Life and Laughing: My Story by Michael McIntyre

When I first got into watching ‘live’ comedy on the television a few years ago on programmes such as Live at the Apollo, Mock the Week and Would I Lie To You, Michael McIntyre was one of the first comedians that I absolutely adored. His jokes weren’t too crude and he managed to somehow do some physical, acted-out comedy without it being ridiculous. His observational style was something I loved and remembering how much I enjoyed his autobiography when I first listened to it in 2012, I decided to give it another listen on audiobook, listening on my walks to and from work each day.

I absolutely love the way that Michael reads this audiobook. There is something so personal about the author of the book reading it themselves, it is literally in their own voice, so the comedy and the emotion comes across strongly, more strongly than it would if someone else was reading.

There have definitely been ups and downs throughout the comedians life and his story really gets that across in a way that is emotional and hilarious. I especially related to the Hungarian grandmother parts as my grandfather is Hungarian and although they are in no way similar, the accent and the Scrabble conversations were something that I could imagine happening with my grandfather.

I liked that some of the jokes included were similar to ones he uses in his comedy shows because they’re favourites of mine.

Overall, I think if you want to read or listen to a hilarious autobiography, I would definitely recommend this one! It definitely stands up to rereading/relistening.