Aficionados of the John Wilson oeuvre will know that all the magic tends to happen in the space between the images and sounds. Wilson’s astonishing HBO show How To With John Wilson (the first two series of which are available on iPlayer) is in effect a dance between his narration, the tone of which relentlessly flicks from hilarious to thoughtful to moving, and the strange and disquieting self-shot montage of New York that accompanies it.
So you can only imagine how satisfying it is to learn that Wilson extends this technique to his Zoom calls. We have arranged to meet to discuss the third and final series of How To … and yet when Wilson hops on the line his backdrop is that of a ruined living room. It’s mouldy. Bits of the ceiling have dropped to the floor. There’s a level of destruction so comprehensive it’s hard to tell whether it was caused by anger or neglect.
