Tripping Over Myself: A Memoir of a Life in Comedy by Shaun Micallef
I've always loved Australian satirist Shaun Micallef, right from his early days on Full Frontal. I regard his TV series Welcher & Welcher as superbly written and acted and was so sad to see him call it time on his current Mad as Hell program which was compulsory viewing each Wednesday evening.
A brief summary of his career:
After several years of practising law, Shaun Micallef threw it all away for a life in comedy and television. Since ’94 he has graced Aussie screens in shows such as Full Frontal, Sea Change, the short-loved but brilliant Micallef Tonight and the immensely popular Talkin’ ’Bout Your Generation – to name but a few. He has also won 3 Logies, including the Gold Logie for Most Popular Presenter (2010).
He has now produced his autobiography Tripping Over Myself: A Memoir of a Life in Comedy. Knowing how much I like him, I actually received 3 copies of the book as part of my Christmas presents! I think that says it all.
The book blurb reads as follows
From Shaun Micallef, beloved host of ABC TV’s news satire Mad as Hell, comes Tripping Over Myself – an insightful and funny memoir about comedy and life that takes us through uncharted waters to unexpected places.
Comedy has been Shaun’s escape, his guiding light, his refuge, his passport, his lifebuoy, his drug, his mask, his means, his end, his lingua franca, his Self. But it’s not everything.
From his early years as a gangly, bespectacled nerd in suburban Adelaide to the giddy heights of national TV stardom, Shaun regales us with his experiences and his continuous reinvention through humour with… well, humour. He writes with candour about his successes and failures, loves and losses, along with tales of wine, women, song, and eccentric dancing. Behind the persona of one of Australia’s best-loved comedians lurks, as you will discover, an idiot.
Despite Shaun’s best efforts, Tripping Over Myself is sprinkled with thoughtful insights and observations and shows us how to persist in the face of adversity or even good fortune. You will laugh, you will dog-ear pages, you will wonder, you will Google ‘Jerry Lewis’, you may book a trip to India, and you will come away from this book reflecting on your own life in new and remarkable ways.
Took me only days to read it and I laughed out loud on many occasions.
I should also note that I have a copy of his 2010 novel Preincarnate.
Definitely on my list of 5 star books.
