Born in London in 1968, Georgia Pritchett is a TV writer and producer. Her credits include Succession, Veep, Smack the Pony, Miranda and The Thick of It, and she has won five Emmys, five Writers’ Guild awards, a Golden Globe and a Bafta. She is showrunner, executive producer and writer of new Apple TV drama The Shrink Next Door, starring Will Ferrell and Paul Rudd. Since 2015 she has been writing children’s books about Wilf the Mighty Worrier, and earlier this year published her memoir, My Mess is a Bit of a Life (Faber).
1. Music
My midlife crisis manifested in a sudden passion for rap music. I think the anger expressed by many rap artists really resonates with the inner rage of a menopausal woman. There’s a gap in the market here. There should be rap written specifically for and by menopausal women. It would be pretty powerful. My newfound obsession started with me driving round in my Nissan Leaf, with Eminem blaring out of the windows. Now I am into the Nigerian rapper Burna Boy. He writes such great lyrics.
2. Film
Shin Godzilla (dir: Hideaki Anno and Shinji Higuchi)
My younger son loves Godzilla and we have watched all the films. The Japanese ones from the 50s and 60s are extraordinary. Even though Godzilla is terrifying and destructive, you can’t help rooting for him. A bit like Logan in Succession. We just watched a more recent Japanese film, Shin Godzilla, which was a brilliant depiction of politicians trying and failing to deal with the appearance of Godzilla by playing down the threat. They consistently mishandle the crisis and their bungled attempts to stop the monster cause it to evolve and become more deadly. Boris should watch.
3. Book
Let’s Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson
If you like bad taxidermy (and who doesn’t?) you will love this. Jenny Lawson writes about her hilariously eccentric upbringing in a violently rural area of Texas. Her father was a hunter who wore deer’s urine like Old Spice (to disguise his scent) and often couldn’t drive her to school because “there was too much blood in the car”. She shared her house with dozens of animals – raccoons, armadillos, turkeys and also Stanley the magical squirrel, who could do maths (waving his paw to indicate the answer). It turned out Stanley wasn’t magical, it was just her dad sticking his hand up a dead squirrel and using it like a glove puppet.
4. TV
This Way Up (Channel 4)
Written by Aisling Bea and starring Aisling and Sharon Horgan, this is a brilliant, funny, humane and poignant show. Aisling and Sharon are utterly convincing as sisters and I could watch them bicker, tease and confide in each other for ever. Episode one starts with Aine coming out of a rehab facility after a “teeny little nervous breakdown” and the series follows her as she re-enters the world with the help of her sister. The writing is fantastic, the acting is sublime and the subject matter is important. I love it.
5. Comedy
Maria Bamford is an utterly fabulous comedian who writes really intelligent and interesting standup. Plus she does silly voices. Her standup special Ask Me About My New God is my favourite but they are all excellent. I have downloaded them all and I just play them on repeat. She has written so many brilliant lines. I would like to have them printed on pictures of crashing waves or beautiful sunsets. Lines like: “If you stay alive for no other reason, do it for spite.”
6. Food
Sushi Park, West Hollywood
There’s a very unprepossessing looking sushi restaurant in a strip mall in West Hollywood called Sushi Park. It is my very favourite restaurant in the whole world. It is tiny and shabby but it is a portal to paradise. If you’ve never had sea bass that tastes like waving your loved ones goodbye, or tuna that tastes like a small child running unsteadily towards you, or uni that tastes like the happy tears of a proud parent watching a school recital – you need to go here.