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Friday 27th November 2020 |
In one respect it does feel like time is plodding along slowly at the moment (when will all these lockdowns end?), but in another ... how on earth is it December next week? Wasn't Halloween only yesterday? And we're sure summer was just a fortnight ago. Did we get sucked into a calendar vortex?
Meanwhile... Books. There are a fair few of them around. And a lot more coming up! This week's newsletter is a special focusing on upcoming books you can now pre-order, including some new paperback editions. If books aren't your thing, sorry: but don't forget to check out our range of competitions.
If you're looking for Black Friday deals, sorry, we've not seen any of note: but it never hurts to check out the likes of Amazon, Waterstones, Zavvi, eBay and musicMagpie to see what you can pick up.
Books books books
Geoff Norcott - Where Did I Go Right?: How The Left Lost Me
Comedian Geoff Norcott should have been Labour through and through. He grew up on a council estate, both of his parents were disabled, and his Dad was a union man. So, how was it that he grew up to vote Tory?
The big myth about the British working-class is that they're born Left-wing and generally stay that way. The working class intention to vote Tory has frequently flirted with the 50% mark. Labour haven't won the popular vote in England since 2001. And as the Left is increasingly diverted by identity politics, the one identity they often forget is the working-class.
Written with warmth, wit and "often laugh-out-loud humour", Where Did I Go Right? is Geoff's attempt to understand why he ended up voting 'for the bad guys', and the perfect place to start if you want to understand why in Britain, blue-collar conservatism might be here to stay.
Tim Key - He Used Thought As A Wife
In March, Tim Key got locked down, found an orange pen and started writing poems. Then he started writing down his conversations. Zoom, phone, yelled heart-to-hearts from kitchen window to pavement. This book is the result. A paperback account of one man's experience of the most peculiar moment in our recent history.
Gina Yashere - Cack-Handed: A Memoir
The comedian and producer/writer of the CBS hit I Heart Abishola chronicles her odyssey to get to America and break into Hollywood in this lively and humorous memoir.
According to family superstition, Gina Yashere was born to fulfil the dreams of her grandmother Patience. The powerful first wife of a wealthy businessman, Patience was poisoned by her jealous sister-wives and marked with a spot on her neck. From birth, Gina carried a similar birthmark - a sign that she was her grandmother's chosen heir, and would fulfill Patience's dreams. Gina would learn to speak perfect English, live unfettered by men or children, work a man's job, and travel the world with a free spirit. Is she the reincarnation of her grandmother? Maybe. Gina isn't ruling anything out.
In Cack-Handed, she recalls her intergenerational journey to success foretold by her grandmother and fulfilled thousands of miles from home. This hilarious memoir tells the story of how from growing up as a child of Nigerian immigrants in working class London, running from skinheads, and her overprotective mum, Gina went on to become the first female engineer with the UK branch of Otis, the largest lift company in the world. Not believing her life was difficult enough, she later left engineering to become a stand-up comic, appearing on numerous television shows and becoming one of the top comedians in the UK, before giving it all up to move to the US...
Mark Thomas - 50 Things About Us: What We Really Need To Know About Britain
A fast and "furiously funny" journey through our national memory.
Thomas explains his thesis: "Patriotism is often the point where history and advertising intersect, and it was that brand of nationalism that Rees-Mogg and Johnson attempted to sell. It is a brand that can only hark backwards; a nostalgic nationalism built on half histories and wishes ... The kind of patriotism where the poetry of John Betjeman sits alongside blaming migrants for TB. But that is not our story. In fact, it is far from the narrative so many of us are a part of."
50 Things About Us is about "money, history, songs, gongs, wigs, unicorns, guns, bungs, sods of soil and rich f***ers".
Andi Osho - Asking For A Friend
Andi Osho's new novel is about three best friends who come up with a plan to solve their relationship woes once and for all.
Fed up with their love lives, Jemima, Meagan and Simi decide it's time to play the dating game by their own rules, so they're going to ditch the dating apps and ask people out in real life. The catch? They can only ask out potential dates for each other.
Jack Rooke - Cheer The F**K Up: How To Save Your Best Friend
Cheer The F**K Up is a "bold, brilliant and very personal account" of a young comedian's experiences with mental health. An ode to the importance of friendship, Jack Rooke takes us on a mission to better understand the reasons why so many people are struggling, and how we can all feel better equipped in knowing how to support that one friend we might be that bit more worried about.
Part comedic memoir, part advice guide, this book is a fresh and timely take on a huge issue very close to Jack's heart: in 2015, while working as an ambassador for a male mental health charity, he lost one of his best friends to suicide. Taking you on a journey through his life and experiences with grief, sexuality, depression and more, Jack offers his own frank and powerful advice on how best to have meaningful conversations about a loved one's state of mind.
If you missed the news this week, Rooke's just had his first sitcom commissioned by Channel 4.
Chris Head - Creating Comedy Narratives For Stage And Screen
This accessible and engaging text covering sketch, sitcom and comedy drama, alongside improvisation and stand-up, brings together a panoply of tools and techniques for creating short and long-form comedy narratives for live performance, TV and online.
