Reviewed as part of the Raworths Harrogate Literature Festivals 2025.
Helen Lederer has been a familiar face in British comedy since the 1980s. Starting out as a stand up at The Comedy Store in London, she quickly started getting parts in her contemporaries’ TV shows, most notably playing Catriona in Absolutely Fabulous, a role she is still instantly recognisable from even now, as well as supporting roles in French and Saunders, Bottom and Naked Video. She was one of the first female stand-up comedians to feature on ITV’s Saturday Night Live, and she has trod the boards in a number of West End stage shows, as well as playing herself in a host of gameshows, reality TV shows and podcasts. Her first novel Losing It was published in 2015, she established the Comedy Women in Print Award in 2019, and now she has released her memoirs Not That I’m Bitter, the subject of this talk.
Not That I’m Bitter is an ironically named book, as it seems Lederer is actually rather more bitter than she initially realised. Throughout the conversation style talk she is quite negative towards her peers, including host Matt Stadlen, although she claims it is mostly banter. She does acknowledge the joy of collaboration, but then describes herself as ‘Division B famous’, seemingly beneath her more famous costars. While there is wit and charm in the delivery, there’s a darkness behind the words hinting at some unresolved feelings.
It would have been nice to hear more anecdotes from Lederer through the talk. When she does starts to tell tales of her time on Come Dine With Me and the weirdness of an acting workshop with John Cleese for her recent theatrical Fawlty Towers run there’s a sparkly eyed joy there. The rest of the time Lederer is a rambling, confused sounding mess. Stadlen does try to corral and refocus her, but she rarely answers a question straight, and often hedges and conceals and occasionally outright refuses to broach a topic, while claiming that her memoir is unflinchingly honest. Having walked on stage with a glass of wine in hand there’s a suspicion that it isn’t her first drink of the evening, which may explain the discursive stream of consciousness.
Lederer has had an interesting career, and it is a shame that this talk didn’t speak much to it, nor does she take the opportunity to be serious about topics like women in comedy and the changing landscape, even though ins are given for both. While she is entertaining to listen to, and can certainly hold the attention of her audience, for the sake of her book it is to be hoped that she is better in writing than in conversation.
Reviewed on Saturday 18 October 2025
