Taylor reviewed Before and Laughter by Jimmy Carr
Review of 'Before and Laughter' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
I'm a big fan of stand-up. And I find Jimmy Carr funny, but his typical style of delivery isn't one of my favorites, where every line is a joke in rapid fire succession. I prefer to see him on any of his shows on Channel 4, in a more conversational environment. Recently I heard him on a podcast during his book tour, where he was talking about wanting to experiment with his comedic style to incorporate more story-based jokes. He also had quite a few profound takes on career success and happiness. So his book went into the queue.
It turned out to be a highly enjoyable self-help book. It's more self-help than memoir, by a lot. But Jimmy's humor and life experiences interspersed between the (excellent) advice makes it all feel like a casual conversation with him. Some of his blunt quips after a profound statement were hilarious, which …
I'm a big fan of stand-up. And I find Jimmy Carr funny, but his typical style of delivery isn't one of my favorites, where every line is a joke in rapid fire succession. I prefer to see him on any of his shows on Channel 4, in a more conversational environment. Recently I heard him on a podcast during his book tour, where he was talking about wanting to experiment with his comedic style to incorporate more story-based jokes. He also had quite a few profound takes on career success and happiness. So his book went into the queue.
It turned out to be a highly enjoyable self-help book. It's more self-help than memoir, by a lot. But Jimmy's humor and life experiences interspersed between the (excellent) advice makes it all feel like a casual conversation with him. Some of his blunt quips after a profound statement were hilarious, which is really hard to do in book format.
