Sara & Cariad's Weirdos Book Club - Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding with Amy Gledhill & Harriet Kemsley

Episode Date: January 9, 2025

This week's book guest is Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding.Sara and Cariad are aptly joined by 30 somethings 'Single Ladies In Your Area' and award winning comedians Amy Gledhill and Harriet Kemsley.In this episode they discuss dating, ADHD, Harriet's foot in a bowl, red flags, Hugh Grant, Pride and Prejudice and Off Menu.Thank you for reading with us. We like reading with you!Trigger warning: In this episode we discuss disordered eating.Listen to Harriet and Amy's podcast Single Ladies In Your Area wherever you get your podcasts and find them on Instagram @singleladiespod Get tickets to Amy's Edinburgh Comedy Award Winning show Make Me Look Fit On The Poster at Soho Theatre from 27 Jan - 8 Feb 2025Tickets for Sara's tour show I Am A Strange Gloop are available to buy from sarapascoe.co.ukFollow Sara & Cariad’s Weirdos Book Club on Instagram @saraandcariadsweirdosbookclub and Twitter @weirdosbookclub Recorded and edited by Naomi Parnell for Plosive.Artwork by Welcome Studio.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I'm Sarah Pasco. Hello, I'm Carriad Lloyd. And we're weird about books. We love to read. We read too much. We talk too much. About the too much that we've read. Which is why we've created the Weirdo's Book Club.

Join us. A space for the lonely outsider to feel accepted and appreciated. A place for the person who'd love to be in a real book club, but it doesn't like wine or nibbles. Or being around other people. Is that you? Join us. Check out our Instagram at Sarah and Carriads Weirdos Book Club for the upcoming books we're going to be discussing. You can read along and share your opinions.

Or just skulk around in your raincoat like the weirdo you are. Thank you for reading with us. We like reading with you. This week's book guest is Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding. What's it about? It's a single lady about town drinking wine and writing down her calories. What qualifies it for the weirdos book club? Well, it's weird to measure your life in calories.

In this episode we discuss dating. ADHD. Harriet's foot in a bowl. Red flags. Hugh Grant. Pride and prejudice. And off menu. And joining us this week is Harriet Kemsley and Amy Glutthill.

They're both incredible comedians. You'll know Harriet from Live at the Apollo, 8 out of 10 Cat Stars Countdown, Hypothetical, and so many other brilliant things. And Amy is the winner of this year's Edinburgh Comedy Award. She's incredible, she's so funny. And her show at the Soho Theatre is from the end of January, so make sure you see it there. They also have a brilliant new podcast called Single Ladies in Your Area,

all about how to navigate the world of dating in your 30s. It's so, so funny. Trigger warning, in this episode, we discuss Disordered Eating. Harriet and Amy, thank you for coming on our podcast. Thank you so much. Thanks for having us, Sarah and Carriette. We were excited because you started your podcast about dating, being single women. Single ladies in your area.

So it made us think, oh, we should get them off to the podcast. And then the book that seemed obvious because I guess she represents single. The patron saint. Patron saint of singleness, Bridget Jones. But we haven't read it for a very long time. Very long time. And now we've reread it. Had either of you read it originally?

Yeah, I read it originally, like, years ago when I was a teenager. Yeah, I was going to say, like, how old are you? It was written in 1996. Is it really? That's when it was published, yeah. So I must, yeah, I read it, I think when I was like early teens, so I must have read it a few years after it had come out. Yeah. Yeah.

And it was kind of, it was weird, it was kind of weirdly, like, aspirational, I guess. She was like, it seemed fun. She was like, sex in the city vibes, isn't it? Yeah, exactly. This is our gal. Yeah. This is our Carrie Batchel. She's miserable the whole.

the whole way through. She's so unhappy. She has some nice nights out, I think. Yeah. Yeah. She has a social life. Yeah. She's got some good friends.

Yeah. Her friends are good. Are they good? They care about her. Yes. Do they? Tom does. Tom does.

Jude does. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. She gets given a handbag. Yeah. I think her boss looks out for her. Perpetua.

Perpetua. Amy, had you read it first time. No. But I had watched the film. Yeah. Of course. So I kind of read it. Yeah, yeah.

The film was so huge, it's difficult to go back to the book and not think, well, when's that bit from the film going to happen? I had Reni Zermer in my head the entire time. But also I didn't realize that she talks about Hugh Grant in the book. Like the character Bridget Jones has a moment where she's talking about, like, fancying Hugh Grant. I think they made a point about that, because I think it's one of those things that are. And she also talks about Pride and Pancidivin Colling First. Yes.

That's why he's passed. That's why he did you see Richard Herrin's name checked? Yes. He's not in the film? He should have been in the film. The moment she goes to Edinburgh and they list all the comedians. Horrible about Jenny Claire. Horrible about Jenny and I know.

