My worst moment: Alan Cumming and the concussion, fake swastika tattoo and sleeping pills. Life is a cabaret, old chum

In his newest memoir “Baggage: Tales From a Fully Packed Life,” actor Alan Cumming continues to examine the strangeness of human existence as filtered through stories about his personal and professional life, the latter of which includes everything from film (from “Spice World” to the “X-Men” movies), television (notably “The Good Wife”) and theater, where he won a Tony Award in 1998 for his performance in “Cabaret” on Broadway.

Cumming is a prolific writer, but what prompted this latest book? “It’s almost a reaction to the reaction to my last memoir,” he said, referring to “Not My Father’s Son,” which was published in 2014. “There was a rhetoric surrounding the book that was sort of saying: Alan has overcome, Alan has triumphed, Alan has conquered his past. And I just felt that was dangerous. I haven’t overcome. I haven’t conquered anything. I’ve managed my past. That’s what we all do. But I think it’s quite an American thing