Writer and director Edgar Wright first joined forces with Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Jessica Hynes and Nira Park to create C4's cult sitcom Spaced in 1999. Continuing the collaboration, he co-wrote and directed the Cornetto film trilogy – Shaun of the Dead (2004), Hot Fuzz (2007) and The World's End (2013). In 2010, Wright made the action comedy Scott Pilgrim vs the World, before teaming up with Steven Moffat and Joe Cornish to write The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn. The World's End is out now as a download or on DVD and Blu-ray.

Music: Reflektor by Arcade Fire

I've always been a fan of Arcade Fire, but this album I find even more hypnotic. It's interesting because it got a slightly mixed reaction: either rave reviews or people not liking it at all, but I'm firmly in the "raves" camp. It's a great dance album. I actually saw them on Halloween at the (Hollywood) Palladium in Los Angeles, which was the perfect thing to do on Halloween. I've seen them live a couple of times actually, but this was a really amazing gig. It's a really immersive album because it's about 70 minutes long and all the tracks are around six or seven minutes.

Venue: The Invisible Dot

I've been watching lots of comedy this year. When I was editing The World's End, I would go out and see a different comedy gig every night and I went to see a bunch of stuff at the Invisible Dot in King's Cross. It's a really interesting venue. They do a night called The New Wave which features lots of up-and-coming people. There's only about 60 seats, but it's a good tryout spot… It's got a New York warehouse feel to it, which is kind of cool. Sometimes I go to standup to see if there are comedians I might want to cast in things.

Television: Toast of London

I really enjoyed this sitcom about a veteran actor in Soho who is quite the ham. I guess it's sort of based on theatre actors who a) do lots of voiceovers and b) probably spend way too long hanging out at Gerry's bar on Dean Street. It was very, very funny and written by Matt Berry and Arthur Mathews. It's just finished on C4 but I watched the whole thing on 4OD. It's extremely silly, with a great cast. When I was making TV I would go to some of the members' clubs a bit more than I do now and so it reminded me a bit of that.

Film: Gravity

I've seen this twice already on the big screen. The same composer who did [the music for] The World's End also did Gravity, and I know Alfonso (Cuarón) reasonably well, so I've been aware of this movie since 2010 and heard tales of what an epic undertaking it was. I think that one of the greatest things about it is that it has reminded people of what the big-screen experience is like. It's very pleasing that not only has it been a hit, but for word to get round that you have to see this on the big screen – don't wait until it's on TV, see it on the biggest screen you can. Spectacle is really important. This is not a film to watch on your iPad.

Theatre: Chimerica

I saw Chimerica at the Almeida and it starred Benedict Wong, whom I know from his comedy stuff: he's been in Look Around You and 15 Storeys High. It was so good to see him as the dramatic lead in this play. It's a very powerful piece of theatre centring around the events of Tiananmen Square. It also had a great production design – Tiananmen Square was represented by this cube that would revolve. There was a really nice detail where you would see the underclass and the service industry during scene changes… which was a very clever way of reminding you of "the little people" in among these major issues.

Book: The People's Songs by Stuart Maconie

This is based on Stuart Maconie (left)'s radio series about the history of Britain since the invention of the top 40. I'm a big sucker for nonfiction, both biographies and books about music and film, and this was a particularly interesting one. It has 50 chapters which deal with nearly every subgenre of British popular music in the last 60 years. It includes the history of songs that I love, like Ghost Town by the Specials, as well as plenty of other songs that I'm not so crazy about. I like reading about the social impact of massive hits. I find that stuff fascinating. I read it in two days straight.