Readings.com.au: Comedians on themselves

Dear Fatty: My Autobiography Of Me

Dawn French is one of the greatest comedy actresses of our time, wtih a career that has spanned nearly three decades, encompassing a vast and brilliant array of characters. Loved for her irreverant humour, Dawn has achieved massive mainstream success while continuing to push boundaries and challenge stereotypes. Here she describes the journey that would eventually establish her as a perhaps unlikely, but nevertheless genuine, national treasure.

Dawn began her career as part of the groundbreaking alternative comedy group, the Comic Strip, marking a radical departure from the more traditional comedy acts of the time. Later came the all-female Girls On Top, which teamed Dawn with Jennifer Saunders, Ruby Wax and Tracy Ullman and firmly established women in British comedy.

As part of the wildly successful and much loved duo French and Saunders, Dawn helped create a repetoire of brilliantly observed characters, parodying popular culture and impersonating everything from Madonna and Harry Potter to The Exorcist. Dawn's more recent role in the Vicar of Dibley showcased not only her talent but also her ability to take a controversial and topical issue and make it mainstream - and very funny.

From her early years as an RAF child and her flat-sharing antics with Jennifer Saunders, to her outspoken views on sizism and her marriage to Lenny Henry, Dear Fatty will chronicle the extraordinary, hilarious rise of a complex, dynamic and unstoppable woman.

Silent Comedy

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Stop Me If You've Heard This

A priest, a rabbi and a minister walk into a bar. 'What is this' the barman says, 'some kind of joke?'

As he laughs his way though the history of jokes, Jim Holt discovers that most of those we trade are actually hundreds of years old: Palamedes, a Greek hero of the Trojan War, is credited with inventing the joke (before being stoned to death) and it was Philip the Great of Macedon in the 4th century BC who paid to have the first joke book compiled. In describing how they've changed over time (one of the funniest things to ancient audiences was lettuce), we come across not only the oldest but the rudest, the shortest and, allegedly, the funniest.

And why do we laugh at these jokes? Holt explores the various theories: for Freud, laughter liberates us from forbidden thoughts and feelings. For Plato, we feel a sudden glory when we see, say, someone tripping on a banana-skin. For Kant, we laugh when the logical dissolves into the absurd. Holt also discusses a new way of combining these theories (and looks at those who don't laugh at all - Isaac Newton laughed only once in his life, and Jesus might have wept, but did he laugh?).

As for where do jokes come from, one theory is that they're made up by prisoners who have a lot of spare time, and a captive audience ...

The Lucy Family Alphabet

Judith Lucy has been cracking jokes about her parents for years. But when a birth relative's casual comment implied that she despised them, Judith was shocked. Sure, she had been talking about Ann and Tony Lucy like they were one-dimensional Irish nutbags who'd ruined her life for years, but there was always more to them and her own feelings than that.

So Judith decided it was time to write the full story of her parents and her childhood. And here it is, a reference book on all things Lucy from:

A is for Adoption (she is) to C is for Cleaning (they didn't) and for Counselling (you'll find out why she had a lot of it) to D is for Diets (she was put on one at eight) to H is for Heart Attack (her father's) to M is for Make Up (her father's) to N is for Nuts (there was a falling out over testicles) to R is for Review (to do with Nuts) to T is for Tanscendental Meditation (it didn't work) to X is for Xmas (when a lot of this started) and beyond...

In amongst the gags Judith explores the people her parents were and the impact of finding out - at twenty-five - that she was adopted. We meet Judith's birth mother by learn that ultimately it was her very unusual parents who made her who she is today.

The Lucy Family Alphabet is funny and ruthlessly honest, but also a moving tribute to the lunatics who raised one of Australia's best-known comedians.

Playing Poker With The SAS

Over Christmas and New Year 2006–07 I went to Iraq, Kuwait, Afghanistan and some other countries I cannot name, to entertain the Australian troops. It was not because I wanted to aid the war effort. It was not because I wanted to support the diggers. It was just because I wanted to have a bit of a look. This entertaining and eye-opening book is comedian Tom Gleeson’s account of what he saw when he went to entertain Australian troops in the Middle East. Showing that he’s willing to do anything to get a laugh – even get shot – Tom does all kinds of stuff he would never usually be allowed to do: fire machine guns, drive tanks in a drag race, hang out in the Green Zone in Baghdad, and play poker with the SAS. It’s a trip that changes his life.

