The man behind the laughter (Sound of Laughter - Peter Kay)

Member Name: carly_pussycat

Product:	Sound of Laughter - Peter Kay
Date:	16/07/07 (71 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Amusing, gives you a deeper understanding of him

Disadvantages: Might not have enough of his 'famous' life in for some people's liking

I can’t profess to be the biggest Peter Kay fan. In fact, I’m not even close: I don’t own any of his DVDs, I didn’t enjoy Phoenix Nights at all and when I heard he was bringing out an authobiography I didn’t once consider buying it. However, I have laughed myself silly whilst watching friends’ DVDs of his stand ups, so when my boyfriend borrowed his friend’s copy of the book and had it lying around the house for a month having not got round to reading it I, being jobless at the moment, decided I’d read it first (can you sense the enthusiasm?) I can honestly say that I didn’t actually think much about what I was expecting from the book, so maybe that is partly why I was surprised by the outcome.

For those of you who don’t know him (where have you been?!) Peter Kay is a famous comedian who is best known for his observational humour about everyday life, but more specifically to being just your average lad from a bog standard close knit working class family living in the North of the UK. I won’t detail his entire life story here but his comedy career really kicked started when he won the title of ‘North West Comedian of the Year’ in 1997. Since then he’s been a regular stand up comedian, also writing and starring in TV programs such as That Peter Kay Thing, Phoenix Nights, and Max and Paddy’s Road To Nowhere.

Anyway, on to the book. Before you even consider reading this I think it’s fair to say that you need to have seen and fully appreciated at least few of Peter Kay’s stand up performances to ‘get’ the book. I say this because, for me, much of the humour of the book would have been lost had I not been reading the whole thing in my head in Peter Kay’s thick Bolton accent. It just doesn’t work half as well otherwise. I have a feeling this is what he intends you to do as the whole book’s written colloquially, so it’s like he’s right there with you. You also need to already be in on the little jokes about Rola Cola and his close relationship with his mum for the bits he includes of his home life to still have a funny reason for being in the book. There are parts of the book which some people might find boring because there’s nothing “interesting” happening in his life. For example he details working three part time jobs as a teenager to save up for his driving lessons. He describes quite a bit about each job which some readers may feel is filler the book before getting to his ‘real’ job, but to me he’s describing these things because they are what made him the person he is – and that’s what his jokes are about – the person he is. He’s saying these things because the book isn’t all about his life as a comedian, it’s about his life and his roots, and why this meant he’d decided at a very young age to become a comedian. I found his story fascinating because he’s led such a different life to mine and he has such a refreshing outlook on the world that everything seems interesting – it’s not so much the things that he’s done or achieved, but the way he’s approached them and seen the humour in every situation (even dangerous ones!)

What surprised me almost immediately about this book was just how thoughful and sensitive Peter Kay seemed to be. He expressed deeply his passion for music and films, and admitted that he would often just let himself have a good cry, something I’d not expected of him. Ok, so it’s hard to explain, but he thinks about things more than I would expect him to as he details surprising things like his friendship with a man who’d be considered by most to be the local nutter. As you progress through the book you build up a real insight into who Peter Kay really is – just a down to earth, kindhearted, humble but hilarious everyday guy from Bolton. He doesn’t rely on offensive material or use excessive swearing, alcohol or drugs references to fill his act or his book, but likewise he doesn’t completely shy away from it that you end up thinking he’s a complete goody two shoes. He strikes a healthy enough balance that you feel he’s a comedian you could comfortably watch on telly with your parents in the room.

The autobiography progresses from Peter’s teenage years to the point where he really began to launch into the big time (his win at the North West Comedian of the Year competition), which really only spans a few years. Some may say that he’s really not including enough of a time frame for it to truly be called an autobiography. Perhaps he’s not, but seeing as just approached this book as “a bit of writing about Peter Kay’s life” I can’t say that I’m too bitter about this, and reaching the end of the book it really has everything I wanted to know. Perhaps other people wanted him name dropping all the stars he’d met since hitting the big time, detailing nosey glipses of other celebrities’ lives, but that’s not really something that interests me so I didn’t feel hard done by.

I would recommend this book to anyone who’s enjoyed Peter Kay’s comedy, whether it’s his stand up or his sit downs…I mean, sitcoms. But beware, this book will appeal more to people who are interested in the real man behind the laughs, it won’t tell you anything about his current life as a famous comedian. It probably won’t have you rolling around laughing like his shows either (what book would?) but it provided me with at least six laugh-out-loud moments and many more smiles.

The book itself is an easy read given the conversational style and took me under a week to read by only picking it up for a few minutes here and there. I wanted to read it really quickly because every page left you wanting to know more about him but I didn’t want it to be over too soon so I spread it over a few days. I read the hardback version but I saw this week on the telly that they’ve just released a paperback one, so now you have a choice! I wouldn’t have paid full price to read it purely because it’s not something I would keep and read again but I can definitely recommend you picking up a friend’s copy or grabbing the paperback.

Prices range –
Hardback £12 – 18.99
Paperback £3.99 – 7.99

Summary: A deeper understanding into Peter Kay - not hilarious all the way but amusing and touching