Graham Linehan writes memoir Tough Crowd about his cancelled career
- Graham Linehan is publishing a memoir about losing his comedy career because of his campaign against transgender rights
- Tough Crowd: How I Made And Lost A Career In Comedy will be published by Eye Books on 12th October
- Writing in the Telegraph last month, Linehan said: "Comedy is my first love, it's the thing I love to do, but I have not been allowed to do that for five years ... I am so very tired of protesting, and I miss comedy so very much"
Graham Linehan is publishing a memoir about how he became one of the most acclaimed comedy writers of his generation but has since turned pariah because of his views on transgender issues.
Tough Crowd: How I Made And Lost A Career In Comedy will be published by Eye Books on 12th October.
The Father Ted co-creator's writing résumé also includes The IT Crowd, Black Books and Motherland, although he stepped away from contributing to the latter as controversy about his campaign against transgender rights, which he considers a "war on women", grew.
Linehan has recently been doing stand-up and appeared at the Edinburgh Fringe, though he was forced to perform in the street outside the Scottish Parliament after two venues cancelled his planned spots.
The blurb for Tough Crowd states that "one of the best TV comedy writers of all time delivers a book which is a must-read for anyone who has ever wondered: a) how to create a hit sitcom and b) how it feels to lose everything."
Among those quoted praising the book are The IT Crowd star Richard Ayoade, Father Ted director Lissa Evans, comedian Andrew Doyle, founder of Comedy Unleashed, which has platformed Linehan in his stand-up, comic Simon Evans and Jonathan Ross, who calls it "one of the most compelling and unflinchingly honest memoirs I've read in many years. It's also the funniest."
Writing in the Telegraph last month, following his Edinburgh performance, Linehan - who also had a planned musical version of Father Ted fall through because producers considered his involvement too toxic - wrote: "Comedy is my first love, it's the thing I love to do, but I have not been allowed to do that for five years. And this is just what I decided I would do... a couple of silly jokes, and they can't even let me do that.
"I stepped off the stage. As a protest, it worked great. But as comedy, meh. And I am so very tired of protesting, and I miss comedy so very much."
Tough Crowd: How I Made And Lost A Career In Comedy
"A must-read. Funny and utterly compelling." - Jonathan Ross
The BAFTA-garlanded creator of Father Ted and The IT Crowd tells of his rise and painful fall. Part comedy-writing masterclass, part diary of a gender wars 'cancellation'.
Having cut his teeth in music journalism, Graham Linehan became the finest sitcom writer of his generation. He captured the comedy zeitgeist not just as the co-creator of Father Ted but also with The IT Crowd and Black Books, winning five BAFTAs and a lifetime achievement award. Then his life took an unexpected turn. When he championed an unfashionable cause, TV commissioners no longer returned his emails, showbiz pals lost his number and his marriage collapsed.
In an emotionally charged memoir that is by turns hilarious and harrowing, he lets us into the secrets of the writing room and colourfully describes the high-octane atmosphere of a sitcom set. But he also berates an industry where there was no one to stand by his side when he needed help. Bruised but not beaten, he explains why he chose the hill of women and girls' rights to die on - and why, despite the hardship of cancellation, he's not coming down from it any time soon.
First published: Thursday 12th October 2023
- Publisher: Eye Books
- Pages: 288
- Catalogue: 9781785633065
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