Helen Lederer - in conversation with Robin Ince

Date	Wednesday 3rd July 2024
Time	7:30 PM
Doors Open	6:45 PM
Venue	The Dembe Theatre

In a change from the comedy norm, for one night only, we welcome writer, actress and comedian Helen Lederer for an in-conversation event to discuss her memoir.
She is known to many as Catriona, the dippy journalist in the TV series Absolutely Fabulous. Her previous novel, Losing It, was nominated for the PG Wodehouse comedy literary prize.

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Not That I’m Bitter is a powerful, frank, moving and characteristically funny memoir, revealing exactly how choppy the waters could be. Even in those ground-breaking, anti-Thatcher days, there was only room at top for so many women. For the rest, it was as much a struggle to be seen and heard in the world of comedy as in any boardroom or workplace – and just as difficult to avoid the predators.

Helen Lederer was a regular on the stand-up circuit and new-wave sketch shows in the decade that launched the careers of today’s comedy household names and national treasures. She shared stages with comedy pioneers like Ben Elton and Rik Mayall, and TV screens with Dawn French, Jennifer Saunders, Harry Enfield, and many others. From the iconic Absolutely Fabulous, to Bottom, Happy Families, Naked Video, French and Saunders, and Girls on Top; it is difficult to think of a comedy show that Helen wasn’t a part of. So, plain sailing then? Well, not really.

Her novel, Losing It, was nominated for the PG Wodehouse comedy literary prize. In 2019, Helen set up the Comedy Women in Print Prize (CWIP), to celebrate witty women writers.

"Dizzy, dippy and divinely funny, Helen Lederer takes you on an insanely readable tour through her chaotically wonderful life. Under her costume of the madcap and the daft, there ticks a very, very smart brain and there beats a most warm and kindly heart. It’s a wonderful read."
- Stephen Fry