I just listened to her audiobook as well. It's supposed to be amazing. Yeah, it's really good. Does she mention you in her audio book? No. Jenny and Claire mentions lots of female comedians in her. There's a list where they go to Edinburgh, which obviously was triggering for all of us. But she doesn't want to go.

She obviously hates it. Well, she doesn't see any shows and she gets pissed. Well, in terms of all of the things that this book satirises, The Edinburgh Festival is one of them. I thought she got Edinburgh quite well. Oh, here we go. There's like a rant from Perpetra. Spends the entire train journey with a portable phone

pressed her ear, bellowing at the rest of us. Arthur Smith's Hamlet's completely booked up, so we could go to the Coen Brothers and set at 5, but that means we'd be too late for Richard Herring. So shall we not go to Jenny and Claire? Char, I frankly don't know why she still bothers. And do Lanark, and then try to get into Harry Hill or bondages and Judy and Clary.

Hang on, I'll try the Gilder Balloon. No, Harry Hill's booked up. Let's skip to the Coen Brothers. And then she says, I'll meet them by the Pleasant. Pleasants. That's the old spelling of it. I thought it was. Oh, yay.

I thought the word sign still is pleasant. Spelt like that. Anyway, she ends up watching casualty and having Jack a Potato. This book is a satire, which I definitely wouldn't have picked up on when I read it originally in my teens, or early 20s. I don't think anyone did. They acted like it was not a satire. One of the things that she satirizing is feminism. Yeah.

Because Bridget is horrible to other women. But Perpetua, that comment about Jenny Eclare is an example of these women who think they're being. great to other women, but they're being very, very harsh, but also to themselves. I mean, I think we need to talk about, like, how dated it is, don't we? Like, that's the, that's the thing. Did you guys think it was dated? It's all news to me. I was like, this is it, we're counting calories.

Wow. I'm fucking on the calorie counting. I can't, there's so much to talk about. She is nine stone. Yeah. Yeah. Aspirational. What the fuck?

That is tiny. Yeah. And she's trying to get to eight and a half stone and obsessing. To the point where she even says she loses like three pounds in her sleep and she doesn't know why. And yet the next day she carries on with like, I found the weight stuff just like, relentless. But that's what it was at the time. Yes. That's the thing.

And that's how relentless it was. And if that is in your head, that is what it's like. I mean, I think there's two things. One of them that feels like, oh God, what do you do? How negative is it to represent women like this? But at the same time it is a mirror held up to the women who Helen Field and didn't invent it. No, I know. but it's so like...

That was the headspace. Also, what about the bit where she's bulimic for a day? Did you see that? Calorie zero, I threw them all up. Oh, yeah. It's just thrown in there. I was like... But isn't that a hangover?

Yeah, I thought it was hangover. No, it happens once and there's another one where she says, oh, calorie zero VG, very good. And she's like, oh, but I did throw them all up. And there's a weird, it's not a hangover point. There's a weird, like, I chose to throw them up. Yeah. There's definitely a weird, like, uh, what's happening? Measuring her thighs and, like, the constant... But the 90s was toxic.

Yeah. Because I also thought that Helen Fielding is very careful to make the point. Number one, when she does lose half a stone, she looks terrible. She's told she was going to. Everyone has to go at her. Everyone's worried about her. It isn't like, oh, she feels fantastic. She says, what is the point of all this?

If she does it again. But that's not the overriding thing of the books. Like that message is completely lost. Unless you're now 43 reading back going, I think the author is so intelligent. She knows what she's doing. But actually, all of the top levels are so. jumbled and fun and funny that it's not really clear that she's saying. And also with the weight

going up and down, so she's showing you it's irrational to weigh yourself. It's completely irrational. It's so mad, isn't it? And scales can't be relied upon and there's no sense of it. So I actually concentrating so much on what she was eating and the weight going up and down, Helen Fielding is saying to you, don't weigh yourself. I know. I know. But then there is also a character doing it every day. There's a normalising of it. Like even though I know what you're saying. And it was like that. I think that's what I found horrible. It's like being sucked back to 1996 where it was completely normal for women to be like, well, that's 200 calories. I'm not eating it. Tom asks how many calories are in something and she knows. She knows up the top of the head. Yeah, it is. So every time

she eats something, she knows exactly what's going in. And it's like oiled eggs and an olive. Banana. Large or small. Yeah. And it is a friend trying to care about someone because, you know, you see it sort of going on in your peripheral vision and they're an adult and you don't want to be involved. And obviously, she just, drinks a lot of calories. She's not going to starve to death. No, yeah. Fash God for all the wine. That's so small.

I think that's the point Helen Fielding is trying to show. With dating, with this crush that she has at the beginning on her boss, Daniel. Daniel Cleaver. Oh my God, the sexual harassment that happens with her boss. Do you think that Helen Fielding sort of draws him as a not attractive man or as an attractive man? He's the attractive man that shouldn't be attractive. I think it's like you can't, you know that you shouldn't, but it's that thing you can't escape.

