Jack Dee to write a book of advice

What is Your Problem? from 'comedy’s little ray of sleet'

With his famously grouchy demeanour Jack Dee might not fit the usual image of a sympathetic therapist.

But the morose stand-up has turned agony uncle releasing a book of advice for those with problems, after studying to retrain as a psychotherapist.

After completing the course, which lasted for a full four hours online, he solicited personal dilemmas to be solved on Twitter, as Chortle reported last summer.

And now the comic will be publishing the results in the title What Is Your Problem?, due out in October.

Publisher Quercus said: ‘With his training in hand, Dee has been expertly helping people out with their problems since announcing his new vocation.

What is Your Problem? is a compilation of readers’ problems – be they about relationships, finances, cross-dressing, nosey neighbours, coping with Christmas, coping with teenagers or just coping with Mike from the accounts department – and Jack’s patient and compassionate responses, which draw on his unique but highly professional approach to therapy.’

Editorial director Jane Sturrock told trade website The Bookseller: ‘Jack Dee is a national treasure and I can’t think of anyone better placed to comfort and console readers in their hour of need than the man dubbed by Jeremy Hardy as "comedy’s little ray of sleet".

‘Jack’s particular brand of advice is unconventional, impatient, sometimes sarcastic and yet often surprisingly wise, and the result is laugh-out-loud funny.’

Dee - who previously addressed viewers’ problems on his BBC Two show Jack Dee's Helpdesk from 2015 to 2017 - added of the new book: 'It’s just my way of giving something back.’

And his qualification might not be all it seems. In a video to promote the book released today, Dee said it came from the entirely fiction 'Ruislip College of Advanced Learning"

Hello. I’ve written a book. Watch below to find out more. You can pre-order What is Your Problem? from @waterstones here: https://t.co/i2UhRuMajh pic.twitter.com/OLQtyiEJlw
— Jack Dee (@TheRealJackDee) May 10, 2021