Simon Amstell

A beautiful and clever book about being human. All the warmth of his comedy without the inconvenience of his face

Hard to imagine anyone not loving this... go Simon Amstell!

Disarmingly, almost alarmingly, honest. I laughed out loud 57 times

No one makes loneliness and anxiety as funny as Simon Amstell. Every sentence in this book is simultaneously heartbreaking and hilarious

Puts the fun in 'insanely honest introspection fun'

A brilliantly funny, sad, clever, silly book. I loved it!

Amstell is a likable, self-deprecating guide to his own flaws, and has spent enough time in therapy to dissect his own navel-gazing with a nicely dry self-awareness

Hilarious and heart-breaking… Simon’s unique take on the world is a reminder of the absurdity of life and the humour that can be found even in its darkest moments. Genuinely life-affirming, moving and profoundly funny

Compulsively, excruciatingly honest… An heroically spiky, self-excavating read about family, fame, sex and self-discovery

This book blends some of the best moments from his tours to date with some eye-wateringly honest anecdotes from his life so far

It’s inevitable that Simon Amstell’s memoir doesn’t fit the usual mould… In Help..., he cranks up the honesty: alongside excerpts of scripts from his shows, he relates the source material, often in almost painful depth. Depression, an unhappy childhood, family rifts – all feature in what Amstell, typically acerbic, describes as a “heroic act of self-annihiliation”

Amstell is evocative and wittily self-aware about his upbringing as a painfully shy, socially awkward boy in Romford… Amstell’s writing often contains profundity alongside morsels of pithy wit

Stand-up transcripts interspersed with touching personal confessions – love, sexuality, self-discovery – in his trademark sardonic style

Amstell is one of the UK’s best stand-ups and this beautifully written memoir… Is a gem. It is brutally, excruciatingly honest about his dysfunctional family, his sexual awakening, his comedy career and his struggles with anxiety. It is also laugh-out-loud-on-public-transport funny.

Help provides a fascinating insight into Amstell’s life… a unique discussion on the role and purpose of comedy in our society as a means to protect ourselves and others, but also as means to reveal our most vulnerable states

'A beautiful and clever book about being human' Russell Brand 
 
COMEDY. TRAGEDY. THERAPY. 
 
Simon Amstell did his first stand-up gig at the age of thirteen. His parents had just divorced and puberty was confusing. Trying to be funny solved everything. 
 
HELP is the hilarious and heartbreaking account of Simon’s ongoing compulsion to reveal his entire self on stage. To tell the truth so it can’t hurt him any more. Loneliness, anxiety, depression – this book has it all. And more. 
 
From a complicated childhood in Essex to an Ayahuasca-led epiphany in the Amazon rainforest, this story will make you laugh, cry and then feel happier than you’ve ever been.

Simon Amstell

Praise for Help

A beautiful and clever book about being human. All the warmth of his comedy without the inconvenience of his face

Hard to imagine anyone not loving this... go Simon Amstell!

Disarmingly, almost alarmingly, honest. I laughed out loud 57 times

A beautiful and clever book about being human. All the warmth of his comedy without the inconvenience of his face

Hard to imagine anyone not loving this... go Simon Amstell!

Disarmingly, almost alarmingly, honest. I laughed out loud 57 times

A beautiful and clever book about being human. All the warmth of his comedy without the inconvenience of his face

Hard to imagine anyone not loving this... go Simon Amstell!

Disarmingly, almost alarmingly, honest. I laughed out loud 57 times

Follow penguin

Follow ladybird

Follow puffin

Sign up to the Penguin newsletter