How he turned his life around 'through the redemptive power of dick jokes'

Jimmy Carr is to publish his memoirs this autumn, charting his change from a boring corporate life to ‘fake-toothed donkey-laugh plastic-haired comedy mannequin’, in the words of publishers Quercus.

The title –  Before & Laughter: A Life-Changing Book – is described as a cross between autobiography.

According to the blurb, ‘In his mid-twenties, Jimmy was bored, boring, unfulfilled and underachieving. He wasn’t exactly depressed, but he was very sad. Think of a baby owl whose mum has recently died in a windmill accident. He was that sad. This book tells the story of how Jimmy turned it around and got happy, through the redemptive power of dick jokes.

‘Written to take advantage of the brief window between the end of lockdown and Jimmy getting cancelled for saying something unforgivable to Lorraine Kelly, this book is as timely as it is unnecessary.  

‘Because you might be interested in Jimmy’s life but he’s damn sure you’re a lot more interested in your own, Before & Laughter is about both of you. But mainly him.’

The book promises to answer the big questions such as ‘what’s the secret to happiness?’ and ‘what happened with that tax thing?’ – and at £20 it’s billed as ‘cheaper than Scientology, quicker than therapy, and significantly less boring than church.

Carr said: ‘I don’t want to overpromise and underdeliver, but this really delivers on the subtitle A Life Changing Book. It’s definitely the best cash-in autobiography by any popular British comedian born between 1972 and 1974 ever. That’s if you don’t count the Peter Kay one. Because that was proper good.’

I’ve written a book in lockdown. Franky it was that or a podcast. If you pre-order it today, it’ll be a nice surprise when it finally turns up in September.
Treat yourself: https://t.co/6C1GX9BHuq pic.twitter.com/jK974qQJz0

— Jimmy Carr (@jimmycarr) May 21, 2021

Katy Follain, Quercus’s non-fiction publisher,  bought the rightd from Carr’s agent Hannah Chambers.

She said: ‘I am over the moon to be working with Jimmy Carr. Before & Laughter is a blend of self-help and memoir. It’ll appeal not only to his huge army of fans, but to anyone who feels stuck in a rut, needs to shake things up but hasn’t quite got the tools or self-belief to do so.’

In 2007, Carr wrote the analytical book The Naked Jape: Uncovering the Hidden World of Jokes with academic Lucy Greeves.

He is one of a long string of comedians to be publishing books this autumn.

Published: 21 May 2021