Product Description

In this new volume of memoirs, Frank Skinner describes his experience of going back on the road doing stand-up again, after many years spent working mainly on television. His adventures on tour are by turns funny and moving as he meditates on growing older, the terrors and joys of trying to make a live audience laugh night after night and on the nature of comedy itself. For the first time we read a comedian's account, in his own words, of how his act is put together; his return to a world of dark little clubs and the strange encounters he has there. But what is perhaps most startling and original about Frank Skinner's writing is his honesty about not only the highs and lows of his career, but more intimate and personal issues - male sexuality and matters of the heart.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #26061 in Books
• Published on: 2009-08-06
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 368 pages

About the Author
Frank Skinner performed his first stand-up gig in December 1987, and four years later went on to win the prestigious Perrier Award. Frank has established himself as a major name in entertainment - both in live comedy and on television. Frank has created and starred in a succession of hit comedy shows, including The Frank Skinner Show, Fantasy Football and Baddiel and Skinner Unplanned. Frank has attained three number one hits with the iconic football anthem Three Lions alongside David Baddiel and the Lightning Seeds. He has starred in the West End in both Art and Lee Hall's Cooking with Elvis; and his critically acclaimed first book Frank Skinner was the bestselling autobiography of 2002, spending a total of 46 weeks in the Sunday Times bestsellers' list. In 2007 Frank Skinner returned to stand-up with another sell-out tour of the UK.

Customer Reviews

Fantastic Insight into Skinner's world
I picked up this book on a recommendation, not as a fan of Frank Skinner. I don't mind the man. He's very quick, well suited to panel shows, and certainly a natural comedian - but he also comes across as a little bit chauvinistic, and a little bit cheesy. A comedian for the 'Loaded' generation, if you like - his words. On the Road' did a good job at dispelling some of those notions, and Skinner comes across as honest, likeable and incredibly self-deprecating.

The book follows Frank's return to the circuit, following a year in his life developing a routine, putting it into shape at Edinburgh, and finally touring the country with a full set. There's a great deal of insight into Skinner's many neuroses, a fair amount of comedy-misery to wallow in, and a lot to laugh and groan at.

I will be picking up Frank Skinner's autobiography next, which is testament to this book. Well written, interesting, and a nice round window into the world of stand-up.

Incredibly Revealing
I read Skinner's autobiography a few years ago because someone loaned it to me, rather than because I deliberately went out to buy it. I had always found watching him mildly amusing, but not really my cup of tea. The book on the other hand, was fascinating. He writes fluently and with great self perception. He also managed to be entertaining throughout, which is not always a given in a life story. Consequently I was very curious to read this next chapter, as Skinner chronicles his return to the stand up circuit ten years after last treading the boards.

In many ways I found it more revealing than the first volume. Skinner lays bare many of his less appealing traits, his neuroses, his self-obsession, his diva'ish qualities, his shaky track record with relationships and is brutally honest about his failings. I cannot imagine the book was easy to write. For me there were less laugh out loud moments in this book, but I enjoyed it more because it seemed more real. It is what makes him tick.

Don't think you'll find anything better..
Fluently written, insightful and very, very funny. I read the 'banana' story in public and (genuinely) had someone come up to me and ask what I was reading, as I was laughing so much.

Note: I recommended this book to an intelligent, pretty & witty female acquantance, thinking it would (a) curry favour and (b) give her an insight into the strange workings of the male mind, and...since reading it she looks at me, er, differently...