Articles of Faith by Russell Brand

Book review: “Articles of Faith” is a book by Russell Brand about football. Don’t be getting it though if you want a companion to his Booky Wook books or his DVD shows unless you like football.

Basically the book is a “collection of columns” that Brand wrote for the Guardian newspaper during the 2007-08 season. There is a smidgeon of added value with some extras that you wouldn’t have originally got with your newspaper, these mainly being the cover “in which I am inadvisedly posing as Christ”, and three interviews with famous football fans – a humorous discussion of the football songs “Three Lions” and “I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles” with David Baddiel, a rushed interview with James Corden about West Ham, and a chat about Manchester City becoming the richest club in the world with Noel Gallagher.

The “rattishly indulged” articles “focus chiefly on Brand’s reaction to the phenomena of football culture” rather than focusing on the football itself, and are done in the Russell Brand style with plenty of poetic and fruity language, lots of analogies, e.g. “like a knicker thief suddenly made manager of a laundrette”, and many a “wacky, sideways” view, e.g. “I enjoyed his scissor-kick somersault celebration although I’d be the first to condemn him if he did it in a refuge for battered women.”

The presentation is lavish with colour illustrations relating to the text throughout, such as one of “former Blades boss Neil Warnock poised in a circle of stone, stinking of chicken’s blood, spewing white-eyed incantations and clutching a buckled dolly of West Ham player Julien Faubert”, but never actual photos of any of the football or footballers, the only photos being promo shots of Brand, pencil in hand (for example).

As for the football this was the season when Steve McClaren’s England “smashed to bits” the “beautiful distraction of Euro 2008”, and where “poor unlovable Avram’s” Chelsea and Manchester United contested the Champions League final. As there is no context presented between articles a basic knowledge of what went on in the football world at this time, as well as the characters, is advisable.

Overall then what you have here is a funny, episodic read about the 2007-08 English football season, with a slight West Ham bias (Brand being a West Ham supporter). His last words are “Football does not make sense” so ultimately this book probably doesn’t make sense, but I thought it was a good read anyway.

Published: 15 Oct 2008

Available on AMAZON UK

Danny Dread by Ben Davis

Book Review: "Despicable Me meets Diary of  a Wimpy Kid" says the description of this book "Danny Dread". The Diary of a Wimpy Kid element is because it follows Danny Dread who is a bit of a wimpy kid, "wouldn't even hurt a fly", and the Despicable Me element because of the villainous, comical scheming that goes on through the book reminiscent of Gru attempting to steal the moon.

Danny Dread is a boy, "the latest in line of the dastardly Dread clan of super villains". The only problem is he doesn't want to be a super villain, he dreams instead of being a superhero. And so the book follows him at "Demento's Academy for Young Evil Geniuses" where bullying isn't frowned upon, it's encouraged, and where Danny fails every subject. From there his secret desire to be a superhero is revealed, but what is his superpower? To mimic voices? And so he calls his alter-ego Mynah boy (after the Mynah bird), not to be confused with Minor Boy (which it is on multiple times in the book for comic effect).

What makes the book great is the comedy. First there is the situation, Danny Dread stuck in the Dread lair with his dad trying his bestest to get his son involved in his evil schemes, when all Danny wants to do is stop them. Then there are the characters and the relationships between them. For example there is Dad Dread's Gollum-like assistant Malevolo with his attempts to out Danny whilst being devoted to his master but also having his own hidden agenda. Then there is Danny's own chum Earl, the talking lab-rat who has a human ear on his back and who is forever foiling a hungry pelican who just wants to eat him. And the Lionhearts, the superhero family who are "the only thing keeping the world from destruction" with their daughter Crystallina, Danny's secret crush.

Other comedy is derived in the ridiculous schemes and ridiculous machinery involved such as over-sized jets with massive winches ideal for picking up world leaders far below.

What's more this book isn't just a series of jokes put together into a narrative. It also has a fully-formed plot. All-in-all then this book is perfectly executed and is a blast right from beginning through to climatic ending.

