Product Description

After a heavy night of tequila, flatmates Dave and Danny set off on what turns out to be a 24,000-mile journey to meet all the other Dave Gormans in the world. They visit Scotland, Israel, America, France and Ireland. They even hold a party in London where 50 Dave Gormans attend, including two women who have kindly changed their name via deed-poll. Silly, but engrossing, fascinating and addictive - and a touching story of two friends who grow to share a mutual obsession.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #8848 in Books
• Published on: 2002-07-04
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 384 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
The award-winning Are You Dave Gorman? is the oddly touching story of how Perrier Award nominee Dave Gorman went in search of all the world's other Dave Gormans.

Fans of the TV version of this travelogue-cum-Arthurian-quest will know how it all began: one minute Dave and his flatmate Danny Wallace (himself a talented producer and writer) were kicking their heels in suburban London, the next they were on the night-train to Scotland to see assistant manager of East Fife Football Club David Gorman, so Dave Gorman could prove to Danny Wallace there were other Dave Gormans--and thereby win a drinker's bet. Such was the buzz Dave Gorman got from meeting Dave Gorman, he then went on a half year schlep around the world seeking out yet more Dave Gormans: in Ireland, Israel, Norway, America, with a sarcastically derisive Danny Wallace in constant and niggling attendance.

Things that work on TV--or start as drunken bets--don't always make the most successful of books and there are times when Are You Dave Gorman? seems a little contrived, not to say fatuously pointless. But such is the charm, candour, and wit of the two writers' alternating voices, any qualms come to seem churlish, if not thick-headed: it's the very frivolousness and absurdity of Are You Dave Gorman? that makes it so boyishly likeable. --Sean Thomas

Review
'A magnificent tale of obsession and adventure', The Independent .'Gorman is becoming the Bill Bryson of stand-up: charming, whimsical, adventurous and laced with belly laughs', Sunday Times .'You'll like this so much you may want to change your name to Dave Gorman', The Big Issue .'A warm, funny, life-enhancing book', The Guardian

This is an utterly ludicrous, shamefully compelling saga of a bizarre bet. Gorman, a comedian, and Wallace, a journalist, somehow end up flatmates. In a drunken pub session Gorman tells Wallace he has heard of another person named Dave Gorman. Wallace is unimpressed; Gorman retaliates with other Gorman possibilities; Wallace scoffs; Gorman suggests there must be loads of other Dave Gormans; Wallace suggests otherwise; Gorman says, 'Do you wanna bet?' - and so Wallace, having said yes, is dragged apparently unwillingly into an unlikely search for his flatmate's namesakes. Despite his protestations, it is Wallace who broadens the scope of the bet to the number of Dave Gormans equal to a pack of playing cards, including the jokers. He accompanies Gorman in his transglobal search, which broadens from places like Fife and Wolverhampton to Norway, the South of France and New York. Incredible though it sounds, the photos are all here to prove it, every one of the Dave Gorman-meets-Dave Gorman encounters recorded on Polaroid for posterity. And - madness of madness - there's also photographic evidence that, somewhat to his surprise, some people took up Gorman's publicity-seeking offer of #200 to anyone prepared to change their name legally to Dave Gorman. In the telling of this crazy adventure, the search manages to involve the reader, and both men prove able to raise a laugh at each other's, and their own, expense. So this, against all odds, is both a funny and a readable book. (Kirkus UK)

Big Issue
You'll like this so much you may want to change your name to Dve Gorman

Customer Reviews

forget those five-star reviews
they were probably posted by the authors' friends. There is no other explanation for those positive ratings. This is the first book in years I've stopped reading after forcing myself through the first one hundred pages. Boring, boring, boring. Two guys overstretch a very weak story to make a book and they do so by narrating it in such a ghastly way that you start hating yourself for having fallen for the reviewers' hype. I had my doubts but I decided to believe the "readers" ratings. Believe me, there is no way in hell so many people can honestly have found this book to be funny, interesting or in any way readable. Based on this book I wish to never ever meet anyone called Dave Gorman. Ah yes, it took two to fabricate it! Gawd... What I do mind is how rudely and egotistically the authors treat the Dave Gormans they meet. At least those I read about before throwing the book in the bin. The authors ridicule many of the people who donated their time to what is in essence two ego trippers out to make money from a late-night brainless idea. It's rude, it's boring, it's insulting, it's a waste of time and money. The single point in its favour? I now know two authors I will never need to buy anything from in the future.

PS: I'm not English so maybe this is the new English humour and I'm missing all the subtleties. If this is the case, England's international humouristic future and appeal looks grim beyond hope.

enjoyed it enormously
Not a book to read on the train when youre alone because you WILL just look like someone giggling manicallly to yourself. It's a GREAT book

I spoke to Dave Gorman number 18!
A few years ago I was enjoying a cuppa and a posh biscuit at a mates house (I know how to treat myself) and Dave Gorman came on the telly to be promote his new book. It sounded like a lark - a guy takes on a bet to find 54 people called Dave Gorman and ends up travelling the world. We went halves and ordered the book - the joint ownership worked well and we both read it swiftly....

...I'd never read anything like this before, a comedy book which was genuinely laugh out loud funny and also very interesting.

The book is penned by two authors - Danny Wallace and Dave Gorman. Dave is on the quest and it was great to read accounts of events in the adventure given by Dave, followed by the same event described by Danny. Both are very gifted comedy writers and their friendship comes through strong in this pathos laden titter-fest.

The most successful tales are those which involve real people and delve into the characters behind the story, and this does just that. It is heart-warming in parts and I would have to say that I found the book quite inspiring. Dave aims to try to get the "Gormen" into a room together, each with an "I'm Dave Gorman" name badge - will he manage to find 54?

From France to Israel, Dave follows leads all over the globe, sometimes to be let down and becoming the most famous Dave Gorman of them all in the process.

I don't know if Dave Gorman will ever read this review - but I once met you in Sheffield (on your way from the train station) and I shook your hand. Also - when I worked in a call centre, I spoke to Dave Gorman number 18 - I even had the book in my bag and we both laughed at the situation as I looked at the picture of him whilst we were talking about his internet connection!

Read this book and if you ever meet a Dave Gorman - you won't be able to resist asking them if they are part of the Dave Gorman Collective. You'll also enjoy one of the greatest adventures of the modern age!