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Help
- Author
- Simon Amstell
- Narrator
- Simon Amstell
- Publisher
- Random House
- Publish Date
- 21 September 2017
- Run Time
- 3 hours 12 minutes
- Format
- Audiobook
- Rating
- 4.0 (1 review)
What to expect
Random House Audiobooks presents the audiobook of HELP. Read by Simon Amstell and packed full of live recordings taken from his stand up tours.
COMEDY, TRAGEDY, THERAPY
Simon Amstell did his first stand-up gig at the age of thirteen. His parents had just divorced and puberty was confusing. Trying to be funny solved everything.
Read by Simon Amstell, and interspersed with live recordings from his stand up tours, HELP is the hilarious and heartbreaking account of Simon’s ongoing compulsion to reveal his entire self on stage. To tell the truth so it can’t hurt him any more. Loneliness, anxiety, depression – this book has it all. And more.
From a complicated childhood in Essex to an Ayahuasca-led epiphany in the Amazon rainforest, this story will make you laugh, cry and then feel happier than you’ve ever been.
‘A beautiful and clever book about being human. All the warmth of his comedy without the inconvenience of his face.’ - Russell Brand
'Hard to imagine anyone not loving this... go Simon Amstell!' - Stephen Fry
‘Amstell is a likable, self-deprecating guide to his own flaws, and has spent enough time in therapy to dissect his own navel-gazing with a nicely dry self-awareness.’ Observer
Critics Review
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A beautiful and clever book about being human. All the warmth of his comedy without the inconvenience of his face
Russell Brand
-
Hard to imagine anyone not loving this... go Simon Amstell!
Stephen Fry
-
Disarmingly, almost alarmingly, honest. I laughed out loud 57 times
Martin Freeman
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No one makes loneliness and anxiety as funny as Simon Amstell. Every sentence in this book is simultaneously heartbreaking and hilarious
Hadley Freeman
See more reviews See fewer reviews
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Enrapturing. Touching, funny and sweet
Alain de Botton
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Puts the fun in 'insanely honest introspection fun'
Adam Buxton
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A brilliantly funny, sad, clever, silly book. I loved it!
Matt Lucas
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Amstell is a likable, self-deprecating guide to his own flaws, and has spent enough time in therapy to dissect his own navel-gazing with a nicely dry self-awareness
Observer
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Hilarious and heart-breaking… Simon’s unique take on the world is a reminder of the absurdity of life and the humour that can be found even in its darkest moments. Genuinely life-affirming, moving and profoundly funny
Attitude
-
Compulsively, excruciatingly honest… An heroically spiky, self-excavating read about family, fame, sex and self-discovery
i
User Reviews
Book 4.0
Narration 4.0
-
4.0 4.0
I was vaguely familiar with Simon Amstell but was mostly aware of him as the author of a recommended memoir. Unfortunately, in listening to the book I came to the conclusion that I didn't find his comedic stylings particularly funny. That said, I liked how clips from his sets were spliced into the book.
As a memoir it was brisk and well-written, and mostly enjoyable when the 'comedian' facade falls and the prose become more earnest.notthatcosta 2025-03-25
Details
- Author
- Simon Amstell
- Narrator
- Simon Amstell
- Duration
- 3 hours 12 minutes
- Release Date
- 21 September 2017
- ISBN
- 9781473547780
- Format
- Audiobook
- Publisher
- Random House
- Genre
- Memoirs, Autobiography: arts and entertainment, Television, Other performing arts
- Rating
- 4.0(1 review)
- Narration
- 4.0(1 review)
Synopsis
Random House Audiobooks presents the audiobook of HELP. Read by Simon Amstell and packed full of live recordings taken from his stand up tours.COMEDY, TRAGEDY, THERAPY Simon Amstell did his first stand-up gig at the age of thirteen. His parents had just divorced and puberty was confusing. Trying to be funny solved everything. Read by Simon Amstell, and interspersed with live recordings from his stand up tours, HELP is the hilarious and heartbreaking account of Simon’s ongoing compulsion to reveal his entire self on stage. To tell the truth so it can’t hurt him any more. Loneliness, anxiety, depression – this book has it all. And more. From a complicated childhood in Essex to an Ayahuasca-led epiphany in the Amazon rainforest, this story will make you laugh, cry and then feel happier than you’ve ever been.‘A beautiful and clever book about being human. All the warmth of his comedy without the inconvenience of his face.’ - Russell Brand 'Hard to imagine anyone not loving this... go Simon Amstell!' - Stephen Fry ‘Amstell is a likable, self-deprecating guide to his own flaws, and has spent enough time in therapy to dissect his own navel-gazing with a nicely dry self-awareness.’ Observer
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