My Weekend: The Thick Of It's Will Smith
I HAVE a new baby. My first. He's only a few weeks old so I'm still at that stage where I'm happy to be up all night looking at him. I'm sure that will wear off.
So, he's pretty much dominating my weekends these days. It's all change. I'll be packing away the Xbox for the next six or seven years. I was quite a social gamer. I liked playing it with people in the room. Probably because I get scared playing the big zombie games like Doom on my own.
I was into Crackdown. You're a cop and you get stronger the more you attack people. And you get to leap over buildings. That was awesome. Halo is the best.
Friday evenings I would normally be gigging. So the routine would be to eat, go out and gig, come back and watch whatever I'd missed on Sky Plus.
I'm watching Hung on More4. It's about a sport teacher who is down on his luck, who ends up hiring himself out as a gigolo. It's a HBO show and I try and watch all HBO shows. I've done The Sopranos, The Wire, Deadwood and Curb Your Enthusiasm. I'm a huge Larry David fan.
The Shield is one of the best shows ever.
I have watched most of The Thick Of It as they're broadcast as well. I do nudge the missus and go' that was my line', of course.
During the day I do write. I'm writing a film with Armando Iannucci, who I write with for The Thick Of It. He wants to do a big slapstick farce. It's going to very different from In The Loop, but I'm not allowed to say any more at this stage.
I'm reading a lot of European Victorian literature. I know that sounds really pretentious. I've just finished a book by Balzac. David Simon who created The Wire referenced it as one of the influences on him.
Now I'm reading a Victor Hugo. I think the Victorian novel is just the apex of art.
I will read a best-selling thriller on holiday but I just don't get enough from it.
DVD wise, I do have Getting On, which is the Jo Brand series set on a nursing ward. It's also got Joanna Scanlan, who is in The Thick Of It and Peter Capaldi directed it.
The last thing I saw at the cinemas was Up, which was great although not quite as good as Wall-E.
I really want see 2012 because it looks amazing and stupid. I do like a big wave. And the Robert Zemeckis/Jim Carrey film A Christmas Carol looks fantastic. I loved Beowulf. I thought that was one of the best films in recent years.
Before we got married we went on a wedding diet and I lost two stone by not eating carbs and running at the gym. I try to keep that up to stay in shape. I don't want to be on stage sweating and looking out of breath.
My perfect weekend would involve a Sunday roast, made by me, and sitting in front of DVD box set. That's pretty heavenly for me.
Will Smith appears with Johnny Vegas, Jim Jefferies, Phil Nichol and Charlie Baker as part of the Just The Tonic Christmas Special at the Royal Concert Hall on Monday, 7.30pm. Tickets are £20 on 0115 989 5555.














2 Comments
by Fred, Portland, Oregon USA
Friday, December 18 2009, 5:36PM
“As I'm interested in all things Simon, I'd like to know which Balzac inspired him. Thanks.”
by Fred Leonhardt, Portland, Oregon USA
Friday, December 18 2009, 5:35PM
“As I'm interested in all things Simon, which Balzac influenced him?”