Comedian Frank Skinner's autobiography is one of my favourite books of all time. It's interesting, gripping, hilarious and also surprisingly moving. If you've only ever seen Skinner on TV talking football or doing stand-up then you would be amazed.
You see, rather than being just - as Skinner claims most people see him - "football, f*ck f*ck f*ck", he's actually highly intelligent (he has a Masters in English Lit) and articulate, a devout Catholic and, he claims, almost "testosterone-intolerant".
On the Road is, as you can probably guess, a book about his comeback stand-up tour, his first for ten years. As I started reading,I was a bit worried that it was going to be too comedy-focussed and a bit self-indulgent. Skinner admits that he keeps a journal obsessively and is prone to over-analysis and I was concerned that chunks of his journal had been imported wholesale into the book, without the benefit of an editor. But I persevered and I'm so glad I did.
Continue reading "BOOK REVIEW: Frank Skinner On the Road by Frank Skinner" »