Book published by Oxford University Press: www.oxfordchildrens.co.uk

Publication date: 6 August 2015

Available on AMAZON

Why Me? The Very Important Emails of Bob Servant by Neil Forsyth

"Why Me? The Very Important Emails of Bob Servant" sees Bob Godzilla Servant, "a former cheeseburger magnate and semi-retired window cleaner," and a 64-year-old resident of the Dundee suburb Broughty Ferry, conversing with spam emailers turning their requests for money, or their looking for a husband, into surreal and funny conversations.

For example there is a conversation about buying 50,000 barrels for $50,000 and how this could put Dundee on the map with Bob supporting his conversation with newspaper cuttings from the Dundee Chronicle, e.g. "Dundee celebrated today after a local businessman pledged to create an oil industry to rival neighbouring Aberdeen..." The conversation also sees Bob anger the spammer by stealing his job and becoming "Bob Servant, Director, National Oil and Investment, Royal Plaza, Togo." Another conversation sees him sending a phone number one digit at a time because of security reasons.

But as the book goes along the formula felt like it was tiring, although to be fair you are partly reliant on the spammer to make a good conversation and most of them had a one track mind with their emails constantly asking for personal data. But also I felt the jokes were tiring too, for example with multiple jokes along the same lines about Sir Trevor McDonald and Scottish celebrities' houses.

I can't compare this to the original book (Delete This at Your Peril) as I haven't read that, but this as a stand-alone is worth getting.

Amazon UK link: Why Me? The Very Import Emails of Bob Servant

Publication date: 10 November 2011

Look at it my way! by Ken Dodd

This is not a biography. It is a cavalcade of crackpottery. 

It is mainly a picture book with pictures split across the following sections:

• Early Days
• Before the Show
• It's Showtime!
• Out & About
• Statues & Honours
• Interval
• My Home Town
• Celebrity Friends
• Comedy Heroes
• By Royal Appointment
• Dressing Up In Costume
• Star of Stage & Screen
• Doddy TV Star
• The Singer
• Doddy & Diddymen
• The Bookworm
• Family & Friends
• Ken at Home
• Encore!

There are some forewords and some commentary from Ken along the way too, including jokes of course.

It leaves you with a smile on your face.

(This book is available on Amazon UK HERE.)

You can be a Super Villain! by Shantnu Tiwari

This is a book that I won in a Goodreads First Reads contest.

First thing to say about this book is that it is a little short at 80 pages long and less than an hour's read, but when you are a super villain you want to travel light so it isn't too much of an issue.

The book is funny. Its aim is to "give you the tools and knowledge to understand what you need to do and pitfalls to avoid" in your pursuit to be a super villain. It is split into five parts: 

• Part 1: Myths
• Part 2: Running your base
• Part 3: Easy techniques to take over the world before lunch!
• Part 4: Dealing with heroes
• Part 5: Staying positive

Part 1 blows away the myths of what super villains must and mustn't be or do (Blofeld has a lot to answer for here). Part 2 tells you what does and doesn't make a good base. Part 3 is full of innovative ways to take over the world. Part 4 tells you how to resist monologuing to the hero your detailed plans amongst other things. Part 5 tells you how to pursue your career without giving in to naysayers. 

All-in-all you have everything you need to help you on your way to becoming a super villain. Now excuse me as I perfect my evil laugh and prepare to take over the world.

(This book is available to buy on Amazon UK HERE.)

Elimination Night by Anonymous

So this book is written by Anonymous, the reason being given on the back cover, that the book is “so hilariously accurate about the inner workings of the talent show machine that it had to be written anonymously”. And the book does seem like it could be accurate about that sort of stuff, although around that the book isn’t too serious as it is all built around the laughs.

The story focuses on Sasha King. Her boyfriend is off in Hawaii concentrating on his “surfing career” whilst she is in LA earning enough money to follow him over, but also to allow herself time to write her Novel of Immense Profundity.

Sasha works on the production side of “Project Icon”, an X-Factor/Pop Idol show. They are starting their 13^th season and star judge-based-on-Simon-Cowell Nigel Crowther has quit to set up a different, rival reality show.