That magnetism, that horrible confidence, that horrible. Annoyingly can be attractive. Even though it's just a red flag, he's just a red flag. The bit I reread was the bit where she discovers that he's cheated. I reread that a few times because I found it fascinating. There's a bit where she describes when she's talking to him on the intercom. And obviously she can't see him. She says you can, I can't remember how she phrases it.

You can tell. But you can feel the atmosphere. And just having this woman's intuition of going, oh, she knew something was up. And I kind of loved that because we see Bridgett sort of like bumbling around and messing things up. And then you're like, oh, she's still got this pinpoint, like something's up.

And then it's played out like, don't she's looking in the cup. It's like, no, but she was right. Yeah. And then she goes on the roof and finds it. And the woman, you know, the woman he's sleeping with says, you told me she was thin. Yeah. Everyone did.

Remember, like, the heats, like, circle of shape. Oh, my God. Like, it was, like, if you had a flaw, it was fair game. So do you think this book then, if you took out the weight stuff, do we know who Bridget Jones is? She's funny, like, three times. And that's enough of you to go, oh, I think that's why people like her, like her.

Because I did have that question. Like, why do her friends like her? We're obviously more in her head than people outside. Yeah. She's not that bright. Or Helen shows her sort of... She's quick, though. She's quick.

She's quite like in the interviews and stuff. She says that swallow the evidence joke about Hugh Grant. Yeah. About Hugh Grant. Yeah. What do we think of Mark Darcy? Oh, Colin Firth. Who turns up?

Harriet. Amy doesn't look sure. Yeah. You don't need to a few? Come on. I think it's tricky because it is basically like the Darcy from Pride and Prejudice. It's that thing where you're attractive. And it is like.

It's the horrible dream that a grumpy person that you think hates you actually loves you. It's mad. Like, why is that, why is that the thing? Why is that so sexy? I thought he despised me, but oh, great, he loves me. He just loves me. And to have a secret admirer the whole time. He's just being such a dick to your face.

Who keep being told is really, really rich and then you see it's really massive house. Yeah. Do you fancy people like that in real life, like moody people? No, me and Amy, we're really, um, No, we're very evolved. We've moved on from the 90s, actually. Actually, yeah, it's different now. Being single now is, yeah, adult women, it's different.

What about, because you have a podcast? Are you sort of more alert to red flags and thinking, right, okay, I'm not going to waste time on this person? I think we can recognise them. Yeah, I don't think we're necessarily. There's what they are. Like a bull charging at that flag. He's got six.

And he hates me. Yeah, we're still. still sort of trying. Yeah, we're still people in. We're still people in. We're still looking for the avoidant, moody people who've probably got girlfriends who are going to dump out a party. Well, this isn't, she goes for Daniel. She leaves, obviously, Daniel breaks up with her and she ends up Mark, but like, neither of them are ideal. No. Like, you don't, I didn't end it, like, oh, she's with Mark. I end up, like, do you not think, I think Mark is like, I don't know, like it's like, he's, he's just secretly going around being in love with her.

I had to realise that in the book it is the plot of Pride and Prejudice. where he saved her family. Yeah. So that's what... It's the same plot. It's probably... Telling her. Is that he goes away.

Her sister has run away. Lydia's run off with Wickham. And so... And, you know... Darcy pays off the family. Makes Wickham marry her to save her honour, to save Elizabeth Bennett's family's honour. And does...

And says, never ever tell Elizabeth. Like, he's done this secretly because he loves her. But you find out. And that's hot. And that's hot. But that's hot in 1912. Yes. It's not.

Isn't they great? I thought it was a bit odd that he hadn't in any way. Because in Priding and Prejudice, they see each other a lot. Yeah. And there's lots of moments where he is arrogant and rude. And they actually have quite a lot of conversations where, like, when she goes to the house to see her sister who's ill, they have this really, like, nice conversation. And he's trying not to fall in love with her. But she's so intelligent and her eyes are so beautiful.

And he keeps sort of like splurging these things. And actually when he first tells her that he loves her, he's saying, I shouldn't love you. You're so below my station. Yeah. You're so poor. means that I can't resist you. And she's like, that is the rudest thing I've ever heard. You can go, fuck yourself.

And then says no. And so then he's like, okay, I've had my chance and then does all these very good things. Yeah, he's doing these things. He does those things definitely out of like, we'll never be together. I know she doesn't love me. Yeah. But I just, I'm going to do it because I love you. He loves her.

And it is based on who she is. Yeah. But then, yeah. At the end, I had like four pages. But he calls her bizarre. That's the beat. I was like, they haven't got together. Yeah.

