Joy Holley’s collection of short fiction Dream Girl published by Te Herenga Waka University Press is an amazing read. I loved talking to Joy about it.
Joy chose as a starting point to talk about laughter and writing the 2022 film Bodies Bodies Bodies. This American black comedy horror film directed by Halina Reijn, in her English-language debut, with a screenplay by Sarah DeLappe from a story by Kristen Roupenian. It stars Amandla Stenberg, Maria Bakalova, Myha'la Herrold, Chase Sui Wonders, Rachel Sennott, Lee Pace, and Pete Davidson.
I really liked how this conversation concentrated a lot on joy and pleasure which is perhaps something that has been missing from these conversations about comedy.
I also loved talking about the way Joy is reimagining some elements of horror and the surreal.
I have a signed copy of Dream Girl to give away. Simply leave a comment here on Instagram or reply to the story on Twitter by June 11 and I’ll do a draw and send it to the winner.
I think this conversation was quite influenced by an amazing book I’m reading by Nuar Alsadir called Animal Joy: A Book of Laughter and Resuscitation. This book is literally changing my life. I can’t recommend it highly enough. It’s ostensibly about a psychoanalyst who goes to clown school and investigates humour in an incredibly inciteful way. The book is also making me feel a bit stupid, so many of the things I say that I think are profound are all described here as the stock and trade of psychoanalysis.
Ep 50 Louise Wallace: Bad Things by Louise Wallace
Ep 49 Rhydian Thomas: Milk Island by Rhydian Thomas
Ep 48 Pip Adam talks to Maria McMillan
Ep 47 Oryx and Crake Series 3 - Antonia Bale
Ep 46 Oryx and Crake Series 2 - Bill Nelson
Ep 45 Oryx and Crake Series 1 - Danyl McLauchlan
A Short Announcement: The ORYX AND CRAKE series
Ep 44 Murray Hewitt and Pip Adam Talk
Episode 43: Pip Adam My Favourite Cindy - Bobby and Cindi
Ep 42 Danyl Mclauchlan: Time Travel by James Gleick
Ep 41 Rachel O'Neill: The Argonauts
Ep 40 Louise Wallace, Francis Cooke and Pip Adam talk about Starling
Ep 39 Helen Lehndorf: Sketchbooks by Derek Jarman
Ep 38 Lee Posna: Arboretum by Lee Posna
Ep 37 Sugar Magnolia Wilson and Pip Adam talk about Chasing Great: The Richie McCaw Biopic
Ep 36 Nick Ascroft and Pip Adam talk about Throwback: The Music of 2007
Ep 35 Emma Hislop and Pip Adam talk about The Mare by Mary Gaitskill
Ep 34 Sorority: Readings from some of Te Whanganui-a-Tara’s finest women of colour
Ep 33 Randell Cottage
Ep 32 Brannavan Gnanalingam: A Briefcase, Two Pies, and a Penthouse
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