Stephen John Fry (born 24 August, 1957) is an English comedian, author, act… Read Full Bio ↴Stephen John Fry (born 24 August, 1957) is an English comedian, author, actor and director. He is the son of Alan Fry, an English scientist, and Marianne Neumann, an Austrian from a Jewish family.

Along with good friend Hugh Laurie, Fry co-wrote and starred in comedy series 'A Bit of Fry and Laurie'. The two also played the title roles in 'Jeeves and Wooster' and appeared in 'Blackadder'.

Stephen Fry has been the reader for the British versions of all of J.K.Rowling's Harry Potter series of audio books and Douglas Adams's The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy film tie-in edition. He has also made recordings of his own books, such as The Stars' Tennis Balls; and works by Roald Dahl, Michael Bond, A. A. Milne, and Anthony Buckeridge.

Fry was educated at Stout's Hill, Uppingham School, NORCAT (Norfolk College of Arts and Technology) and Queens' College, Cambridge, where he gained a 2:1 in English. He lives in Norfolk and London. He was described as being "a man with a brain the size of Kent" in an interview with Michael Parkinson.

In a 2005 poll to find The Comedian's Comedian, he was voted amongst the top 50 comedy acts ever by fellow comedians and comedy insiders.

Episode 5 COMPLIANCE DEFIANCE
Stephen Fry Lyrics

We have lyrics for these tracks by Stephen Fry:

Reasons To Be Miserable Reasons to be miserable Give his brain a pain There is littl…
Tubby The Tuba Tubby (Tim Hauser) Alone am I, me and I together. If I…

The lyrics are frequently found in the comments by searching or by filtering for lyric videos

TRACKS

No Related Genres

More Genres

No Artists Found

More Artists Load All

No Albums Found

More Albums Load All

No Tracks Found

Genre not found

Artist not found

Album not found

Search results not found

Song not found

Most interesting comment from YouTube:

Evelyn Baron

Don't know how else to contact you. I missed you by 2 years at Cambridge and my father was a brilliant, bipolar man. My best friend, Robert Demers was doing a doctorate in international corporate law He was irresistible and utterly gay. Also the captain of the rowing team: I believe they won in '76. I was living in Quebec city and had a wonderful father. He came to visit and insisted on being the host at a restaurant of Robert's choice. In a city where no-one sleeps I think the staff were worn out as Zigo (sobriquet, right on target) and Robert waxed loquaciously on everything from Plato through the Enlightenment to ever more interesting topics. After a few Remy Martins, I think 4 a.m. it dawned them that it was time to go home.

Robert died in 1988 of AIDS. But after that particular evening, Zigo said to me: Marry him. "He's gay!" said I. My Dad, born in 1908, replied, "I don't quite understand your point."

I believe that Churchill and also my dad were on some point of the spectrum, bipolar themselves. And I a lucky recipient.

Thank you for your wit and courage and intelligence and generosity. Listening to you lifts my spirits consistently,

I wish you well with all my heart. My particular livre de chevet is Montaigne who, as you know, valued friendship above all things.

I hope this reaches you -- if not, you will always be in the words of Billy Quan, the Unmet Friend.

Evelyn Baron: email svetislaveva@rogers.com.

All comments from YouTube:

TaraTara

11y↑1

Whatever would we do without this wonderful man? I love him so much xxx

Cole Robinson

12y↑1

His rants are perfect ahaha! I love Stephen <3

Lylodile

12y

I am completely with Stephen on this.

John Pitts

12y↑1

"A whole generation have confused political correctness with heath & safety legislation" - Stewart Lee

Tom Barter

Don't be afraid to criticise political correctness Stephen. You've got a platform. If you spoke out against it, people would listen to you.

Mysterious Bear

13y↑1

Just talking to this man must be like having a book read to you! :P

podfunk

12y↑2

Stephen really builds up a decent head of steam here. Good lad.

Samuel Oakley

13y

Stephen Fry is a good man.

ShotTower1

10y↑1

I have heard Stephen Fry constantly bemoan the people who use the term "common sense" and yet what he says so very often can fit into that category. I think common sense is a denigrated term for logic and/or pragmatism.

AntiProUltra

12y

excellent rant, spot on, 28 thumbs up

Sequentially Compact

8y↑1

He may say it's a small thing, but the atmosphere on many campuses is the thing that may just chip away at freedom of expression and freedom of dissenting opinion, important bedrocks of western civilization. He should not feel anything but affirmed for having poked through the holes of the idiocy behind it.

