Bob Mortimer wins Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction 2023

Monday 20th November 2023, 8:07pm

The Satsuma Complex by Bob Mortimer has won the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction 2023
"He has this strange ability to keep the reader on the very brink of guffawing for whole chapters at a time"
Mortimer says: "I still have no idea if I can actually write but this award gives me fresh hope. Cheers!"

Bob Mortimer has won the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction 2023.

The comedy writer and performer received the title for his 2022 novel, The Satsuma Complex.

Now in its 23nd year, the award is the UK's longest running prize for comic fiction and is designed to highlight the funniest novel of the past twelve months, which best evokes the PG Wodehouse spirit of witty characters and perfectly-timed comic phrases.

Described by The Sunday Times as 'funny, clever and sweet' and by The Daily Mail as 'hilarious and surreal' and also 'stuffed with laugh-out-loud moments', The Satsuma Complex tells the story of Gary Thorn, a thirty-year-old legal assistant with a firm of solicitors in Peckham, London. Gary goes for a pint with a work acquaintance called Brendan. When Brendan leaves early, Gary meets a girl in the pub. He doesn't catch her name, but falls for her anyway. When she suddenly disappears without saying goodbye, all Gary has to remember her by is the book she was reading: The Satsuma Complex. But when Brendan goes missing, Gary needs to track down the girl he now calls Satsuma to get some answers. And so begins Gary's quest, through the estates and pie shops of South London, to finally bring some love and excitement into his unremarkable life...

The announcement was made this evening at a ceremony held at The Goring Hotel in London. Mortimer receives a jeroboam of Bollinger Special Cuvée, a case of Bollinger La Grande Année, the complete set of the Everyman's Library PG Wodehouse collection, and a pig named after his winning book.

Bob Mortimer says: "I'm really chuffed to have won the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction, and what a treat to have an old spot pig named after the book. I still have no idea if I can actually write but this award gives me fresh hope. Cheers!"

The judges for this year's prize were Peter Florence (festival producer and co-director of The European Festivals Forest), Pippa Evans (comedian), David Campbell (publisher, Everyman's Library), Sindhu Vee (comedian), James Naughtie (broadcaster and author), and Justin Albert (Vice President of Hay Festival and Vice Chair, University of Wales).

Talking about Mortimer's writing, Peter Florence comments: "He approaches the world with a sly, mischievous smile. I guess this is what happens when you turn a brilliant, oblique comedic attention to life. The language and the tone tip your perception all the time, and he has this strange ability to keep the reader on the very brink of guffawing for whole chapters at a time. You get to love all these characters, the good ones and the bad ones and the very bad ones. And you'll start talking to squirrels. And then you'll have to think around what that's achieving for you."

Victoria Carfantan from Champagne Bollinger adds: "As always, the judges have had a difficult time picking the winner of this year's prize, but The Satsuma Complex really does seem to tick all the boxes. Funny, clever, and with Bob Mortimer's very distinctive voice, it's the perfective literary accompaniment to a good glass of Champagne Bollinger. Many congratulations!"

The winner was chosen from a shortlist of "six very different titles that collectively showed that comedy can come in all shapes and sizes: farce, satire, parody, and a gentler, witty geniality". The other shortlisted books were Darling by India Knight, Didn't Nobody Give a Shit What Happened to Carlotta by James Hannaham, Mother Hens by Sophie McCartney, Murder at Crime Manor by Fergus Craig and Teen Couple Have Fun Outdoors by Aravind Jayan.

The Satsuma Complex was Mortimer's first novel. As BCG revealed in September, his second novel - due out in 2024 - will be called The Long Shoe. The story is "about a bloke who's wife leaves him but maybe she's been taken, he's got to find out".

Bob Mortimer - The Satsuma Complex

By Bob Mortimer

"My name is Gary. I'm a thirty-year-old legal assistant with a firm of solicitors in London. To describe me as anonymous would be unfair but to notice me other than in passing would be a rarity. I did make a good connection with a girl, but that blew up in my face and smacked my arse with a fish slice."

Gary Thorn goes for a pint with a work acquaintance called Brendan. When Brendan leaves early, Gary meets a girl in the pub. He doesn't catch her name, but falls for her anyway. When she suddenly disappears without saying goodbye, all Gary has to remember her by is the book she was reading: The Satsuma Complex. But when Brendan goes missing, Gary needs to track down the girl he now calls Satsuma to get some answers.

And so begins Gary's quest, through the estates and pie shops of South London, to finally bring some love and excitement into his unremarkable life...

A page-turning story with a cast of unforgettable characters, The Satsuma Complex is the brilliantly funny first novel by bestselling author and comedian Bob Mortimer.

First published: Thursday 27th October 2022

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