Yeah. How are you going to do this, Helen? Yeah. Yeah. But then she does turn up in the bunny outfit. It's like, oh, you're such a glut. Then you're like, oh, that's so nice. Yeah.

But I think the interaction that they've had, there's no way he could, unless he's like some sort of psychopath or maybe a serial killer. There's no way he could fall in love with her. That's how I thought. It wasn't much. They didn't have much to go on, did they? And they were kind of horrible to each other in every interaction. There was something weird going on.

You didn't get the bit where you're like, oh, they've had like a sparring conversation. But they do love each other. Mostly she was like, what is wrong with you? Go away. Yeah. He was like, well, you're weird. Why do you hit Daniel Cleve? He just like, that's the lovely thing where he gets her, the interview, though, for her work with his client outside the call. Oh, yeah.

That's nice. Yes. That's true. That's nice. And I think it's just that she's different to, it's that thing that you, like, she's different to all of these perfect women. And then you're like, oh, he does want to be with the woman that's not perfect. I actually thought. I'm not the man.

So the bunny outfit thing is important because we know that he's been put off Bridget because, you know, family friends are trying to put them together. So he tells you that. So he's a bored of hearing the name Bridget Jones. But when she turns up in a bunny outfit, I think he just fancies her. He just fancies her. And it's that. So it's actually, it's like, she's fit.

And she's funny. And maybe she doesn't know that. But that's not what he's attracted to. No, I think Helen could have given us a bit more. I think that's it. Like, it's difficult to know, like, who likes you or if they like you. And then you bump into people sometimes. And then you don't for a long time.

Like, that is kind of the reality of it. This is so funny because I know. what's happening in your dating life. Oh, this is what's happening. Okay, so there's like a maybe. And so you're like, it doesn't matter we've only had two conversations. It's fine if they go to and don't put NFF in.

No, Harriet, it's bad. No, I know, but I'm saying the idea that somebody like from afar is like, oh, I think you're great. Like, I think that's such a lovely idea. That's a lovely idea. That's why I think of the magazines I read when I was a child did me over. Yeah.

Just 17, sugar, blues. Yeah, all of the girls' magazines were essentially, they kept saying maybe he's too shy, maybe he's really, maybe he got run over. Never give up hope. Never give up hope.

All I took from just... Men find it difficult to talk about their feelings. The more they like you, the more they're horrible to you. Oh, yeah. Yeah. The quotes on the cover, a few of them,

which probably are from the time. So Salman Rushdie, Okay, you wouldn't automatically think. Let's get Simon Rhti to blur. I've just read it. He says, a brilliant comic creation. That sounds like a compliment. And now he says, even men will laugh.

Oh, my God. Imagine that on your poster. Can we just say, this is the modern copy? Like, why have they got this still on there? This isn't old. Sarah bought these new. Jesus Christ. And then I thought this one was interesting from Alan de Botton.

Again, I wouldn't automatically think. I wondered if you agree with this. So he says, identify with her, men feel guilty about her and wish her experiences could all just be the joke they are on the surface. But beneath the humour, Helen Fielding has penned a crucial analysis of the modern mating ritual. She has articulated the traumas of a generation. Alan knows how to ruin comedy. Oh, yeah, I guess it's about trauma. Sorry, I didn't realize it. I think that's it. I think

that's exactly it, is that you just wish people could be more up front. Like, that's the whole thing with Daniel Cleaver. It's so confusing. She thinks, oh, he must like me. But he doesn't. And that's, and it's rude to lie like that. And she is strong. The first time he tries to sleep with her, he makes this like, oh, let's just make this fun thing. And she... Can I just say what he emails is what I've forgotten?

He calls her a frigid little cow. That's what the sexy message. Yeah, but calling someone a frigid cow because they didn't sleep with you on the first day. In Montfort, that is flirting. You have to, you have to... Boys call girls frigid, girls call boys gay, and then you both have to prove you're not. That's how babies are made too.

Oh, my God. Could we argue? Could we argue? I'm not agree with you, but that he's very clear that he fancies her but isn't offering anything. He says that at the beginning, isn't he? Yeah, so I think it is clear. It's just that when you like someone, you think you can be persuaded. Of course.

No, but also he says that beginning and then they sit together and he sort of starts, see, sleeps, becomes a bit more relationship. Yeah. Yeah. But you have to listen. That's the problem. You have to listen to what they say at the beginning. Yes.

That's a lovely quote about how, you know, people show you who they are. Yeah. Like, don't believe what people say, believe what they show you or something. Sorry, my. There was this quote, this is quite early, this is page 21 in the book. And it's one of Bridget's friends. I think, Sharon, right? So Sharon, her friend, and she says,

We women are only vulnerable because we are in a pioneer generation, daring to refuse to compromise in love and relying on our own economic power. In 20 years time, men won't even dare start with fuckwittage because we will just laugh in their faces. So we're 20 years on now. 30 years on, actually. almost. We're always laughing in men's faces

so often. Absolutely. We're not falling free. No, no, no. These 20 years lived to us a lot, actually. It's changed. The ground's changed.