Referencing a broad range of comedy from both sides of the Atlantic, spanning several decades and including material on contemporary internet sketches, it offers all kinds of useful advice on creating comic narratives for stage and screen: using life experience as raw material; constructing comedy worlds; creating comic characters, their relationships and interactions; structuring sketches, scenes and routines; and developing and plotting stories.
Author Chris Head also runs a variety of courses directly with British Comedy Guide, with discounts available to BCG Pro members.
Jenny Eclair - Older And Wider: A Survivor's Guide To The Menopause
Older And Wider is Jenny Eclair's "hilarious, irreverent and refreshingly honest" compendium of the menopause. Her whistle-stop tour of the menopause in all its glory will make every woman realise that it really isn't just you.
Jenny shares the surprising lessons she has learnt along the way as well as her hard-won tips on the joy of cardigans, dealing with the empty nest (get a lodger) and keeping the lid on the pressure cooker of your temper (count to twenty, ten is never enough).
Pippa Evans - Improv Your Life
An improviser's guide to embracing whatever life throws at you.
Pippa Evans is an expert in saying Yes - and No. She's a master of thinking on her feet, but has also had to learn how to go with the flow. In this book she's passing on everything she's learnt from her award winning improv career, as both a performer and teacher, so YOU can take centre stage in your own life.
In telling her story, delving into the craft of improvisation, and sharing fun exercises and practice you can do at home, Pippa will help you become fully yourself - realising your potential and ability to adapt to the ever changing world around you. It's dangerous, being yourself, but let's just take it one step at a time. Open the book, take a breath and get ready to say YES. (If it's a NO from you then perhaps consider buying for a friend, family member or enemy who you think needs some improv-ment.)
Jen Brister - The Other Mother
Stand-up comedian Jen Brister takes a "very funny, very honest" look at life as a parent: from IVF awfulness to crying over the pages of sleep training manuals. As 'the other mother' in a same sex partnership she has the perfect vantage point for us to laugh and cry alongside her.
Katy Brand - I Carried A Watermelon: Dirty Dancing And Me
I Carried A Watermelon is a love story to Dirty Dancing. A warm, witty and accessible look at how Katy Brand's life-long obsession with the film has influenced her own attitudes to sex, love, romance, rights and responsibilities. It explores the legacy of the film, from pushing women's stories to the forefront of commercial cinema, to its 'Gold Standard' depiction of abortion according to leading pro-choice campaigners, and its fresh and powerful take on the classic 'coming of age' story told from a naïve but idealistic 17-year-old girl's point of view.
Part memoir based on a personal obsession, part homage to a monster hit and a work of genius, Katy will explore her own memories and experiences, and talk to other fans of the film, to examine its legacy as a piece of filmmaking with a social agenda that many miss on first viewing. One of the most celebrated and viewed films ever made is about to have the time of its life.
Paul Tonkinson - 26.2 Miles To Happiness: A Comedian's Tale Of Running, Red Wine And Redemption
Paul Tonkinson writes about his attempts to beat the much lauded 3-hour mark at the London Marathon. With a supporting cast of fellow comedians, this book is described as a "warmly written and wonderfully honest adventure-through-sport that will both entertain and inspire".
The story of his alpine adventure to the Mayr Clinic with Michael McIntyre that pushes Paul to the limit is worth hearing.
Lee Ridley - I'm Only In It For The Parking
What's the worst thing about being disabled? Is it the shameless staring? Is it that people assume you're a bit thick because you can't speak? Or is it the fact that your friends always take you to theme parks just so they can jump the queues?
In fact, it's the stupid questions people ask that really rile Lee Ridley, aka Lost Voice Guy. And over the years he's been inundated with them by people who have failed to engage their brains before opening their mouths. Which is where I'm Only In It For The Parking comes in - think of it as a disabled FAQ, with funny (sometimes painfully funny) stories from Lee's less-ordinary life.
If you think you know what it's like to be disabled, prepare to have your perceptions skewered by the much-loved Britain's Got Talent winner, the brilliant stand-up who struggles to stand-up, the Geordie without the accent. And before you ask... no, he really can't speak at all. But he definitely has something to say.
Mel Giedroyc - The Best Things
The debut novel from Mel Giedroyc. It's the story of a family who lose everything, only to find themselves, and each other, along the way. As the bailiffs move in and the money runs out, Sally realises that she and her children don't have a clue about how to survive. Or do they? The Parkers are about to discover that the best things in life aren't things at all.
Katy Wix - Delicacy
From award-winning comedian and writer Katy Wix comes Delicacy - a different kind of memoir. Eleven snapshots of a life - some staccato, raw and shocking, some expansive, meditative, and profound, underpinned with moments of startling humour that shatter the darkness - all beginning with a single memory. A memory of cake.
The sickly royal icing marked the moment Katy found her voice. The madeira cake was the sun her group therapy sessions orbited. The 'missing cake' from a lost holiday has never let go. The Bara brith eaten in hospital after a life-altering car crash was as tough as the metal that hit her. The supermarket rock cake was where she 'practised wanting'.
