think the main thing about the current Blandings adaptation on UK tv is it might encourage more people to read the books...

kranner2• 13 years ago

The aversion to aunts may have been autobiographical.

Watabou• 13 years ago

Their sketch show "A Bit of Fry and Laurie" is also excellent. Anyone who liked Jeeves and Wooster has to try and watch this show too!

alan_cx2• 13 years ago

....if only to watch Fry regularly hitting Laurie. No, not acting, several times they cock it up and Fry actually hits him!!!!

vickytnz• 13 years ago

And if you must watch any season, watch Season 3 as it's them at their peak. (S2 is good, S1 fun but less clear voice as it uses a few Monty Python tricks, and S4 sadly their patchiest as they had guest stars forced on them.)

gokulk• 13 years ago

I have never watched any of the video series. The books are classics at comedy. I wish 'Pigs have wings' is available on iBooks. Stories involving Bertie Wooster, Jeeves, Hon. Threepod etc.. are hilarious and make up a good lazy Sunday afternoon.

rahoulb2• 13 years ago

I love the books but I have to say that Fry and Laurie's adaptation is a perfect retelling. They were born for those roles.

rahoulb2• 13 years ago

Interesting that you called it "Laurie and Fry's TV series". They will always be "Fry and Laurie" to me.

officemonkey• 13 years ago

Holy 1997, that's an ugly webpage.

chris_wot• 13 years ago

You know, Wodehouse would have put that much better.

ableal• 13 years ago

“She fitted into my biggest arm-chair as if it had been built round her by someone who knew they were wearing arm-chairs tight about the hips that season.”

There's also the litmus test of the Wodehouse phrase: "The unpleasant, acrid smell of burnt poetry."

Quotes filched, after a short search, from http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/7963.P_G_Wodehouse , which holds some pages of good ones. Unfortunately, a few are poorly sourced and look like cuckoo eggs to me.

aw3c2• 13 years ago

For me the HTML has loaded in 400ms, the three images after ~700ms. The text has nice contrast and a nice site. You could argue about the centering though. There are no distractions, you can read the text in calmness. I like that!

In comparison I opened a random nytimes article from its frontpage: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/27/us/politics/secret-donors-...

It took 4 seconds until the text was even shown and the site did not stop loading until 12s after I started. And now it seems to send a heartbeat every 60s to some tracker to tell it that I am still on the page.

miles• 13 years ago

Strange and wonderful to see this on the front page. If you haven't read Wodehouse, I'd highly recommend starting with "Leave it to Psmith": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leave_It_to_Psmith

Some of the earlier Psmith stories are in the public domain:

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/6753 http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2607 http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10586

dbaupp• 13 years ago

Just searching now, it seems there is actually a verylarge number of Wodehouse stories on PG: http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/authors/w#a783

danabramov• 13 years ago

I'm so used to reading PG as Paul Graham I forgot I actually read PG Wodehouse earlier.

Snoptic• 13 years ago

Posted by grellas (and ignored) 4 years agohttp://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=689223

biggfoot2• 13 years ago

I also recommend reading what Stephen Fry has to say: http://www.pgwodehousebooks.com/fry.htm

el_cuadrado• 13 years ago

align=center.

MY EYES, MY EYES!

oscar_wilde• 13 years ago

I love the Jeeves and Wooster books and TV series. My first Django project was: http://jeevesandwooster.eliseratcliffe.co.uk/. This is a website with information about the Jeeves and Wooster TV series. By the way, I'm very much a beginner programmer so would really appreciate any feedback on the site.

RaSoJo• 13 years ago

I just HAD to log in to upvote this. (Should the emphasis be on the "just" or on the "had"?)

erre• 13 years ago

On the had, the just shall me emphasised in Heaven!

alan_cx2• 13 years ago

I have to know: What do those Americans who only know him as House think when they see his earlier stuff? Is it a bit of a mind blow?

While people are recommending stuff, yes watch J & W, and Fry and Laurie's comedy shows, both are brilliant, but do not miss Blackadder. (Well, skip season 1 until and if you become a hard core fan as even us UK fans find that one a bit hard going.) Worth watching S2,3,4 as not only are these two in it, but you're going to see Rowan Atkinson (Mr Bean and Jonny English) at his arguably best, and many other brilliant UK comic actors. (Actually, IIRC, S3 and S4 are the ones that bring him to the fore. In fact Im not sure he was in S2 at all. Cant remember.... Im old!!!!) Blackadder S4 is truly an awesome comedy series. Its worth watching fully and properly just to see how they ended it. Do not skip the series for the ending, you will ruin its power. Let it build up, then tear you to pieces.

Personally speaking is cracked me up when House first started and the US treated him like a proper normal actor, while we in the UK knew his comic roles. But, brilliant for Hugh as he could almost start a new career as a serious proper actor with out the "baggage" of comedy. You guys, if you haven't already, now have the sheer delight of checking out his back catalogue.

I was going to add some YouTube links, but as I was going through the site looking for some gems, I realised I would end up adding so many links I would look like an automated spammer. So, you know, hit YouTube, search, and loss a few (un)productive hours laughing :)

Oh and thank you America for giving him a chance to be a proper actor. I don't think it would have happened in the UK. Type-casting and all that.

vidarh• 13 years ago

> (Actually, IIRC, S3 and S4 are the ones that bring him to the fore. In fact Im not sure he was in S2 at all. Cant remember.... Im old!!!!)

Hugh Laurie was introduced in season 3. The role he played was played by Tim McInnerny in season 1 and 2.

ward• 13 years ago

He had a minor role (one of the drinkers) in the 5th episode of season 2 and was the villain (German prince) in the 6th episode of season 2.

jmj42• 13 years ago

Interestingly, I was introduced to Hugh Laurie by way of Blackadder.

When I wan in high school our local public television satiation (WILL) would run episodes of several 1970s and 80s british sitcoms. Among them were Blackadder, Are you being Served? and Fawlty Towers.

JadeNB• 13 years ago

> our local public television satiation

That is a beautiful typo.

dhimes• 13 years ago

US viewer here. I have no idea whom Hugh Laurie is, but Blackadder is absolutely brilliant.

Avshalom• 13 years ago

He was the prince of wales

norswap• 13 years ago

Your comment is typical, but I actually love S1 :)

woodchuck64• 13 years ago

Lots free on kindle on amazon: http://www.amazon.com/P.-G.-Wodehouse/e/B000AQ2CYQ

Hugh Laurie: Wodehouse Saved my Life (1999)

Related Stories