Yeah, but I wonder, I mean, if that was the pioneer generation who, you know, all women did work were expected to work, the whole expectations of that women staying at home. This is very have it all, where we are living in the, like, the aftermath of, apparently that's not true.

Yeah. So I think, like, it's fair enough that we are not, do you know what I mean? Because if this was a lie, they were living a completely. complete life. But are we still dealing with the ramifications of like we've had this massive shift of like gender expectations and heterosexuality?

Alan de Botton. I think I'll pass it over. What do you guys think? Yeah, I think it's about trauma. Yeah. Do you meet guys who are intimidated by your work or the fact that you can support yourself? Well, that you're funny. Yeah. I think I think we all know as female comics. It's very different, a different experience to male comics who go out there and, you know, there's there's women in the audience kind of going, wow, what a funny guy,

look to sleep with him. And then I think you'd go on as a woman and they go, oh, I would hate to know her in real life. You know what I'm like. Ooh, what are you? I'm talking. Is that what they think?

Just for me personally. I got into this for the Willys. Oh no. Oh, God. I'm so sorry to break that too. I didn't know. I didn't know. They're not keen.

They're not key. They're not key. They're not key. It's very different, isn't it? It's so markedly different. Like, I feel like, I don't know, it's a stupid example, but like male electrician turns up. And then you'd be like, oh, great, you did the job. A female, you'd be like, great, you did the job.

You wouldn't be like, oh, God, she did the job, but I don't know. She did it pretty well. And it was quite, you know, you just wouldn't, I don't feel they'd be the same. But, look, electricians, I'm sure your female electricians still have. I think they do get the same thing. Yeah, but I guess you, with a female comic, it's very, you get told. Don't you? You get told, especially your...

I think if you turn up as a female electrician, the man of the house feels like, oh, I should have been able to do this in a way that doesn't feel that stage. I think it might be the same with comedy. Sometimes they watch, go, well, she can do it, I can do it. I mean, I just chose not to. I'm just choosing to...

I should... I accidentally sat down in the audience. Rather than going backstage. If you need any help, I'm right here. Sometimes that's why the hecklers. Because for me, they're always sort of men in their early 50s, and it's a real alpha male struggle. between the two of us.

Because they're like, it should be me up there. And then they go, carry on. When they've lost. Carry on. Carry on. Like they've given me permission. I actually wouldn't be able to carry on doing a set. I'd be so livid if someone told me to carry on.

If I ever do go to prison, it will be because I've hit a 53-year-old who's told me to carry on. How is it on the dating scene when you say you're, do you viscerally see a reaction? If you're like, oh, I'm a comedian. They don't know your work because you're both very successful now. But do you see like a kind of like, oh. We went to a group speed dating. Oh, okay. And it was an interesting idea where you sort of sat.

There was like three women at the table and they'd send over three men at a time. And we were saying what our worst possible nightmare would be. And they just arrived exactly how we'd described. I didn't want anyone who knew I was a comedian. Yeah, yeah. And a guy started walking over doing my material at me. Oh, my God.

And I was like, oh no. And then there was a guy who was adamant on finding out exactly what number episode of off-menu we'd been on for both of us. And he was going, you're 1-8-6? No. This is hell. And what's James Ayak has to like? And can you get us in a sketch writing room?

Because I think I'm... And it was just like, this is literally... I love a hustler. I love a hustler. That is like, you wouldn't even put that in a sitcom. She'd be like, it's too much. Much, too much. Yeah.

Yeah. People don't behave like that. People are normal. They wouldn't be like that. No, they, they, they did. That was the first event we'd done. And it was outrageous. Do you think your dating life is ruined because you have done off menu?

Because off menu is a reach. Like I have, the people who will say, have no idea about improv or books and they'll go, off menu, pan of chocolate. And I'm like, oh, yeah. The food choices I had made it. If I knew it had any impact on my dating. I've chosen very different meals, very demure. Someone has added to my Wikipedia page that I have a phobia of bananas.

Like, how am I ever going to meet anybody in my life? You have to hide those things, you know? When you first meet someone, you pretend that you're normal. You can't pretend. But I can't even pretend it's all out there. I think it might end up really helping you. Yeah. Because so much of dating is finding out those things.

And then months and months then going, okay, this isn't going to work. I'm a banana. What's interesting with the podcast is somebody I've got a crush on now is listening to the podcast. And it's really interesting because it's not a two-way street. So we just did a whole thing on like love languages. And it's really good because it's almost like I'm giving them information that is really useful to them. But I'm not getting it back. But they are learning a lot.

