"Hearing this Leonard Cohen stuff, after listening to the Red Hot Chilli Peppers it was like ‘this sounds like bullshit!’, I didn’t understand the layers of intellect that had gone into making that record, and the large element of humour. My dad is into Leonard Cohen, I remember hearing the older stuff, then my sister was getting into it because she was becoming very literary. I was basically absorbing Leonard Cohen but I wasn’t crazy about it. I remember hearing ‘The Story Of Isaac’ as a child and thinking ‘god, this is fully intense, it’s so bare’. I remember hearing I’m Your Man it and at first finding it a really odd, unenjoyable experience, but now I realise that it’s a very curious idea, this industrial Leonard Cohen record, it’s really cool! ‘First We Take Manhattan’, imagine being a musician and being able to put a song like that out."

"A lot of people will be like, “What?” but Jim Carrey’s best performance, possibly most grounded. I know that sounds crazy, but when you really think about the character, he’s amazing in it. Every frame he’s just electric. I could watch that movie a thousand times. I think it’s beautifully directed by Ben Stiller, who’s probably the best commercial comedy director of all time. I almost put Reality Bites on this list, he’s so good. It’s just so f*cking funny, and every scene in that movie is populated with the most genius comedic minds. Jack Black, Bob Odenkirk, David Cross, Owen Wilson — they’re all in that movie, and they all play hugely important small parts. They’re all amazing. It’s dark and f*cked up, and I just love that f*cking movie so much. That may be Judd Apatow’s best film. It’s so good, it’s so good."

"One of my favourite albums. I love Gary Brooker, and I loved Robin Trower when he was playing cool stuff. I never followed him after he started trying to turn into Hendrix. I didn't get it. What's he doing this for? Hendrix has already done this. Procul Harum made great music that was related to the classics, but with crazy lyrics. I still don't know what half the lyrics are about: 'Repent Walpurgis' [from their debut album], I still don't know what that means. But it was intriguing to me. A Salty Dog is beautiful, and this reminds me of an era when keyboards didn't interfere with the guitar, just like Soft Machine. It's the kind of music that takes up where 'I Am The Walrus' takes off. And these were all great singers. The only ratty singer I liked was Roger Chapman out of Family."

"Full disclosure: Amy is a friend, and I have tasted her cupcakes. They’re really, really good. (And that is not a euphemism.) I Like You is a spin on those 1960s cookbooks about how to make a nice home and how to entertain. I picked it because I love the character Amy plays: a hostess from the ’60s, in cheap hosiery, wigs, and crazy costumes. But it’s also got recipes for a delicious meatloaf and advice on how to deal with drunk guests. My favorite tip is that when you’re having a party, you should fill your medicine cabinet with marbles—so that when people are snooping, they get caught. I know that Amy really does like to entertain that way. Sometimes she’ll charge people 25 cents to take a picture with a stuffed rabbit. The book is hilarious, beautifully designed, and captures Amy in so many ways"