Product Description

The number one bestselling autobiography of Britain's most popular comedian

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #8505 in Books
• Published on: 2006-10-02
• Released on: 2006-10-02
• Binding: Hardcover
• 368 pages

Synopsis
Peter Kay's unerring gift for observing the absurdities and eccentricities of family life has earned himself a widespread, everyman appeal. These vivid observations coupled with a kind of nostalgia that never fails to grab his audience's shared understanding, have earned him comparisons with Alan Bennett and Ronnie Barker. In his award winning TV series', he creates worlds populated by degenerate, bitter, useless, endearing and always recognisable characters which have attracted a huge and loyal following. In many ways, he's an old fashioned kind of comedian and the scope and enormity of his fanbase reflects this. He doesn't tell jokes about politics or sex, but rather rejoices in the far funnier areas of life: elderly relatives and answering machines, dads dancing badly at weddings, garlic bread and cheesecake, your mum's HRT...His autobiography is full of this kind of humour and nostalgia, beginning with Kay's first ever driving lesson, taking him back through his Bolton childhood, the numerous jobs he held after school and leading up until the time he passed his driving test and found fame.

About the Author
Peter Kay was born in Bolton in 1973. After leaving school with a GCSE in art, he held a series of jobs including working as a cinema usher, mobile disc jockey, in a factory packing toilet rolls, garage attendant and in a bingo hall.
After a Btec in Performance Studies, he went on to win the 1997 So You Think You're Funny contest at the Edinburgh Festival and was nominated for the Perrier Award the following year.
Peter Kay's first TV series was That Peter Kay Thing, followed by Phoenix Nights series 1 snd 2. The series Max and Paddy's Road to Nowhere was a spin off from Phoenix Nights. Peter Kay has played a cameo role in Coronation Street, has appeared in the recent series of Doctor Who and recently starred as Roger DeBris in the smash hit Mel Brooks musical The Producers in Manchester.

Customer Reviews

Mediocre
I was a bit of a slow convert to Peter Kay, and I'm also pretty slow to pick up this book given how long it's been out - but hey. I'm an individual. I'm now a fan of the big man and finally got round to reading this book. And I have to say, it's pretty mediocre. It's fairly well-written and is easy to read, but a lot of it seems to be a regurgitation of his stand up shows, all the little asides he includes are the jokes he uses on stage. So it basically has the feel of one of his acts, but on the page. And to me, that was the problem with the book. It was trying too hard to be a 'funny' book, and didn't really have that much detail about Peter's life. It was more a 'steps to success' book than a true
autobiography.

Peter only mentions parts of his childhood which had some relation to comedy in some way. There's very little intimate detail, and only a very fleeting peek into his love life, and how he met the woman that is now his wife. So although it was an enjoyable book, it wasn't a very detailed autobiography, and it's unlikely you'll finish it and feel like you know a lot more about the man behind the comedy. Unfortunate but true.

Take it as you find it
This is a good read, an enjoyable read and an, at times heart-warming read. Despite the humorous cover, do not expect it to be a "laugh-out-loud" chuckle-fest in the style of the author's stand-up comedy work. That is not the intention of the author in writing the book.

It is a serious autobiography in many places, despite Kay's often offbeat and irreverent approach (which strangely can sometimes grate a bit, when you are actually enjoying Kay's sensitive descriptions of people, at some points the last thing you want is a joke. However, on other occasions it is uplifting and hilarious). The period covered is from Kay's birth to the point when his career "took off". Therefore it is a tale of an ordinary life - working in supermarkets, bingo halls, factories and so on. Kay's stories are wonderful, true tales of bingo callers, grumpy petrol station managers, cash and carry customers and the like. There is no "celebrity" material, and the book is all the better for it. There are no anecdotes of "when I met Michael Parkinson" timbre, so if those are what you are hoping for, you will be disappointed. If, on the other hand, you want to dip into the roots and formative years of a genuine contemporary comic genius to see the upbringing and social experiences that spawned such a funny man, then you will enjoy this breezy narrative.

Very enjoyable - but not great
This is a really enjoyable read but not a very good Autobiography. For me the last twenty percent which describes the real life background stories to Peter's writing of the "That Peter Kay Thing" TV series is by far the most interesting. Nonetheless If you enjoy Peter Kay this book will not disappoint you and is well worth reading.