Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

I Guess He Had to Be There

James Acaster's Classic Scrapes by James Acaster

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Thanks to my obsession with British panel shows I’ve become quite a fan of James Acaster. His series of Taskmaster was one of the show’s greatest, and he’s maybe the best Would I Lie to You? guest not named Bob Mortimer. I even occasionally listen to his and Ed Gamble’s Off Menu podcast even though I know almost nothing about food beyond the fact that I like to eat it. Part of Acaster’s appeal as a comedian is that he genuinely flirts with the line […]

Not a cliche

James Acaster's Classic Scrapes by James Acaster

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Bingo: self care; my go-to comfort reads are personal essays – bonus points if they’re funny, too. (And that makes bingo #4, with column 3) For me it’s a bit hit and miss whether a stand-up comedian or comedic actor’s talent translates to the written word; just because you’re funny on screen doesn’t mean you can write a funny story for readers. (Looking at you, H Jon Benjamin – some books just don’t need to be written.) James Acaster fell in the middle for me. […]

“Failure cannot be understood in theory, only in practice, sometimes over and over and over again.”

James Acaster’s Classic Scrapes by James Acaster

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Cbr13bingo Free! Bingo #2 – diagonal I received this book as a gift from my husband last year because we are big fans of British panel shows and comedian James Acaster, who is all over them. Look at me reading another memoir, my fourth in a row!! This one is clearly different from the previous three in that it is by a male and it is comedic. James Acaster is a thirty-something British comedian, perhaps not terribly well known in the US but a popular […]

Come on James just tell me what to listen to so I’ll be cool.

Perfect Sound Whatever by James Acaster

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I promised myself I wasn’t going to read this book in one sitting, but, like everything else James Acaster related, I gobbled it up as soon as I got my grubby little hands on it. Perfect Sound Whatever is Acaster’s defense of 2016 as the best year for music OF ALL TIME. Also, he was having a slight breakdown at the time. Totally unrelated. Let me be very clear: the only reason I bought this book was because of my un-ending adoration of James Acaster. […]

When I was a baby I urinated into my own mouth

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I first witnessed the glory that is James Acaster on an episode of Would I Lie to You where he recounted the, now infamous, cabbage tale. I watched that episode twice. Then I googled the man and watched pretty much everything on YouTube, including obscure clips from before anyone knew who he was. What I’m trying to say is that I was very much the target audience for this book and my review is in no way objective, but based purely on the fact that […]



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