So you don't get podcasts listened to him? Yeah. So I did ask him. I was like, every time you listen to an episode, can you just send me the equivalent voice back with the same information so I can sort of... He knows everything. He knows so much.

And maybe it's a good thing, but maybe it's terrible. I don't know. Yeah. I know what you mean, but you're not getting it back. That's the thing you need their private podcast back. Yeah. And you want to meet someone.

You're a podcast with him as well. Yeah. One thing I came to realize is I think Bridgett's got ADHD. Oh yeah. Page 92 she does like a really quick like chronological diary entry of her trying to leave the house. That's when I thought she was in my life. Yeah and I just made a list of all the different ADHD symptoms that are coming through. Yeah so we've got disordered eating yeah stuck in a free state living in chaos new novelty interests executive dysfunction decision fatigue messy negative self-talk. Wow. Unable to finish tasks chronic lateness misplacing things

things, the ADHD tax when she says that she's a non-payment of a bill and time blindness. That's not normal. No. Okay. Sorry, babes. Get the diet. No, but I think it's dyspraxia. It's the same thing.

It's the same thing. It's just not being to leave the house. It's a comorbid with ADHD. It's very common to have ADHD and dyspraxia or dyslexia and things like that. Can you leave the house? No. No, so you've got this as well. Yeah.

Yeah. Big time. Yeah. But yeah, it takes a three hours and 35 minutes. You're waking up and leaving. Some people can just, I hate to say, Harriet, they just get up and they leave. I have like seven minutes. If I'm not with the babies, I will accept my mom seven minutes before I have to be,

when I'm filming and stuff and I'm not with the kids. Wow. I don't even brush my teeth. We don't have to do it's excessive dysfunction because you're not brushing your teeth. I'm not something else where I'm just really dirty. Because somebody who can executive function won't need seven, won't leave seven minutes. They won't need a timer. They will brush.

They just do the task. Just calmly. Eat their breakfast, get dressed and they will leave. But every task leads for me to another task. Because I'll be brushing my teeth, but then I'll spill something. And then I'll have to clean that up. And then while I'm cleaning that up, I'll knock off a glass. And then I'll have to clean up the glass.

And then I would have stood on it. And then I have to deal with the blood that's everywhere. So it's like, it all spirals. I love your stand-up about having an assessment when the man comes to your house and you've got your foot in a bowl. And he's like, yeah, you've saved me some time. Page 258, I thought the satire. I mean, Helen feels is very clear here.

So it's just after the bit where Tom's asking her about the calories. Calories and everything, yeah. And it is like, you know, olive, black or green, hobnob, box of milk tray, you know. And then she's saying it's just like Times Tables, you just know it. And then he proves he doesn't know her Times Tables. And then says... Also, also. Yeah.

Tom says I am sick, but I happen to know for a fact that I am normal and no different from everyone else, i.e. Sharon and Jude. Frankly, I'm quite worried about Tom. I think taking part in a beauty contest, so he's just done this sort of beauty contest, has started to make him crack under the pressure we women have long been subjected to and he's becoming insecure, appearance obsessed and borderline anorexic.

And that's her absolutely saying that's women's natural state. And then when a man has a little bit of the similar kind of gaze upon him, he then suddenly is like fighting against it and it's influencing him. But she does know what she's doing. Because at the beginning I thought,

oh my God, is she telling women this is what women are like. This is so awful. And I say, no, she's trying to say, this is what you've been, this is a monster has been created. Do you think that's what happened with the character of Bridget Jones?

No, and then that's where films then become much more complicated because that line isn't in the film. Yeah, because I think, I know what, I think the book has more nuance, but the character of Bridget Jones became, that's more women are. Yeah.

They're so stupid and crazy and they slide down, pose. You know what girls like? Oh, girls can't do anything. Some girls aren't like that. I don't say. It's nice to see yourself in print.

Underneath this table, how it's got a foot in a bowl. If you can't see it, you can't see it. You can't see it. Yeah, I guess that's what I felt going back there. I was like, oh, oh God, it's so patronising. I guess that's why people love Miranda so much, the thing called Miranda,

because that was all of the fun of a clutz who said the wrong thing and would fall over. But she was also having a really lovely life and liked herself. Yeah, I think that's it. It's like the self-loathing in this, I also found hard for a whole book. hand, if you think you're, if you're underway and starving yourself and think you're fat, that self-hatred is in every single one of those things. Yeah, but it's hard to have that

for an entire book. I'm just like, this woman just hates herself for no good reason. Like, I can't, I'm looking for a reason where I was like, and occasionally she was a bit selfish or she said things. And I would think, oh, maybe, oh, maybe, you know, and I'd be like, we all do that, don't we? Like, she's very human. But that's what's great, I think, is it showing a woman with so many flaws. And it's making it funny and just relatable. I think it's really good to have a character that's not perfect. That's telling people like how you actually feel. Yeah.