GodTheHypothesis

12y

Well if it actually wants to make an apology if it feels it's deserved, then that's fine. But that's not what happens. What happens is that anytime anyone chooses to be offended, they issue a formal apology, no matter how little they mean it. It's so disingenuous and ultimately adds to this culture where people think they have a right to stop things they disagree with. This is a culture destroying practice. In reality, they should simply point out that being offended is a part of being an adult.

handsomebrick

12y↑1

Colloquially the expression could refer simply to bending over backwards to prevent offense. Also, he might have been trying to think of a less particularly British way of saying 'nanny state.'

Shinganzer

13y

this is brilliant!

Brian Crouch

9y↑1

Wish I could find a transcript for this. The automated captions on YouTube are about 55% accurate for this...

NighthawkVsTheDragon

12y

Stephen Fry, you are a Sir.

ghostlyredfox

11y

How has this man not been given a knighthood? Or perhaps just appointed 'Common Sense Officer' for Britain? Let him loose on the church or the 'health and safety' crew and just stand back to watch the fur fly!

Lughan Deane

12y

The reason that driving on the phone can't be shown while killing may be has to do with likelihood of emulation. Everyone owns a phone and drives in a car- and speaking on the phone is usually a victimless crime. Fewer people own assault guns and shooting at the face is rarely victimless. The 'they do it on telly' factor isn't enough to propel someone through the various steps of acquiring a weapon, picking a target etc. It may just be enough, however, to convince them to hit the green button.

jhibbitt1

12y

everytime a big issue comes up in the press or politics or whatever, there should always be a video of fry's opinion

꧁u l uwu :v 2꧂

13y

I assure you, play this man's speech backwards and he will sound pretty much the same.

Benjamin Rome Clarke

11y

i love the high pitch of his voice in the middle

Michael Mcgee

13y↑1

political correctness should be outlawed

WikiRocksThisCathouse

13y

I want him saying FACK OFF on my mobile phone so I can play it at any moment I wish

Mr Wolfe

12y

Sounds SO MUCH like David Mitchells soapbox :D

oHelmslyoRisesAgain

12y

there should be absolutely nothing forbidden on TV. that is absolutely unjust that UK tv is that restrictive on artists.

beachcomber2008

12y

Quite true. I'm proud and pleased to be an ex-pat. :)

Evelyn Baron

E101ification

@mayer8356 No, 'health and safety' is the requirement to do or not do these things in the real world. Being forced to depict health and safety being followed in fiction, is 'political correctness'.

convincinglies1

12y

id rob the store I work at if I wouldnt be caught on camera and later locked up. doesnt stop everyone but stops some

marcsilcockfan1989

12y

@mayer8356 So Stewart Lee was right. Some people seem to mix up Political Correctness with Health & Safety legislation.

Ravanna

12y

my lols were exponential in relation to the strength of his ranting tone

Tyler Wonnick

12y↑1

Why don't I have friends that talk like this....

Gabiotta

12y

This would be an excellent video if is wasn't for the misleading title. You wouldn't happen to be Stuart Lee's Gran, would you?

gatsbytowers

13y

This has absolutely nothing to do with Political Correctness, as Stephen Fry makes clear at the outset.

BlueMathRecruit

12y

I agree with Fry, however the people arguing against this saying that children are likely to copy such breaches of safety, but not things such as shooting someone "In the face" as it were, stems from the fact that children will be sitting inside a car more often than they will be in a shoot out with some criminals, thus the probability of mortality through an example is greater. Which I must admit does also make logical sense does it not?

WikiRocksThisCathouse

13y

"Compliance with making this country a shit hole" :D

andromidius

12y

@kswiatlo The law is a bit funny on the matter of seat belts and mobile phones. Only the front seats require seatbelts by law (and as an aside, only the driver's side requires a wingmirror - go figure), the back seats don't. And tests have shown hands free kits to be just as bad as using a mobile phone, the fact you have a hand free is negated by the false sense of security you get with hands free - your reaction time is almost exactly the same. Laws are funny things like that.

Sean Campbell

3:12 It was the first one Steve: compliance with being an arse hole.

Josh Tate

12y

That's a contender for funniest youtube comment of the year! It's beaten, I'm sorry to say, by a youtuber on the trailer for Con Air. He wrote, ''at least it's better than Ryanair!''