The pressure is on.

First a new panel of judges needs to be found, which is easier said than done (funny bios, all sorts of negotiating etc.). They arrive at three, although they don’t exactly click. The auditions takes place but ratings for the series are down which carries consequences. “They’re giving us one episode. No ratings, no more show. Our elimination night.”

Luckily the controlling company gets into trouble over a rigged-bingo show so “the ratings of a televised singing competition were no longer at the top of Big Corp’s agenda.”

Along the way Sasha finds herself too.

The book is all for the laughs, the happenings are outlandish although there is a believable element to the details underlining everything. The book did get rushed at the end though and maybe a joke or two were repeated but overall an enjoyable read, and I’ll be looking out to see what Anonymous does next.

I got this book through Amazon Vine. It is listed HERE.  

Trailer video is below:

Harry Hill's TV Burp Book

In many ways this is your typical TV-tie-in annual. Coming out in time for Christmas 2009 this book presents a glossy bunch of various articles taking the mic out of TV shows and TV stars, in much the same way as the TV Burp TV show does. However all the content here is entirely separate from that that appeared in the TV show so you don't have to worry about having come across it before.

Highlights include a Coronation Street photo story entitled "Ken's Violent Rampage", Sir Trevor McDonald's stand-up comedy page showcasing his jokes, including multiple jokes about Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, and Harry Hill's pick-o'-the-bill, where Harry Hill details his favourite moments from that hit ITV show, The Bill.

There are also bits in the book that are more related to the TV show, such as the exclusive photos of the Knitted Character's baby, plus the outcomes of some of those fights that occur and continue through the ad-breaks.

As with anything celeb-based it will be of its time and the celebs featured will disappear from memory the further past 2009/2010 we get. Also this being a collection of articles will be hit and miss but if you enjoyed the TV show then the book should be right up your street.

(This book is listed on Amazon here.)

Booky Wook 2 by Russell Brand

Booky Wook 2 is the sequel to My Booky Wook hence misses out a lot of Russell's life that the first book would have covered. I haven't read the first book which is a little unfortunate as some of the characters in this book were introduced there so I missed out on their introductions, plus there are other things I wasn't up to speed on.

It didn't matter too much though. This is still an amusing tale of Russell's life, presumably picking up from where the first volume finished.

This book is split into four parts: the first covers his growing fame; the second covers his making steps into Hollywood; the third part is about things going terribly wrong; and the fourth part is about things getting better again.

So probably the best bits are in the third part of the book where things go wrong with the hosting of the MTV VMA awards and he starts to receive death threats which he then ridicules. (This all may be similar to the stand-up routine he was doing during his Scandalous tour, I seem to remember something similar, but it was certainly funny to read too.) There are other moments in the book too where extracts from radio shows or email exchanges have been inserted to fill out the pages but overall it is a decent enough story, with a little bit of Morrissey thrown in as well, along with tales spent with numerous women, including his initial encouters with Katy Perry.

I enjoyed it.

(This book is listed on Amazon here.)

The Masters of Sitcom: From Hancock to Steptoe by Christopher Stevens

What you get in this book is a celebration of Galton and Simpson's work. The layout includes snippets of biographical information or anecdotes followed by extracts of scripts from throughout their career - from Hancock through to Steptoe.

And the scripts, even in written form, are funny - particularly early on.

As someone who would like to write comedy too it was interesting to hear that they agonised over each line making sure it was absolutely right before committing it to the page. For them it was turn of phrase that was important, not just jokes.

My only gripe though is the end is rather condensed. After faithfully reproducing extracts from many of Galton and Simpson's early works through to the fourth series of Steptoe their work after that, and indeed the reasons for quitting scriptwriting, are given next to no coverage. I guess this may have been due to deadlines but overall I very much enjoyed this book.

(I got this book through Amazon Vine. It is listed on their website here.)

What We French Think of You British - and Where You Are Going Wrong by Marcel Lucont

Marcel Lucont is a stand-up comedian, a character created by Alexis Dubus. You can see some of his stuff on YouTube and it gives you an idea of what to expect inside this book. (In fact I noticed a lot of his stand-up routines made their way into the book.)