She does win in the end. I think that was the point of the news resolutions right at the beginning is to say to you, this is a person who spends all of her time doing this but knows she should be giving to charity, donating things, being more aware of world events, you know, at the same time reducing the circumference of her thighs. Brief talk about her mom because her mom is absolutely bonkers. I couldn't remember from the film, but did they take out the whole Portugal thing where she's... I can't remember. They can't all the friends and family.

They must do because when I was reading this, because I'd only seen the film, I was like, what is this storyline? That's not in the film. Or if it is, I don't remember it, but I'm sure that's not in the film. Because her mother also, like, if you want to get into diagnosis of, like, her mother is like, what is happening there? Her mother does not live in reality at all. No one can make her live in reality, including the dad and... Bridget. Yeah.

And Bridgett's kind of, and it's also like so codependent. She's got keys to her house. She's coming in all the time. Yeah. And then it ends on the line. Listen to your mum. Do what your mother told you, which I was like, ooh. Like, fuck who your mum tells you.

I loved, I loved the meeting in department store cafes. Yes. I thought that detail was so funny. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's where that's where you go and meet with people. Yeah. Yeah. In Debenhams.

John Lewis. Yeah. But yeah. That was funny. The mum character was so... I thought, again, I thought that they were supposed to be this feminist thing where it's a woman who's fed up of looking after her husband and she's brought up her children.

And Bridget's much younger than us. How old is she? That 26, 25, 36. She's not 30. I think she says, she's really young. They're in their 20s. No, because he's 22. I think it's early 30s.

Yeah, it's only 30s, yeah. Definitely, that's the point. That's where she's like, oh, I'm 30. Like, oh, God, I'm 30. Because that boy is 22 who calls her Squashy. Yeah. I thought she was. Like 26.

I'm going to Google how old is Bridget Jones. Google it. Because I think it's, I think that's the satire is that she's 30s, which in Austin Times is what. Yes. You know, like, so she's the same age as Lizzie Benn, like, washed up on the shelf. The age of Bridget Jones varies depending on the movie or book. The novel is about 30-something single woman. Okay.

When she has the baby, she's 43. And then Bridget is mad about the boy. she's in her 50s. So yeah, she's in her early 30s. Marge about the boy, is that the one they're making now? It must be, yeah. That's the, yeah, released in 2025. Oh my God, yeah, it's still going.

Because that was Sally Phillips here and she just finished. Yeah, we had Sally, yeah, didn't we? Yeah, Hugh Grant said it's the best script he's ever read or something. He was saying it's great. I think he's not in it very much. Also, you love that. But in Paddington too. Come on, Hugh.

She is 34 in the book, 32 in the first. film. Right. So yeah, she's supposed to be 34. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. I thought she was much younger. No, no, that's definitely the vibe is like, oh, I'm washed up. Like, what do I do in my life? Yeah. Because I'm 34, which. But that's the reaction she's getting from everybody. Like, everyone, all those older, like, parents, friends and stuff are saying, when are you going to have a baby? When are you going to settle down? Like, it's like, it's like, it's like, she feels like she's constantly like failing because she's not doing, like, the normal path where everyone else is doing. I think in 193634 was like

it would have been more like married and babies at that point whereas now obviously that wouldn't have been remotely What's the thing about the smug married? Oh yeah, the smug married So she doesn't like people in couples Do you have that in the real estate? Well she mainly doesn't like them

Because she has to go to dinner parties Yeah, they're not very nice to do it They're not very nice to do. Do you have that experience ever? Well, I've been on both sides of it And so well, was a smug married Did you ever try and set anyone up any of your single friends?

No, I know I feel bad about that actually. But the problem is the men we know, you just mustn't. No. You just can't. That's the problem. If I knew a single man that deserved to be set up, I would. I've got lovely, I know some really amazing women who are single, and they are amazing. And, you know, every now and again, that's the thing.

We all know amazing women that are single. They'll go, oh, do you know, no, I wouldn't do that to you. Like, I wouldn't. I care about you. Yeah. Like, I don't know. what the answer to the situation is, but you're amazing,

and they have such full lives, amazing jobs, like their weekends are just full of, like, marathon training or, like, volunteering for the Red Cross. Sounds like you fancy them a bit. I can't leave their single. Like, I'm like,

how the fuck are you single? But then when you, yeah, it's, I don't feel like I have, I don't feel like I have this wealth of single men friends that I'm like, God, he's so great. I think men might feel the similar way

about their male friends. Oh, really? I've never heard a man saying that. I've never had a man being like, God, he's just amazing He was volunteering with the baby rabbits. He was volunteering with the baby rabbits. I think the thing is like looking at it as it's hard because that's what society is telling you,

but being single and having a great life is better than being stuck with somebody that's not great. And a lot of these married couples in the book are not very happy or living out great lives, but they're seen as the kind of winners or that's the aspirational thing. Bridget does say that. She enjoyed that bit.

