Tom Rosenthal favours blagging around the world for travel memoir
- Tom Rosenthal is seeking to traverse the globe without paying for travel, by trading favours for lifts
- Documenting his trip and connecting with would-be helpers through social media, the Plebs star will chronicle his exploits in his first book, Around The World In 80 Favours
- He said: "Do you have an uncle in China who needs help cleaning his yak? Do you have a cousin in France who needs help tying their shoelaces for some reason? Well, if they give me a lift, I'll do a favour for that. I'll basically be their slave"
Tom Rosenthal is attempting to circumnavigate the globe for a new book, but without spending any money on travel.
Instead, the comic is seeking to secure a series of lifts by granting his benefactors a "fair and equal favour".
Taking to Twitter to announce the project, which will be culminate next May in his debut book, Around The World In 80 Favours, the Plebs and Friday Night Dinner star said: "Hodder & Stoughton have kindly given me a book deal.
"The idea is quite wacky, to be fair. I'm travelling around the world without paying for travel. How am I going to do that? I don't really know. But it's going to require your help.
"Anybody who helps me on any leg of my journey around the world will receive one favour. Do you have an uncle in China who needs help cleaning his yak? Do you have a cousin in France who needs help tying their shoelaces for some reason? Well, if they give me a lift, I'll do a favour for that. I'll basically be their slave. I'll document the entire journey on social media.
"No, it can't be a sexual favour. I'm not going to travel around the world just giving hand jobs to everyone, you sick, sick puppies.
"Now that the book has been announced. I actually have to do it. And please make the favours as wacky as possible because that will make the book as good as it can be."
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Rosenthal's trip starts on 4th May, with Around The World In 80 Favours to be published on 23rd May 2024 in hardback, ebook and audiobook formats. Offers of help can be made via Rosenthal's social media or by email to 80favours@gmail.com.
The comic added: "I never thought I'd get the opportunity to write a book, and I still don't, because I'm fairly convinced I'll die attempting to write this one.
"It's very kind of Hodder & Stoughton to fund my pre-midlife-crisis-crisis and to publish a record of it in various formats so my children's children's children will be able to both read and hear about what a loser I was."
Coronet, the division of Hodder & Stoughton that will publish the book, explains: "The journey starts on Thursday 4th May 2023. Who knows how and when it will end. All we know for sure is that he'll do almost anything to get there. Need a stand-in boyfriend at your ex's wedding? Want someone to deliver a letter to Timbuktu? Have a hankering for a Tim Tam? Say no more. Just contact him on social media and help him on his way.
"Structured around some of the weirdest requests, the most seismic detours and the favours that threw him, this will be the story of a journey that just might change Tom's life. Part Bill Bryson, part Dave Gorman, with a bit of Francis Drake thrown in, Around The World In 80 Favours is going to be a wild and funny ride. So, can anyone give him a lift to Heathrow?"
Harriet Poland, editorial director at Hodder & Stoughton, said: "All I want to do this year is laugh. If that comes at Tom Rosenthal's expense, so be it. This book is going to be a pleasure, a riot, a spectacle, a circus, a feast and a serious test of character. We truly can't wait."