Joe Queenan anyone?

[Mobbd]

Thanks to @jsgibble's Boba Fett-like hunting prowess, I was able to listen last night to a 2006 episode of Radio 4's With Great Pleasure presented by one S. Lee.

There's much treasure in there but an item that stood out to me was a brutally funny take-down of West End musical theatre by Joe Queenan.

Now. I've heard that name before but I've not yet read him. There will be fans and admirers of his work here. So tell us about him please.

Here are some book-related (because Shelf Abuse) quotes from him, piffed from GoodReads to add value to an otherwise favour-asking post:

"I dread that awkward moment when a friend hands you the book that changed his or her life, and it is a book that you have despised since you were fourteen."

"If you have read 6,000 books in your lifetime, or even 600, it's probably because at some level you find 'reality' a bit of a disappointment."

"A friend once told me that the real message Bram Stoker sought to convey in 'Dracula' is that a human being needs to live hundreds and hundreds of years to get all his reading done; that Count Dracula, basically nothing more than a misunderstood bookworm, was draining blood from the necks of 10,000 hapless virgins not because he was the apotheosis of pure evil but because it was the only way he could live long enough to polish off his extensive reading list. But I have no way of knowing if this is true, as I have not yet found time to read 'Dracula."

[13 schoolyards]

I was a bit of a fan of his many years ago - his movie related books were pretty good from what I remember. He had a pretty good bullshit detector and (I think) reasonable taste, so his observations about the business seemed pretty spot on. Not all that interested in what he was doing outside of that, but he could be a pretty funny guy when he turned his mind to it.

Also, he's not dead! I was sure he'd passed a few years back, but presumably I'd confused him with PJ O'Rourke or some other snarky US author

[Small Man Big Horse]

I read "If You're Talking To Me, Your Career Must Be In Trouble" when it came out, really loved it, and then forgot about him completely, which I can't explain at all.

[Small Potatoes]

I read "If You're Talking To Me, Your Career Must Be In Trouble" when it came out, really loved it, and then forgot about him completely, which I can't explain at all.

His essay on Melanie Griffith in that collection made me laugh until stuff came out my nose.

[Dr Rock]

I too was a fan, 'back in the day'

[holyzombiejesus]

I used to like his 'Micky Rourke for a day' article where he went round saying motherfucker and stubbing out Marlboroughs with the heel of his boot.

[Epic Bisto]

I used to have a copy of his book The Unkindest Cut, about how he tried and failed to make a movie $2 cheaper than "El Mariachi".  I really enjoyed it at the time but haven't checked anything else of his out, much to my shame.