Jenny Eclair to publish autobiography

Tuesday 20th February 2024, 12:09pm

Jenny Eclair - Jokes, Jokes, Jokes: My Very Funny Memoir is published on 3rd October
She says: "I'm delighted to bare even more of my soul to the general public"
Linked theatre show Jenny Eclair: Jokes, Jokes Jokes Live! will tour between October 2024 and March 2025

Jenny Eclair is set to release her autobiography in October.

Jokes, Jokes, Jokes: My Very Funny Memoir will be published on 3rd October by Sphere.

The blurb explains: "How did little Jenny Hargreaves become Jenny Eclair and elbow her way into the male dominated world of 1980s stand-up?

"Daughter of Major Derek Hargreaves (spy?) and June Hargreaves (spy's wife?) sister of Sara (born to be Head Girl) and Ben (the usurper), Jenny's comedy career took off via drama school, cider, sausage rolls, sleeping with men who looked like they lived under a carpet, punk poetry, anorexia, bedsit misery, waitressing and not really having a clue about anything.

"This was a world before microphones, mobile phones, before everyone gave up smoking or started taking coke. Jenny Eclair was on the comedy circuit before there really was a comedy circuit and was the first woman to win the Perrier Award along the way.

"Still gigging to sell-out crowds forty years later, Jenny Eclair's memoir charts her childhood, her career and the changing face of women in comedy, all told with hilarious brilliance in Jokes, Jokes, Jokes, her very funny memoir."

Speaking to The Bookseller, Éclair said: "I'm delighted to bare even more of my soul to the general public. Writing Jokes, Jokes, Jokes has been a joy, and not just because it's nice to sit down now and then, but also because it's good to get it all down before I forget big chunks of it."

Publisher Cath Burke added: "As brilliant in writing as she is in person, Jenny's memoir is the book I've always wanted to read. Outrageous, eye-opening, jaw-dropping and so very, very funny, you're going to have one helluva good time with Jenny in this book."

The book is available to pre-order now.

Live tour

Eclair will embark on a nationwide tour with autobiographical stand-up show Jokes, Jokes Jokes Live! between October 2024 and March 2025.

The blurb explains: "From drama school, (mostly drinking cider and eating sausage rolls), sleeping with men who looked like they lived under a carpet, punk poetry, anorexia, bedsit misery, waitressing and not really having a clue about anything, to being the first woman to win the Perrier Award, becoming a mother, author, grumpy old woman, podcaster and nana! Still gigging to sell-out crowds forty years later, Jenny invites you to look back at what she can remember before she forgets everything. Warning, punk poetry, animal impressions and baritone nursery rhyme singing may feature."

Jenny says: "I'm delighted to announce that I shall be dragging my old carcass back on the road with a brand new show, and hopefully finding that cardigan I left in Toddington Service station last year."

Jenny Eclair - Jokes, Jokes, Jokes: My Very Funny Memoir

By Jenny Eclair

How did little Jenny Hargreaves become Jenny Eclair and elbow her way into the male dominated world of 1980s stand-up?

Daughter of Major Derek Hargreaves (spy?) and June Hargreaves (spy's wife?) sister of Sara (born to be Head Girl) and Ben (the usurper), Jenny's comedy career took off via drama school, cider, sausage rolls, sleeping with men who looked like they lived under a carpet, punk poetry, anorexia, bedsit misery, waitressing and not really having a clue about anything.

This was a world before microphones, mobile phones, before everyone gave up smoking or started taking coke. Jenny Eclair was on the comedy circuit before there really was a comedy circuit and was the first woman to win the Perrier Award along the way.

Still gigging to sell-out crowds forty years later, Jenny Eclair's memoir charts her childhood, her career and the changing face of women in comedy, all told with hilarious brilliance in Jokes, Jokes, Jokes, her very funny memoir.

First published: Thursday 3rd October 2024

Hardback

eBook

Audiobook