Oleg Krokhalev

13y

He surely had a cold that day.

convincinglies1

12y

wait wait wait....so when the action hero jumps into the car through the window with the music going and people shooting at him....the firt thing he does is put on his seatbelt?......does he check his mirrors too lol

GodTheHypothesis

12y

Don't know if that's entirely accurate. Some cases of stupidity are clearly political correctness. Like every time a TV show offends anyone who's in a minority of more than 5 people, it has to issue an apology. There are countless examples of this type of thing.

Swashbuckler

12y

Erm, I like Stephen Fry a lot but it's really weird that he can't tell the difference between political correctness with health and safety.

buffy

26 compliance officers disliked.

Mat Smith

13y

Superb.

Thomas Allan

Anybody think that this picture of Fry is a dead ringer for the bell ringer Quasimodo ? Twisted in body and mind ?

Phled

10y

The Australian army wear camo-gear with Hi Viz strips.

IrritationCharles

12y

The only thing that could make this better is if David Mitchell joined in. (:

Sam Windmill

11y

The only thing I disagree with here is the apology at the end. He had nothing to say sorry for.

Netrabi

12y

He did say that at the beginning

Tom

12y

At 1:55, I think he confuses Colin Firth with Peter Firth :3

Gabiotta

12y

This would be an excellent video if is wasn't for the misleading title.

Randy Nguyen

12y

@kswiatlo They aren't always actually driving when they film chase scenes

Dionysos37

12y

@daPlumber702 With respect, I never said PC = Censorship. PC went mainstream via Lee Atwater, aka The Prince of Darkness, GOP leader and Poppy Bush's pal in the 1980s---Rove's dark master. What are your examples, please? And I repeat what I've long observed. People who so actively feel oppressed by "PC"---the intolerance of hate---usually wish to express just that. I respect nobody's ignorant brutality. By all means, LET THEM TALK! If human progress speaks back, it's too freakin' bad.

Jybgame

10y

Well, i'm no psychological doctor.. not in the least. I believe if they didn't have any violence on tv then people would really be upset and speak out. Now if those programs had hidden little sub conscious gems that seep in. "put your seat belt on" "dont use your cell when driving". Well all the better. Sure it's not realistic when analyzed but, how many people are going to analyze it? Most will sit there enjoy the show and after a few thousand episodes.. eh, maybe they'll wear their seatbelt more.. idk. Just say'n - this specific form of correctness doesn't really bother me.

kswiatlo

12y

Driving with no seat belts would be a real offense + fine given. Film is a proof of that. Shooting someone in the face while acting is not an offense, but shooting someone for real and filming it would be a crime. Thats where the difference is. You cannot drive (virtually everywhere) with no seat belts and on the phone.

toph3r_tv

13y

shooting people in the face is illegal?

OhGodItHurts

12y

STEPHEN THINK I R WISE, EVERYONE PRAISE ME

Sentient Enigma

12y

hahahaha.

Mullahgrrl

12y

@wonderbrawl1919 Movement and breathing is good, I wouldn't compare it to killing people, but if I would then it would be very favorably.

Tom

12y

This is one of the only times that I've ever disagreed with Stephen Fry :/ It doesn't feel right.

John Pitts

12y

But if it has offended people, then why shouldn't it make an apology? What's wrong with being fair to people?

paradebaraki

12y

amazing amazing amazing

CmdrTobs

13y

@blickluke "Spooks" - I think. Can't forget the cheesy tagline they had at the start, "MI5 not 9 to 5".

Dylan Shield

11y

19 people are compliance officers

crazycousined

13y

@northanortha Stephen Fry for Queen

Intercostaldrama

11y↑1

Please God never. The need to conform would destroy his right to make himself vulnerable. Would that many many more people were so brave and sincere. Now all keep to the left please.

daPlumber702

12y

@Dionysos37 Not sure where you came up with that. As neither an ass nor an elephant I can say without bias that not only is there evidence of "PC" being created by the left side of politics, but they have twisted it more than any other group to suit their whims... until the recent string of arab, no you can't draw that cartoon cause we'll saw your friggin' head off shit that is. Censorship is more of a right thing... but that's a whole other discussion, censorship and PC are not the same thing.

Gin'n' Tonic

12y

@thewildplaces Didn't you listen to the beginning? Blame the title, not Stephen.

