I guarantee that this book will make you laugh your socks off.

I am not particularly ‘into’ Frank Skinner, although I do try to catch his show on TV when I can, and I must admit that the only reason I bought this book is because it was included in one of those ‘three for two’ price offers in Waterstones, and I needed stuff to read for my holiday. Having read and enjoyed it, I am now SO glad I grabbed it from that shelf as an afterthought.

Unlike most autobiographies, which start with the writer’s childhood and then proceed to talk you through their life, year by year, Skinner starts in the present and weaves interesting stories from his past with things that are happening currently in his life. So we get the lurid details of his encounter with a back street prostitute (stomach churningly graphic, but somehow still entertaining) interspersed with the painful feelings he goes through during the breakup of the relationship he was in when he started writing the book. This approach is refreshing and powerful – you really feel like you get to know the guy, and you can’t fail to like him.

Skinner doesn’t shy away from topics that may reflect badly on him or prove uncomfortable reading, covering his alcohol abuse, experiences as a school bully and his initial faltering steps into comedy. His honesty and total lack of self importance is refreshing and warms the reader to him. He seems to use the book as a kind of therapy, a way of trying to make sense of his rise from alcoholic factory worker to respected, famous comedian.

Football fans will enjoy the many references to important games and events, including Skinners’ contribution to the 1998 European cup, the ‘Three Lions’ song. Skinner also constantly mentions his adoration and support of West Bromwich Albion FC, but we can forgive him for that because the rest of his observations are just so damn funny!

Al
l in all, Frank Skinner comes across as a man who may appear to have it all, but is at heart just an ordinary guy who has this uncanny ability to find humour in apparently humourless situations. There are moments in the book that will make you laugh out loud. Read it, you won’t be disappointed.