Eliza Hooper: A Few Of My Favourite Things

The best Favourite Things give an insight into the author's influences through subtle (and often not so subtle) hints, and with Eliza Hooper's John Waters/Simpsons/family-focused selection, it's clear where the compdy comes from.

Having written and directed work for HBO, Comedy Central, ABC and Funny Or Die, the Even/Odd director has worked on campaigns for brands including Budweiser, Cash App, Old Spice and Meta.

Here, she shares the pooches, pictures and peculiar objects helping her make a new workspace feel like home.

The Morning Commute

I have a little standalone office behind our home in Glendale, California.

I love being greeted by bougainvillea each morning, especially when it’s lush like this.

It’s a visual that sets the tone for the day and invites me to dream.

The interior is still a work in progress.

We moved here after almost a year of bouncing around following the Eaton Fire.

We were in Pasadena before this.

Like many people in the Altadena and Pasadena communities, our home sustained serious smoke damage during the fire and requires work before we can return, so most of what’s in my current office is borrowed or recently acquired.

Beyond the obvious existential questions it has triggered, the past year and a half has made me examine what inspires me.

What do I need to do good work?

Which items are actually most important to me?

I’m still figuring it out as I put this new space together.

The Dog

One thing I cannot live without is a furry friend by my feet.

This is my dog Hamish.

He’s a schnoodle mix and my most devoted work companion.

I have another dog, Fritz, who is a terrier mix and can’t sit still.

Wherever he is right now, he’s causing mayhem.

The Signed John Waters Poster

I grew up in Southern California, which I feel automatically exposes you to a fair amount of kitsch.

On top of that, my mother was really dedicated to introducing us to pop and counterculture, among other things.

She’d read us Lynda Barry comics, play B-52s CDs and show us John Waters movies, though not all of them.

Something about the colour and humour in these works really shaped me.

Anyway, a few years ago I went to a screening of Hairspray and met John Waters, who gave me some practical writing advice and signed this poster for me.

It was a childhood dream come true, which is probably a weird thing for a child to want, but I was a weird child!

The Digital Debris

Lately I’ve pitched on a lot of analogue-inspired projects, so I think of this place often.

It’s a video gallery in Glassell Park, though I avoid mining from it directly because I want to respect what they’ve created.

It’s one of the last authentic places, in my opinion, and something about it feels like the LA I grew up in.

Their motto is “Smoke weed, look around”, but I would add “Get inspired” to that.

The Family Photo

This is a photo of my mother, sisters and my great-aunt Mary.

It was taken at a family member’s memorial on Prince Edward Island, Canada.

The wind was so fierce that day it had already knocked the screen door off our porch.

But we wanted a photo together in a place that was special to us.

The closer we stood, the stronger we were against the elements.

I love the joy and strength this picture projects.

It reminds me that there are ways to access this even when conditions are rough.

The Calendario Romano

My husband brought this back for me from Rome.

I like it because it confirms what we all suspected: priests can be sexy too.

This calendar was actually in the news recently after one of the “priests” admitted to not being a man of the cloth at all, which was shocking... to no one.

The Bart Head

This was my husband’s childhood Bart Simpson bank.

It doesn’t really fit in anywhere at our new place, but then I found this perfect little cubby for it in my office.

When I was in my 20s I was a writers’ PA on The Simpsons for about two years.

I’d always watched the show, but I don’t think I understood until recently what an influence it was on me.

From timing to joke structure, it really left an impression.

This wasn’t something I was aware of while I was there.

I was still sharpening my comedic perspective and understanding it, really, but I can look back on that time now and appreciate that I was part of something historic.

Is that hyperbole?

Maybe so.

But it was a special, weird little thing to play a part in.