Chris Morris, Noel Fielding & more voice Richard Ayoade's spoof memoir
Chris Morris is returning to acting for the first time in eight years, voicing the audiobook of Richard Ayoade's latest spoof memoir as part of an all-star comedy cast.
Also featuring Stephen Merchant, Noel Fielding, David Mitchell, Sally Hawkins and Lydia Fox, Ayoade's wife, The Unfinished Harauld Hughes is described as a "fictional quest to rescue" the story of the mid-century playwright Harauld Hughes, reports The Bookseller. The audiobook will also feature music from Alex Turner of The Arctic Monkeys, whose videos Ayoade has directed
As first revealed by British Comedy Guide in February, the book, which is set to be published by Faber on 3rd October, doubles down on Ayoade's doppelganger preoccupation.
The comedian and filmmaker, who made the 2013 black comedy thriller The Double, based upon Fyodor Dostoyevsky's 1846 novella of the same name, starring Jesse Eisenberg and Mia Wasikowska, with the nowadays rarely-seen-on-screen Morris and Fox in supporting roles, has now penned the fictionalised account of his attempts to rescue the reputation of a lookalike auteur.
According to Faber's description, "the gifted filmmaker, corduroy activist and amateur dentist, Richard Ayoade, first chanced upon a copy of The Two-Hander Trilogy by Harauld Hughes in a second-hand bookshop. At first startled by his uncanny resemblance to the author's photo, he opened the volume and was electrified. Terse, aggressive, and elliptical, what was true of Ayoade was also true of Hughes's writing, which encompassed stage, screen, and some of the shortest poems ever published."
The IT Crowd and Garth Marenghi's Darkplace star has also supposedly embarked on a documentary, The Unfinished Harauld Hughes, to understand the "unfathomable collapse" of Hughes's final film O Bedlam! O Bedlam!, taking us deep inside the most furious British writer since the Boer War, with this book "the story of the story of that quest".
Ayoade narrates the audiobook but it has not been disclosed what roles the rest of the cast will play. Morris last acted in 2016, playing a version of himself on Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle, interrogating the stand-up about his material.
As part of the publication of The Unfinished Harauld Hughes, Faber will also build the character's backstory, concurrently release a three-volume collection of Hughes' writing, comprising Plays, Prose, Pieces, Poetry, The Models Trilogy and Four Films.
Faber's editorial director Walter Donohue acquired world all-language rights plus audio rights from Ayoade's literary agent, Jo Unwin, at her agency JULA. Unwin, who is shortly leaving publishing, also happens to be Morris' wife.
"Richard Ayoade conjures spells from the depths of his imagination, which astound with their originality" Donohue told The Bookseller. "Readers should brace themselves."
Meanwhile, as BCG first revealed last year, Ayoade, who has written four previous books, is preparing to direct his third film - and his first since The Double - an adaptation of George Saunders' dystopian short story The Semplica Girl Diaries.
Ayoade's second children's book, The Fairy Tale Fan Club: Legendary Letters Collected By C.C. Cecily, is due to be published in September.
Richard Ayoade - The Unfinished Harauld Hughes
This new memoir follows Ayoade's dogged quest to rescue Harauld Hughes - the great mid-century playwright, and Ayoade's uncanny doppelganger - from obscurity.
Gifted filmmaker, corduroy activist and amateur dentist, Richard Ayoade first chanced upon a copy of The Two-Hander Trilogy by Harauld Hughes in a second-hand bookshop. At first startled by his uncanny resemblance to the author's photo, he opened the volume and was electrified. Terse, aggressive, and elliptical, what was true of Ayoade was also true of Hughes's writing, which encompassed stage, screen, and some of the shortest poems ever published.
First published: Thursday 3rd October 2024
- Publisher: Faber And Faber
- Pages: 192
- Catalogue: 9780571377893
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- Published: Thursday 10th April 2025
- Publisher: Faber And Faber
- Pages: 256
- Catalogue: 9780571339174
BCG may earn commission on sales generated through the links above.
- Published: Tuesday 1st October 2024
- Publisher: Faber And Faber
BCG may earn commission on sales generated through the links above.
- Published: Tuesday 1st October 2024
- Publisher: Faber And Faber
BCG may earn commission on sales generated through the links above.