Cultural Life: Tim Minchin, comedian

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Books: Christopher Hitchens's autobiography, 'Hitch 22', is a poignant read, and very interesting because I have a very poor knowledge of recent political history – or for that matter distant political history. I'm also reading 'Jasper Jones' by Craig Silvey, about an Aboriginal kid and a white kid who find a dead woman, hanging from a rope. I was completely sucked in.

Films: The only film I've seen recently is 'Griff the Invisible', written and directed by a friend of mine, Leon Ford. Ryan Kwanten, from 'True Blood', stars in it. It's about a guy who thinks he's a superhero. Really it's a gentle love story based around a guy who's a bit nuts and gets bullied a lot, but has this alter ego that allows him to see the world as a less miserable place.

Television: I never watch television, although the other night my wife and I caught an episode of 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer', from season six. It's the only series of which I've ever watched every single episode.

Theatre: I saw 'The Wild Duck' at the Belvoir St Theatre in Sydney, and it was one of the best pieces of theatre I'd ever seen. Re-translating Ibsen for a modern context could just turn into a melodramatic bunch of nonsense, but it was so beautifully performed and – typical Ibsen – heartbreaking.

Theatre: There's a place called MONA, the Museum of Old and New Art, which was built by a dude called David Walsh in Hobart, Tasmania. He dug a massive hole in a hill and built this huge underground lair, into which he put the most extraordinary collection of modern art I've ever seen – much more intriguing than the Tate Modern. It would be worth flying to Tasmania for no other reason than to see this exhibition.

Tim Minchin and his orchestra start their tour of the UK at the Edinburgh Playhouse on 16 April (www.timminchin.com)