The Sound of Laughter: The Autobiography of Peter Kay

Peter Kay's unerring gift for observing the absurdities and eccentricities of family life has earned himself a widespread everyman appeal. These vivid observations, when coupled with a kind of nostalgia that never fails to grab his audience's shared understanding, have earned him comparisons with Alan Bennett and Ronnie Barker. In many ways he is an old fashioned comedian, a fact reflected by the scope and enormity of his fan base. He doesn't tell jokes about politics or sex, but rather rejoices in the far funnier areas of life—elderly relatives and answering machines, dads dancing badly at weddings, garlic bread and cheesecake. This autobiography is full of this kind of humor and nostalgia and covers everything from Kay's first ever driving lesson back through his childhood, the numerous jobs he held after school, and his first tastes of fame.