Eye Books to publish Linehan's professional memoir

Independent publisher Eye Books will publish “Father Ted” creator Graham Linehan’s professional memoir

Publisher Dan Hiscocks acquired world rights to Tough Crowd: How I Made and Lost a Career in Comedy directly from the author. The book will publish on 12th October.

The book will be serialised by two major newspapers and is likely to be controversial, following the highs and lows of Linehan’s career. The comedy writer has publicly criticised the trans rights movement in recent years, putting him at odds with many in the arts community. In August Linehan staged a comedy event outside the Scottish parliament after two Edinburgh Fringe festival venues refused to stage it.

Hiscocks told The Bookseller: “We’ve deliberately not announced this project until the book was at the printer’s because we wanted people to be able to judge it on its own terms, based on what it actually says, rather than to make snap judgements based purely on speculation. We’re confident that many of Graham’s critics will be very pleasantly surprised.”

When asked if he expects bookshops to stock the title, Hiscocks said: “As a small independent publisher, getting retail support for any of our titles is a constant challenge. In this case, we’re expecting very strong customer demand but, as ever, it will be up to individual retailers whether they choose to supply that demand. It goes without saying that we very much hope they will, but even if they don’t, we’re well equipped to meet customer demand ourselves.”

The publisher described the memoir as "emotionally charged" and "by turns hilarious and harrowing". Linehan "reveals the secrets of the writing room and colourfully describes the high-octane atmosphere of a sitcom set", the publisher said. "But he also berates an industry where there was no one to stand by his side when he needed help".

Linehan said: “I’m immensely grateful to the team at Eye Books who helped me develop this book, and especially to Dan Hiscocks, who had the courage to commission it three years ago."