Life And Laughing - Michael Mcintyre

I have always enjoyed watching Michael McIntyre perform; he is just so funny and has such a good stage presence. I find myself literally nearly wetting myself with laughter when I watch him and so when I saw that he had a book out, I was quite keen to read it. However as I don’t like hardback books, I waited until it was finally released into paperback and then when I went into Waterstones I bought it whilst they had the offer whereby if I spent over £10 I would get his book for the reduced rate of £4.49.

Michael McIntyre is an English comedian who has been working his way up from small gigs and being paid literally pennies or has he actually even says in his book nothing as some gigs cost him more to get to than what he was being paid. However he stuck it out and is now a firm favourite on the comedy scene and I have to say he is my personal favourite comedian hands down. I do love Joe Pasquale too but, these are two very different styles of comedian altogether!
The book is simply called ‘Life and laughing, my story’ and is aptly named really for a comedian, don’t you think? A picture of Michael smiling and dressed in a suit is the simple but effective front cover. It is how the audience know him as this is how he always performs in a smart suit!

The book:
I have to admit, I don’t read any celebrity autobiographies but, this one I simply had to because not only was it somebody who brings joy to my world in the amount he makes me laugh during his performances but, I was keen to learn how he had got himself where he is today. So many maybe assume a comedian does little work and just tells jokes but, from the blurb on the back it seemed this was not the case and he struggled for some time to make it big.
The book begins with Michael telling the story of him growing up and this was rather interesting as he is a character that in one way is so down to earth and yet really had quite a well upbringing until later on when his father could no longer afford his private school fees although Michael says how he was in fact quite happy about changing schools! He tells of his struggle to reach where he is now and how many obstacles there was and money was so tight that he couldn’t afford bills and considered giving it all up. He tells of how he eventually made it where he is today and how he eventually got his big break.
Also included in the book is a selection of family photographs, which are spread out through the book. I like seeing things like this autobiographies as I feel they really help tell the story; a picture says a thousand words as the saying goes eh?

Price:
As mentioned I paid £4.49 for this book in Waterstones as I spent over £10 I got it at the reduced rate from the RRP of £6.99. I feel this was a bargain because not only is it a good length but, it was a book I really wanted and if I’d had to I would have paid full price anyway so to get it reduced from the RRP is always a bonus! I know Tesco also have it on their two books for £8 promotion still so you can even pick it up slightly cheaper than I did.

Overall opinion:
I loved reading this book! It was a combination of things really but, I think what made it so enjoyable is that as he is telling his life story he really throws in lots of humour. I found myself laughing out loud many times and also I think it obviously helped that I was interested to begin with and I know this means a lot of people wouldn’t even want to read it. For example, I wouldn’t even read Russell Brands autobiography as I can’t stand him but, to somebody else, that may be of interest. So I am well aware that of course some will not want to even pick this book up in the first place but, if you do enjoy listening to Michael McIntyre perform, then this book is almost just an extension of his performances but, is actually his life!
What I also liked was that you could tell he had written this himself as even as he was talking in the book, you could imagine him shaking his hair and see him actually talking in his posh voice and even the simple things became funny just by the way he expressed them. I almost felt at some points it was just any other fiction book I was reading and then would remember that actually it is all a real life story! The book was funny, interesting and very enjoyable in my eyes and of course I will be recommending it because of all these reasons. Of course, I understand if you’re not a fan then you probably won’t bother but, honestly, it was definitely an enjoyable and entertaining read for me and I can’t fault it in any way.