"Shocking, raw, darkly funny and deeply humane", Katy Wix's exploration of trauma, grief, addiction, love, loss, memory and hope is "truly unforgettable".
Chris & Rosie Ramsey - Sh**ged. Married. Annoyed.
Chris and Rosie Ramsey, hosts of the number one podcast of the same name, write "hilariously and with honesty" about the universal highs and lows of life, dating, relationships, arguments, parenting and everything in between.
This book is already available in hardback, eBook and audiobook formats.
Sara Gibbs - Drama Queen
A memoir by comedy writer Sara Gibbs, focusing on her time growing up with autism. Sara looks back through her childhood, her teenage years into adulthood and considers "the embarrassing, heartbreaking and hilarious moments that make complete sense now she knows she is, in fact, not quite like everyone else, after all".
Daniel Sloss - Everyone You Hate Is Going To Die
According to Daniel Sloss, his show about bad relationships has caused 120 divorces and some 50,000 break-ups. Now he's written a book. In it, he "goes after every conceivable kind of relationship between two people" - with one's country, with America, with lovers, ex-lovers, ex-lovers who you hate, ex-lovers who hate you, parents, best friends (male and female), not-best friends, children, and siblings.
Louis Barfe - Sunshine And Laughter: The Story Of Morecambe & Wise
The latest book covering Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise - Britain's most iconic and celebrated comedy double act.
British television has hosted some celebrated double acts over the years - from the Two Ronnies to Reeves & Mortimer, from French & Saunders to Fry & Laurie and from Mitchell & Webb to Matt Lucas and David Walliams. But none of these acclaimed duos come within a million miles of challenging the cherished place in television's golden age occupied by Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise, whose partnership lasted from 1941 to Morecambe's death in 1984. Icons of British television in the 1970s, Eric and Ernie were, in the words of one commentator "the most illustrious, and the best-loved, double-act that Britain has ever produced".
"Funny, human and incisive", Sunshine And Laughter gets to the heart of what made TV's most enduringly popular double act tick.
Matt Winning - Hot Mess
For fans of Randall Munro's What If?, Matt Parker's Humble Pi, and anyone looking for practical tips on how to stop the end of the world! Dr Matt Winning is a stand-up comedian and environmental economist with a PHD in climate change policy, which means he's the sort of doctor who will rush to your side if you fall ill on a plane, but only to berate you for flying.
We are currently facing a global climate emergency. You've probably noticed. But why does the end of the world need to be so depressing? Hot Mess aims to both lighten the mood and enlighten readers on climate change. This is a book for people who care about climate change but aren't doing much about it, helping readers understand what the main causes of climate change are, what changes are needed, and what they can (and cannot) do about it. But, most importantly, it is book that'll help people find the comedy in climate change, because if we can do that, well, we can do bloody anything.
Sukh Ojla - Sunny
A novel from rising star comedian Sukh Ojla.
Sunny is the queen of living a double life. On the one hand, she's thirty, flirty and thriving. But on the other, she's just moved back in with her parents while all her friends are getting married, buying houses and having babies. To complicate matters further, she's a secret serial dater, sneaking out of the house every night, leaving her parents with a trail of little white lies.
But one day, her two lives collide in her parents' hallway as she's trying to slip out the front door under the cover of darkness. Only the truth will get her out of this one ... But to Sunny's horror, her mum isn't as appalled as expected, and instead offers a strange deal. Sunny can keep going on dates, as long as Sunny's mum gets to choose who she dates. What could be worse?! After numerous cringeworthy, awkward and sometimes soul-destroying dates, Sunny has the chance to stop lying to her mum and start being honest ... about everything.
Richard Osman - The Thursday Murder Club 2
The second novel in TV presenter and producer Richard Osman's record-breaking new crime-solving series.
Cariad Lloyd - You Are Not Alone
Inspired by her award-winning podcast, Griefcast, You Are Not Alone is Cariad Lloyd's frank, funny and compassionate exploration of grief.
When Cariad lost her father at the age of fifteen, people didn't talk about death. Years later, when she created Griefcast, it started a conversation that people didn't realise they needed until it was there, about one of the most significant events in a person's life: its end. In You Are Not Alone, Cariad shares all that she has learned from Griefcast. She reflects on her own grief, the grief of others, and the psychology and science behind how our society deals with death and loss. Funeral thoughts, therapy, coping with anniversaries, bad friends, good friends, birthdays, weddings, missing them, not missing them - this is grief in all its sad, surprising, awkward, tender and sometimes funny forms.
You Are Not Alone is a road map for all of us: for anybody who has ever felt lost in grief, who would like to help someone they know through theirs, or who just wants to understand life a little better.
For more, see our full list of new releases and products coming soon.
Thanks for reading
You can find our full comedy shop on our website at any time, and some of the best new release news, competitions and bargains on Twitter: @BritComedyShop.
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www.comedy.co.uk
