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Bloomsbury has scooped Barry Cryer: Same Time Tomorrow? The Life and Laughs of a Comedy Legend, written by Cryer’s son Bob.
Publishing director Ian Marshall acquired world English language rights from Annabel Merullo at PFD, for publication in October 2023.
The book tells the story of Cryer’s life and 60 years in the entertainment business, where he worked with everyone from Monty Python in the 1960s, through Morecambe & Wise and The Two Ronnies in the 1970s, all the way to the current era. More recently, Cryer worked alongside stars such as Gyles Brandreth, Stephen Fry, Sandi Toksvig, most notably on the long-running Radio 4 comedy show "I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue". The book will also include quotes from interviews with friends and collaborators including Eric Idle and Michael Palin.
Marshall said: "Barry Cryer was a true national treasure, much mourned when he died last year, but he spent much of his career slightly out of the spotlight. From working with Michael Palin, Miriam Margolyes and Kenny Everett through to a more recent generation such as Rob Brydon and Jack Dee, he was renowned as a generous collaborator, who not only moved with the times but was always ready to support newcomers on the scene.
"Packed with behind-the-scenes glimpses of his life at home, this is a heartwarming and hilarious insight into a vanishing tradition of comedy, albeit one that remains fully relevant to today."
Bob Cryer added: "Eric Idle told me that when Dad started to find fame later in life, he and others felt pleased that Baz was finally getting the recognition he deserved. However, as a Yorkshireman, Dad was never truly comfortable getting ’too big for his boots’. ’I’m arrogant in my humility,’ he used to say, dismissing compliments.
"I’m delighted that Bloomsbury has given me this opportunity to make him blush and celebrate properly the man known to audiences as ’Uncle Barry’, the comedy world as ’Baz’, and to me simply as ’Dad’. I’m looking forward to sharing the public and the private moments of a life well lived in the pursuit of the serious business of being silly."