Snoop Lion

12y

Your use of the word fuck has nothing to do with political correctness.

Jack Reilly

12y

@elusivejahnell "you cant even throw a toaster in the bath anymore just unless gays see it"

Michalis Kakiousis

13y

GENERAL MELCHETT !!!

snizzle515151

11y

hellz yez!<<<politically correct

Luke Robinson

13y

What show is he talking about??

mayer8356

13y

This is about Health and Safety, not Political Correctness.

Steven Goulding

Health and safety is part and parcel with political correctness.

Caelvanir

7y↑1

Greetings to all the people from TvTropes.

PSderesistance

13y

trivial, shrill, pointless

Sam Hunt

12y↑1

I love Stephen Fry but this has nothing to do with political correctness.

Sara, High arbiter of the Universe

10y↑1

I do see an argument in the favour of this censure (which was not addressed). One might not want to equate shooting people etc. with phones and seatbelts because one might think that telly has a lesser impact on the former. Murder is already culturally unacceptable. No one would shoot someone in the face after seeing people getting shot in the face on telly, but they might drive unsafely. Not for seeing it once, mind you, but after seeing it a lot of times precisely because there is not a lot of stigma associated with it. Well, some stigma about the phones has been emerging lately, and there might never be a stigma for something that endangers only yourself (although there are for some things, such as obesity). But perhaps seatbelts and phones in cars are sitting on the fence to a greater extent that gunfire, which is safely stigmatized.

Carl Kamuti

Sara, High arbiter of the Universe I take it you are referring to children watching these programmes and normalizing bad behaviour, or do you believe adults can be inculcated by these shows. Because if its the former (as i think it probably is) then I believe this particular show is on after the watershed. And before somebody says "well kids don't take any notice of the watershed", if that's how directors thought they would only make Its A Wonderful Life. Anyway who honestly thinks TV has that sort of power anymore, if it ever did??

Rob Pegler

I think the problem is the notion that the government (or whatever agencies they assign the task) have to take a parenting role on behalf of the rest of us, and control what people can and can't see or hear in the media. The slightly condescending idea that if we don't see James Bond using his phone (while driving a burning car off a cliff) or John McLane smoking a cigarette (while throwing terrorists off the top of exploding buildings) then we'll somehow be influenced by their good example and be less inclined to do these things ourselves. That the reckless idiots of the world will stop being reckless idiots, or that the responsible people will cease to be responsible, based on what they allow to be shown in movies and television.

And most insulting of all, the idea that a group of people no more intelligent, insightful or wise than the rest of us are somehow qualified to decide what is and isn't "safe" and/or "appropriate" for us to see.

Sara, High arbiter of the Universe

9y↑1

@E101ification You just gave me the mental image of Dr. Claw from Gadget (the live action one) driving without a belt laughing uncontrollably. Thank you.

E101ification

@saraphilosophizes Then how about just show the villains doing those things, as they are the ones viewers will, presumably, not wish to emulate.

Hagane no Gijutsushi

Well, but while it is true that it might happen, we should fight it by teaching people to think critically of what they see and separate fiction from reality, not enforce that confusion by acting as if every bad behaviour on film should be slapped a "don't try this at home" badge on it or just plain forbidden. That's a paternalistic approach: hiding dangerous stuff because they could be imitated is what you do with children. Adults should be able to be responsible enough to tell the difference. If they're not it's not a problem with what they watch, it's a problem with the adults that aren't much so - but hey, if people weren't trained to be influenced by what they watch, they wouldn't fall for our commercials, right? Truth is, we are a society that instead of teaching and warding people against their own cognitive biases it fosters them because they're constantly reinforced by marketing.

2 More Replies...

Mallorca Mark

12y

Dionysos37. U say WE'RE Who do u mean,just to clarify ?

MrHennessy30

12y

I like Stephen Fry, I think he's great, but this is an exceedingly stupid argument. He ultimately falls back on the defence that if we can show shootings, we should be able to show people drive without seat-belts. It's a transparently ridiculous comparison, and it robs his argument, such as it were, of any merit it might have. I do in fact believe that a director should have the freedom to portray what they want to portray, but this is hardly a gross artistic compromise. Grow up Stephen.

eggory

12y

I think this kind of phoney, prissy rant gives English people a bad name. The subject matter is perfectly agreeable, but this fellow does it no justice.