Thanks to all those who have recently highly rated my reviews.
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Like many I am one of those who has developed a soft spot for Peter Kay. His stand up routines are some of the funniest I've seen by a contemporary comedian. His observational and relatively clean humour is refreshing change from the crowd of funny men who can't seem to tell a gag unless it includes at least three F words and a reference to human genitalia (Peter prefers to talk about his dog's lipstick). So the last thing I wanted to do was slag off his autobiography. Unfortunately there sure is a lot of tumbleweed blowing through the pages of 'The Sound of Laughter' and a few too many yawn inducing paragraphs that take the shine off what could have been a classic comedy autobiography.
You can't help but feel the PK has been let down by his publishers and editors. A lot of the writing, especially in the early chapters is poor and disorganised. There are a lot of spelling mistakes and bad grammar, ideas and themes unexpectedly go off in different directions and there are a lot of dull sections. It's
clear that many early chapters could have been tightened up and paragraphs that should have been discarded. Kay's attempts at learning to drive is a theme that reappears throughout the text, but only manages to clumsily link the chapters together. Peter mentions that he loved his school days and it shows. He goes on far too long about his classroom antics and extra cubiculum activities and it does get tedious when you're half way through the book and you've still no idea of how he got his first break.
His improvising performance in his first school play as the Lion from Wizard of Oz an hilarious interlude during the early chapters, but Peter's attempts to be funny on the page too often fail to match the humour of the funny stories he tells. So alongside some witty stories are some pretty awful one liners. What must be one of the worst 'funny' asides in the book is when he makes a comment on an abortion and writes "At the time we all just accepted it as the norm (and I don't mean that fat bloke off Cheers)...". You might imagine Kay, with his Bolton accent and quirky facial expressions, being funny on stage with some of this material, but on the page it too often fails to translate A prerequisite comprehensive knowledge of TV shows from the 1970s and 1980s will help you with some of the humour and the many references to programmes from this era, but lines like - "He was a big burly fella, constantly tanned, like a cross between Bully from Bullseye and a fat Des O'Connor. If you can picture that, then I think you need help." - are beyond rescue.
It's not all bad though and in a strange way the errors, mistakes and bad jokes go some way to enhancing Kay's genuineness and his simplistic colloquial charm. Despite the faults there is still plenty to laugh about and I ended up laughing out loud far more than I expected, especially after reading some pretty critical reviews of this book. It's the funny stories he tells rather than his attempts at writing funny lines that make you giggle, such as one hilarious occasion early on when he is attacked by a German Shepherd dog whilst attempting to be a goal keeper at a local football match. We also get some real insights into his personality and family life when we learn about Peter's love affair with the tape recorder and how he recorded and kept conversations of friends and family members. For me the book especially picks up at chapters 9, 10 and 11 when Peter starts working at various part time jobs whilst simultaneously studying at drama school. His experiences dealing with customers at a local garage, stacking the shelves at Netto or dealing with his boss at the Cash and Carry provide many comical moments. Later, working as a cinema usherette and then as a steward at the Manchester Arena, Peter is brought closer to his career goals.
Peter's career took off when he won the title of 'North West Comedian of the Year' in 1997. This unfortunately is were the book ends. There is virtually no reference to his subsequent stand-up career and his TV shows such as That Peter Kay Thing, Phoenix Nights, and Max and Paddy's Road To Nowhere - no doubt he's saving them for a later book. Despite these absences and the book's other flaws, I ended up having a good laugh at the 'The Sound of Laughter' and I still love Peter Kay. If it's a 'must buy' for Peter Kay fans, then I'd say it's a 'must borrow' for others, even if it's just to read the story about the German Shepherd dog and the hold-up at the Cash and Carry.
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As I remember this was rush released for Christmas and I suspect Peter Kay was a little bit too busy doing his live stuff at the time to make sure this was done right - still he's a natural!
Essexgirl2006 10.03.2009 15:13
I've found other comedians that don't work well on paper too.
Advantages: Entertaining to read, Peter Kay fans will like it Disadvantages: It's boring! He doesn't reveal anything about himself: it is not a good autobiography.
Feb 13th, 2009
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