Ayoade on Ayoade: A Cinematic Odyssey

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During the rant about the female journalist, which aired on Dan Wootton’s show on Tuesday, the 45-year-old said in reference to Evans, who is a political correspondent at Joe: ‘Who would want to shag that?’’ He’s even a prominent music video director, having directed videos for the likes of The Arctic Monkeys and Kasabian.

Others disagreed with the furore however, saying it was essentially a comedic actor recommending a comedic book. Of course, in recent years, Linehan has also become a bête noire of the trans lobby. The memoir, Tough Crowd, is billed as a humorous reflection on his journey from being one of the UK’s most beloved television comedy writers to becoming a pariah for being forthright about his gender-critical beliefs. They met while at university together, and in a podcast interview Richard said she is ever supportive of his career. Richard E Grant guest stars in the penultimate episode of this crime-comedy series, very on-brand as Gabby’s aristocratic dad. Elsewhere, Rani has a risky plan to rectify things with Christian – but can she convince the rest of the community service clan to help her pull it off? HR Guy’s Garage 9pm, Channel 4

Richard Ayoade has been slammed for praising Graham Linehan’s upcoming book (Picture: SWNS / Getty)

He’s also hosted shows such as the revival of The Crystal Maze, Have I Got News For You and Gadget Man. However, Laurence did reveal in an interview that his brother-in-law did not approve of his Question Time appearance.Richard, who is half-Nigerian, was reportedly furious at this, and told Laurence: ‘You have never encountered racism.’ Sometimes a format as simple as two comedians going on a bike ride together makes for good television. Away from stage comedy, David O’Doherty earns his primetime slot with another obsession: cycling. Taking Richard Ayoade on a two-day trip along the Kent coast, they observe, reflect and talk utter nonsense. Bliss. Later in the series, Grayson Perry and Mel Giedroyc saddle up. Hollie Richardson The Outlaws 9pm, BBC One Ayoade and Linehan famously worked together on acclaimed sitcom The IT Crowd, however the Father Ted creator has not worked in television for several years after being ‘cancelled’ over anti-trans views.

It seems you no longer need to even express gender-critical views to become a target of the mob. Apparently, it is now enough just to associate with prominent opponents of trans ideology to be marked out for condemnation.That might sound like a mildly amusing conceit for a traditional autobiography, but Ayoade’s actual life is almost entirely absent, his work barely mentioned. The book is more of a surreal and hilarious exercise in self-aggravation. For example, one exchange runs like this: “I read somewhere that you regard your Jewish identity as being important to you.” “It’s very important. It’s foundational.” “And yet you’re not Jewish.” “No.” “And you don’t find that problematic?” “Not at all. I don’t think whether I’m Jewish or not is really relevant to my Jewish identity.” “Would you call yourself a practising Jew?” “I use to play guitar but I don’t really have time for it any more.” We continue in this combative vein for a while. At one point he says, “It’s hard to read [Nigerian playwright] Wole Soyinka without any knowledge of Yoruba culture, but it shouldn’t be something you can’t enjoy without a reading list,” and then trails off, realising he might have pushed the deflection too far. “That doesn’t feel like it’s going to be the pull quote, does it?” In an interview with The Sunday Times, Laurence said he begged for Richard’s support over the race row. And this isn’t the first time that the deconstruction of one-on-one interviews has taken center stage in Ayoade’s work. There is a clear line from his 2006 comedy series Man to Man with Dean Learner, a satire of late night talk shows and spinoff of Garth Marenghi’s Dark Place. Ayoade highlights extreme pretention coupled with mediocrity and how that combination results in egomaniacism. Ayoade On Ayoade expands that basic theme into a predominantly humorous illustration of the cult of celebrity that rules entertainment. There is a distinct ring of truth to Director-Ayoade’s confession: “Eventually I’d like to see the interviews replace the directing because I’m becoming increasingly frustrated by the gaps between junkets. The prospect of needing to make a whole film before a stranger tapes my thoughtless utterances and uses them as the basis for a speculative, semi-hostile character portrait makes me very sad.”

Why is it so difficult for him to be himself? “As soon as cameras are there it’s just different. It’s not being yourself. Your mother could have died that morning but they will say, ‘Just be yourself, we have to film’. Anything that’s not complete submission to the gaze looks kind of aggressive on camera. Reality stars are geniuses in that they have an ability to be completely undefensive. Joey Essex, for example, is completely open, so you like him. The villains are the defensive ones; shyness can be interpreted as a kind of aggression: ‘Who are you to care so much how you come off?’” The thing is, what’s my mandate? I feel you need to earn the right to weigh in on complex issues, and that right is probably not granted to you by being moderately efficient at imparting words so that they’re amusing. On some level, I can’t get away from the undertone that exists, which is, ‘Out on Monday’. The danger is, you trivialise what you’re saying, because there’s a commercial element attached, you might have something to gain.” I have all these things that I want to say to her, like... Like how I can tell she's a lonely person, even if other people can't. Cause I know what it feels like to be lost and lonely and invisible.” During his appearance on Question Time, Laurence clashed with an audience member and said it was ‘racist’ for him to be described as a ‘white privileged male’ and that he was ‘bored’ of people ‘throwing the race card’ around.

Richard Ayoade with his wife Lydia (Credit: SplashNews) What has Richard Ayoade said about Laurence Fox? You may also recognise him from his cameo in Paddington 2 or his co-starring role in The Double. Who is Richard Ayoade married to? One man and his machine … Guy Martin. Photograph: Ryan Mcnamara/Channel 4 Succession 9pm, Sky Atlantic Nancy is most proud of her work live reporting on the funeral of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II for Entertainment Daily But I’m not interested in Ayoade’s life for half-hearted context or as a way to help him sell his work: I think there’s genuine intrigue. He was brought up in Ipswich, by a Nigerian father and Norwegian mother. He went to Cambridge where he studied law and joined the revered student comedy society Footlights. Being one of its few non-white stars and experiencing comedy success at such a young age all seems fruitful personal history from which to draw on in his work. But he remains distrustful of such biographical inquiries.