Tough Crowd : How I Made And Lost A Career In Comedy (Graham Linehan) Hardback

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‘A must-read. Funny and utterly compelling’ Jonathan Ross

The Bafta-garlanded creator of Father Ted and The IT Crowd tells of his rise and painful fall. Part comedy-writing masterclass, part diary of a gender wars ‘cancellation’.

Having cut his teeth in music journalism, Graham Linehan became the finest sitcom writer of his generation. He captured the comedy zeitgeist not just as the co-creator of Father Ted but also with The IT Crowd and Black Books, winning five Baftas and a lifetime achievement award. Then his life took an unexpected turn.

When he championed an unfashionable cause, TV commissioners no longer returned his emails, showbiz pals lost his number and his marriage collapsed. In an emotionally charged memoir that is by turns hilarious and harrowing, he lets us into the secrets of the writing room and colourfully describes the high-octane atmosphere of a sitcom set. But he also berates an industry where there was no one to stand by his side when he needed help.

Bruised but not beaten, he explains why he chose the hill of women and girls’ rights to die on – and why, despite the hardship of cancellation, he’s not coming down from it any time soon.