All That Happened At Number 26

I’ll never forget the first time John and I saw number 26. We just knew it was going to be ours. It was so awful and ugly and repulsive in every way, not to mention the fact that it was located in a suburb I had sworn I’d rather die than live in, that we knew we had a great chance of getting it.’ And so Denise Scott moved into number 26, with a husband, his circus equipment, a king-sized futon (but not a base), a Ventolin inhaler (to cope with stress-induced asthma), no savings to speak of and their newborn baby. The husband lost his eyebrows; the circus equipment multiplied, spilling over into any available space; the futon went mouldy; the Ventolin ran out; and another baby was added to the family, putting paid to any ideas of further savings. Forget about future plans, it was enough just to make it through the day. All lives have their hiccups, though, and this is no misery memoir - far from it. The life that Denise and her husband John created in their ramshackle house is one of warmth, humour and good old-fashioned ingenuity. When the roof leaked, the kids wore raincoats. When the kids developed eczema, Denise devised a menu consisting entirely of adzuki beans. And when the council dismantled play equipment at the local park, John built a cubby house with it – so what if it was sprayed with arsenic? It’s not as if the kids were going to lick the walls. Written with Denise’s trademark candour, All that Happened at Number 26 is part memoir, part stand-up and completely beguiling. Showing exactly what it takes to hold it all together when you want to follow your career dreams, maintain the love in a marriage, bring up kids who will get up off the couch, and look after an ageing parent – all while retaining a healthy sense of self-doubt – this book is a heartwarmer for anyone.

My Booky Wook

'My life is a series of embarrassing incidents strung together by telling people about those embarrassing incidents.'Russell Brand's scandalous reminiscences were always going to have a literary flavour. But nothing you've heard him say on stage, radio or TV can prepare you for the impact of this beautifully written memoir. From his troubled childhood in Essex and his addictions to drink, drugs and sex, to his giddy rise through the world of entertainment, this is not simply a story of fame but of redemption, achingly and hilariously honest throughout.

Lenny Bruce: Let The Buyer Beware

Considering what an enormous impact Lenny Bruce had on modern social mores, satire, politics, and entertainment, it's surprising that a box set of his material didn't appear until nearly four decades after his 1966 death. LET THE BUYER BEWARE ... Full Descriptionpresents six discs' worth of Bruce at his best. Shockingly, it consists predominantly of previously unreleased recordings. For as much fine Bruce work as there is on previous releases, the mercurial, spontaneous nature of his art was such that even the performances that had fallen through the cracks, as on this set, were masterpieces in and of themselves.

Listening to Bruce's humanistic but uncompromising skewering of everything from legal and moral hypocrisy to jazz musicians and fellow comedians, it also becomes apparent how much craftsmanship actually went into his free-wheeling style. Many of the routines heard here exist in different forms on other Bruce albums, and comparisons reveal the masterful manner in which Bruce would branch off and experiment even within a predetermined framework. While some of the references may sound dated to 21st-century ears, the incisive themes and expert comic technique in abundance on LET THE BUYER BEWARE make it clear why Bruce remains an iconoclastic legend.Entertainment Weekly (p.180) - "[T]he definitive audio-biography of Bruce as a revolutionary craftsman and antic wit." Down Beat (pp.80-1) - 5 stars out of 5 - "Bruce challenged contentment, especially when polished in the gloss of hypocrisy. He spoke the language of jazz in his monologues, which were more like free-form satirical essays and psychodramas laced with Yiddish slang than standup bits."

Born Standing Up

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And It's Goodnight From Him: The Autobiography Of The Two Ronnies

On 1st April 1971, The Two Ronnies aired for the first time on the BBC. It quickly became one of the most successful and long running television comedy shows ever on British television and its stars – Ronnie Barker and Ronnie Corbett – national treasures. For the first time ever, Ronnie Corbett takes us behind the scenes and into the world of The Two Ronnies. He tells the real story of the legendary duo that bought us 'Piggy Malone' and 'Charley Farley', 'The Phantom Raspberry Blower of Old London Town', 'Magnus Magnusson' and 'Charlie Smithers', 'Humphrey and Godfrey', 'The Allotment', 'But First the News' and not forgetting the elaborate and hilarious 'Musical Segment'. But this isn't just a book about the much-loved characters of The Two Ronnies sketch show. It is a story of a partnership and a friendship so close that throughout the years that Ronnie Corbett and Ronnie Barker worked together, there was never a cross word between them. An honest, funny and touching account of one of our best-loved comedy double acts.