I Laughed, I Cried
'The working mum's version of Eddie Izzard's 50 marathons in 50 days. Hilarious.' Sally Phillips
'Absolutely hilarious' Jennifer Saunders
'Brilliant' Jo Brand
'An amazing book about stand-up that's also about love, determination and pursuing your dreams' Lucy Porter
When is it too late to become the person you were meant to be? Viv Groskop is fed up, recession-scarred and pushing 40. She always wanted to be a stand-up comedian. But surely that's not advisable if you have three children, a mortgage and a husband who hates stand-up comedy?
With no time to waste, she attempts the mother of all comedy marathons - 100 gigs in 100 nights. She laughs. Sometimes at her own jokes. Occasionally the audience laughs too. Often they don't. And she cries. Tears of joy, of misery and of profound self-loathing.
This is an alarmingly specific and reckless experiment with a reassuringly universal and inspiring message. You CAN do what you want to do even if it's completely terrifying. You CAN try something new without giving up the day job. And you CAN go after what you really want in life without destroying everything around you. Well, not absolutely everything.
Viv Groskop is a journalist, broadcaster and stand-up comedian. She has written for publications such as The Guardian, The Times, The Mail on Sunday, Grazia and Vogue and has twice been short-listed for PPA Columnist of the Year (Periodical Publishers' Association). She appears frequently on TV's Sky News as well as on BBC Radio 4's Front Row and Woman's Hour and is a regular panellist on Any Questions.
Viv first performed with Stephen Fry in a Footlights show in Cambridge at the age of eighteen. She then did nothing on stage for twenty years. After several false starts and a lucky break hosting Jo Brand's book tour, she started doing stand-up properly in 2011. As a comedian she is described as "charmingly leftfield with an oddball sense of humour." Which doesn't sound entirely complimentary but never mind.