I am a big fan of British humor, whether on TV, film or the page. While I haven’t seen a lot of the French-Saunders comedy team’s sketch work, I know who they are. I am more familiar with Jennifer Saunders due to Ab Fab, but I was aware that Dawn French had a series called The Vicar of Dibley and I recognized her as “The Fat Lady” in the HP movie franchise. French has written several books, and this latest one The Twat Files got my attention just due to that title. The subtitle is “A life of mistakes — no regrets”. It is memoir-ish but with a focus on the most embarrassing “twat-ish” moments of her life. They start from her childhood and go up to today, and they include incidents in her private life and her public life. She writes about the kinds of things one says and does that eat away at you in the middle of the night for the rest of your life due to the stupidity and embarrassment of them all, but French uses them for comedic effect and as a kind of therapy; own your stupid and move ahead wiser!
The book is not organized into chapters, nor is it chronological. French provides occasional headings under which will be examples of how she was a twat (if you are not familiar with that word, “idiot” would be a synonym; French provides a lengthy list of other synonyms in the book). One especially funny group of vignettes appears under “Never Meet Your Idols,” and includes French’s cringey moments with people like actor Danny Dyer, Elton John and Madonna. I think I enjoyed them so much because French’s starstruck stupidities sound like the kinds of things any of us might do (try to be funny and fall flat, not have the facts of the person’s career straight). Another standout, and this is something that runs throughout the book, is that French is so honest about times she just wasn’t nice to someone or when her mood got in the way of her on-set work. She is a talented writer and comedian, so she can turn these more somber musings into funny stories at her own expense. Stories like these reveal that she is a thoughtful, reflective person, and she is someone who admits her screw ups and apologizes. This just makes me like her more.
If you like Brit humor and are looking for something amusing to read, The Twat Files might suit you. It has the added benefit of reminding the reader that we are all twats, no exceptions. And it will be ok.