In the book Marcel looks at the British from the viewpoint of the Frenchman that he is and he sees us and recognises that a lot of what we do is... well, ridiculous. This book allows him to point out to us just how ridiculous we are before he tells us how he would do it, as a Frenchman. And he does it with great humour because a lot of the things he mentions do ring true.

Although the book does poke fun at the British, and I am British, I didn't find it offensive. It's done in a light-hearted fashion. But then again I am not a member of the Royal Family...

The book is organised into themed sections, for example Britain by country and a words section. All through the book the points are bite-size so the book lends itself to being ideal to be picked up and put down again. Also it isn't too long in total either.

C'est tres bon.


(I got this book through Amazon Vine. It is listed on Amazon here.)

Handling Edna: The Unauthorised Biography by Barry Humphries

This book is about Dame Edna Everage and is written by Barry Humphries from the viewpoint of Edna's agent. As it is focused on Dame Edna there are gaps from Barry's life although he has written two other autobiographies such as "More, Please: An Autobiography" (which he says only mentions him playing Edna in his shows because of the pressure he was put under at the to,e by his publishers to write the story in that way to maximise sales) if you want to fill those gaps.

As for Dame Edna's life all the peripheral characters such as the invalid husband Norm, the housemaid Madge and the sons and daughters make an appearance. It is amazing how many times the author mentions the similarities between his mother and Dame Edna. It's as if Dame Edna could have been a character creation based on his mother?

There is also an appendix with a few different bits and pieces of Dame Edna's material as a sort of DVD extra section.

All in all this was an informative read about a comedy icon even if it is a work of fiction (or not as the case may be).


(This book is listed on Amazon here.)

Livin' the Dreem: A Year in my Life by Harry Hill

Follow Harry through the year of 2010 where he has many escapades with his many showbiz pals, as well as his family - Mum, Uncle Bob, Dog and Nan. There are so many celebrities mentioned that there is a danger that this book might date quite badly in the future but I don't think Harry is that worried because he says (jokingly of course) that he is "fully aware that one day this book will be considered a hugely important historical document."

Now anyone expecting this to be a normal diary giving insight into Harry's private life and covering Harry's activities such as his time at TV Burp will be in for a shock. For others familiar with Harry Hill's stand-up they will know exactly what to expect in this spoof diary. This is silly and surreal turned up to eleven. Like Harry himself says, "everything in this diary actually happened. Only the facts have been changed."

There were a few mistakes I noticed reading through such as the monkey-hanging incident being attributed to Hull rather than Hartlepool and the disappearance of 31st May, but nothing to detract from the fun.

And fun it is, although not necessarily the constant LOL-type fun you'd get by watching Harry's comedy (after all laughter is best suited to a shared environment whilst reading is generally a solitary experience).

(This book is on Amazon here.)

My **** Life So Far by Frankie Boyle

This is the autobiography of Frankie Boyle from TV's Mock the Week. As you'd expect from the title of the book and from Frankie's comedy style as seen from his TV and stand-up work he views life negatively. However this doesn't mean the book is dour and depressing because he has interspersed his humour into it as much as possible. Some of this had me laughing out loud. For example he relates a story where he shimmies down a drainpipe to avoid his flatmate who he wants to avoid, only to get caught by the police who then march him back to collaborate his story with his flat mate. He then has to tell his flat mate how much he hates him. 

But other bits of the book went off on tangents as he inserted some of his on-the-shelf comedic material into the book. For example there are ideas for TV reality shows of the future quickly followed by a couple of scripts for sketches that never made it to TV. As you'd expect some of this is funny but it is off topic and it does mean the biographical story can be lost which is a shame because I found the stories relating to his life, such as the above drainpipe story, to be better than the shoe-horned insertions of his previous material. 

So there were a lot of very funny bits that made it an enjoyable read in places but the meandering structure of the book, especially later on, makes it a bit confusing. 

(This book is available to buy here.)