The comedian Jordan Gray was born in Thurrock, Essex, in 1989. She started out as a singer, recording under the name Tall Dark Friend, and was a semi-finalist on The Voice in 2016 – the UK talent show’s first transgender contestant. She switched to comedy the following year and this August was nominated for an Edinburgh comedy award for her acclaimed show Is It a Bird?, which transfers to the Soho theatre from 13 to 23 December. She is the host of the podcast Transplaining and is developing her 2020 web series Transaction into a sitcom of the same name for ITV.
1. TV show
This is probably my favourite thing on TV at the moment. Jean Smart plays a Las Vegas comedian called Deborah Vance, whose act is getting tired, so she teams up with Hannah Einbinder’s character Eva Daniels, a young, entitled comedy writer. The show explores this strange, dark mentorship. In series two, they’re on the road as Deborah takes her new show around the country. It’s rare to see standup portrayed properly in scripted formats on film or TV, but Hacks does it really well. It’s very rich and very funny.
2. Music
I came across Lord Huron when one of their songs played in the finale of the US sitcom Community, my favourite show of all time. They’re an LA-based band who make cinematic music with a country, skiffly twist. It’s sweet and sultry with gorgeous male harmonies. If you’re feeling a bit down, it’s the kind of music that respects your emotional state but will introduce a sort of whimsy that might help you on your journey. The Night We Met is my favourite of their songs.
3. Film
My wife wanted to see a film with Harry Styles in it – she’s a fan – and I went along expecting a romantic comedy. Which it has pinches of, but then it takes a dystopian sci-fi twist. It’s set in a 50s-style utopian community in the Californian desert. Florence Pugh plays a wife whose idyllic life takes a hallucinatory turn. It’s paced very well, it looks gorgeous and it speaks to the society we’re living in. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
4. Market
South Bank Christmas market, London
I’m really looking forward to a bit of kitsch, twinkly fun this Christmas, so my wife and I are planning to go to the South Bank Christmas market. I haven’t been before, but I’m picturing mulled wine huts and lots of gaudy trinkets that will end up in a drawer for the rest of the year. My wife, who’s from the Czech Republic, is a big fan of Christmas. She really enjoys our little customs and traditions, so I’m trying to sell her the idea of a quintessential British Christmas without too much of the fanfare.
5. Restaurant
Dishoom, King’s Cross, London N1
My agent took me for a celebratory meal at [the Indian restaurant chain] Dishoom after the Edinburgh fringe. I really enjoyed it, though I did wonder if the experience was rose-tinted. Then we had an impromptu breakfast at the King’s Cross branch the other day with Richard Herring, and it definitely holds up. I had the egg naan breakfast wrap – the best combination of things you can imagine. Richard spent the first 15 minutes talking about how he wasn’t going to be eating carbs, but that went out the window.
6. Podcast
From the Oasthouse: The Alan Partridge Podcast, series two (Audible)
After years of being a radio and TV host, Alan Partridge has dived into podcasting, though he’s not entirely familiar with the conventions. There’s a lot of jeopardy in series two. He nearly drowns and gets trapped underground. He hasn’t quite figured out the genre, so in one episode he decides it’s a true-crime podcast because his house may have been broken into; in another, it’s a dating podcast. It’s wonderfully done.