It was when Bridget was like, my friend, like her husband is cheating on her and she basically said, do not get married and have a baby. Like it's a nightmare. I thought that was quite good. So did you not enjoy the book?

No. Because you just said, oh, enjoyed that. So you didn't enjoy it? No. No. Wow.

No. Did you enjoy it? Yeah. Oh, I think she's such a good writer. Yeah. So from the very first page, I don't get.

I think she's such a good comedy writer. Oh, I just didn't know. No. I think there's lots in it. But also I felt like there was an honesty, like watching those. horrible documentaries about the 90s is like

this is the reality. Yeah, I totally see it's a period piece. I don't think it's bad. I didn't, but I didn't enjoy it. I think I found someone being in her head is so like I didn't want to pick it up. I was like, oh, I can't deal with this woman talking about you're like you're a teenager and someone keeps telling you

about how much they've eaten that day and you just think, I just want to eat my lunch. And that's what it felt like being back at school with girls talking about it and being like, oh, fuck, fuck. It actually helped me not smoke because she was sometimes like 40 fags and I would like feel it with that. Yeah. So I just felt like, to me it just felt like so 996.

It was like watching, I don't know, like an episode of like live and kicking. I don't want to be back there. Men behaving badly. Which I used to think was the funniest thing ever. So yeah, it was felt too 90s to me. Did you guys enjoy it? Men be behaving badly. And then Bridget Jones is tiring.

Ladies behaving badly. In your area. It's very different. We're living in a nice clean flat. You take the responsibility for your life. Yeah, we're going to Pilates. Yeah, I love it. I think it's great.

I think it's I see myself and my own head in it. And so I think it feels, you feel, I felt very, like, seen reading it. And that was the period when I was growing up and I was surrounded by all of this stuff. And I think that is how everyone was behaving. So yeah, I love it. I think it's funny and... Yeah. I enjoyed it.

I enjoyed reading it. But I don't know. I didn't... Weirdly, I didn't see... Even though, yeah, ADHD and being like a sort of clumsy single woman, I should relate to it more. But I didn't really find myself sort of relating to it that much,

which is kind of bonkers. But I really enjoyed reading it. When I bought the book, I also bought it with a copy of... I just picked something up. It was on offer in the bookshop and it was like, it's about cholera and about how they were treating patients

with hallucinics and all of this. And I bought that and I took this and the book to the thing and the man scanning it went, oh, two very different vibes. And I was like, yeah. And then I said, and I don't know why I said it, but I said, one for men, one for pudding.

And in my head I was like, this is a meat queue. This is it. And he hated that. Oh, no. He's banned from a bookshop. Because of this, yeah. That would be so nice to meet someone in the bookshop. That would be a perfect boyfriend.

Do you think? I did work in a bookshop. There wasn't many perfect men in work there. But I do want to shout out, I think this is the world's worst cover. Like, I thought Sarah bought it from a charity shop. I was like, this must be. Sarah, charity shop shopping again. No, is it like there's a really old one?

I don't want your dusty book. I thought, oh, this must be like a really old copy. And then you were like, no, I bought it new from the bookshop. I was like, it deserves a better cover. It's such a stock image of a woman They don't want to put the film on it Or maybe because there's a new film coming out They're going to re-release them all

For such an iconic book I was like a bit surprised I don't think they should have a woman on it at all Because I think we all picture René Zegovito And I think it should just be like The wine glass or wine and the fag Or like a tape measure or something You know like a thing that's more

I just yeah because I see her and I'm like Who's that? That's not Bridgett I was like who's this woman on the front Yeah. Like, is that Shazza? Yeah. That must be a jazza. Yeah.

Um, thank you so much for coming. Thanks for having us. It's so nice. And single ladies in your area. It's available to listen. Yes. All good podcast places.

And best up with all your dating shenanigans. Thank you. Sounds like you've both got someone in the wings. Yeah. Uh, nope. Still very much available. So available.

They enjoyed the book, Bridget Jones, style of it. And your off menu numbers are 1-8-6. Yeah. One-6. for those listening. I'm one, two, five. If you'd like to protest the gals before you message them,

you can do that. Please check your fruit bowl. Thank you for listening to the Weirdo's Book Club. You can listen to Harriet and Amy's podcast, single ladies in your area, from wherever you get your podcasts. You can also get tickets to see Amy's Edinburgh Comedy Award-winning show,

make me look fit on the poster at Soho Theatre. She's doing two weeks from the 27th of January to the 8th of February. Tickets from Soho Theatre.com. I'm on tour next year My new show I have a strange group is on sale now

from sarah pasca.com.com. at UK, Canada, Australia, England and Ireland and Scotland all in there. Thank you for reading with us. We like reading. You know.