Wednesday 9 March 2011

Self-loathing, the Rory McGrath way

No, not hating Will Self, although plenty of people do.

Rory McGrath is some kind of comedian, though I've only ever seen snatches of him being witty and informed on panel shows. He's published a memoir which seems to revolve around his difficult separation from his childhood Catholicism and the rift this caused with his parents. As an ex-Catholic myself, I can understand: there's a tacit silence on the matter around my parents, though I used to really enjoy baiting them when younger ('Hey, did you know the cross is simply the latest manifestation of sun symbols?' 'Does the collection pay for the priest's legal fees?').

I probably won't buy McGrath's books because I'm not particularly interested in him, but this imaginary confession struck me as personally applicable:
In short, I'm a lazy, selfish, drunken, overweight waste of space, with a gaping emptiness in my soul that I try to fill with self-indulgence and cheap thrills.

Not a bad life. At least, I get by.

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