Dead Funny by Robin Ince

Dead Funny by Robin Ince

What happens when mirth turns to murder? When the screams are not from joy, but flesh-ripping pain? Dead Funny is an audacious anthology, featuring tales of terror from some of the brightest lights in UK comedy. Award winners Robin Ince and Johnny Mains team up for this unique exploration of the relationship between comedy and horror to see if they do, as believed, make the most comfortable of bedfellows. Featuring the talents of Mitch Benn, Katy Brand, Neil Edmond, Richard Herring, Charlie Higson, Matthew Holness, Rufus Hound, Robin Ince, Phill Jupitus, Tim Key, Stewart Lee, Michael Legge, Al Murray, Sara Pascoe, Reece Shearsmith, Danielle Ward Dead Funny You'll die screaming.

Johnny Mains is one of these people, his encyclopaedic knowledge and private collection of books and memorabilia is stunningSeriously Johnny should lay on some catering and provide guided tours round his house. I get excited when I get a personalised book, this guy probably has the authors soul locked up in a mason jar in his cellar.

-- Jim McLeod * Ginger Nuts of Horror *

Johnny Mains not only carries a flame for the old horrors, but wants to cause a bit of a conflagration of his own.

-- Stephen Volk

It seems like a lifetime ago since I first heard about this book. I was lucky enough to be one of the first people in the know, and ever since then I have been intrigued, and excited. I loved the premise of the book, a load of comedians and stand up comics tackling my most beloved of genres. A brilliant concept, when you consider that in my opinion both horror and comedy come from the same dark pit in our minds and soul.

* Ginger Nuts of Horror *

Most of the tales explore damaged minds, whether it's Reece Shearsmith's dog-murdering boy, Mitch Benn's vengeful doctor or Matthew Holness's deranged puppeteer. On the whole, the better stories embrace the supernatural, such as the future-predicting diary in Katy Brand's For Roger and the siren-like women who lead a vulgar banker astray in Phill Jupitus's tale.

The most experienced author here, Charlie Higson, fares best with his cheerily macabre story about an ageing horror-movie actor. Throughout, the book revels in the unsettling overlap between laughter and dread.

-- James Lovegrove * Financial Times *

The short, punchy tales each have their own distinctively scary flavour, kicking off with Reece Shearsmith's beautifully vicious-with-a-twist Dog, featuring some gory canine-based retribution.

Other contributors include Mitch Benn, Neil Edmond, Matthew Holness, Rufus Hound, Tim Key, Phill Jupitus, Michael Legge and Al Murray. There is pretty much something for everyone here. I always suspected comedians were a pretty sick and twisted fraternity. Dead Funny confirms it and the book is all the better for it.

-- Bruce Dessau * Beyond the Joke *

This is not the result of some job-swapping reality TV show, this is the real thing, with veritable authors pulling many of the stops (and viscera) out to show their worth writing horror. And it's just as nasty as it could be - but in all the right ways.

* The Bookbag *

Dead Funny is hopefully the book that has the best chance of propelling horror fiction back into the face of the general public. It is a good thing that this book is of such high quality.

* Ginger Nuts of Horror *

This book is a treat to read as there are some fantastic tales from writers who are (mostly) new to the genre. If you want some smart, well written horror with a hint of mirth, I strongly encourage you to invest in a copy. Or else.

* Snakebite Reviews *

As I have said before humour and horror are not always the perfect bedfellows, but each of the contributors to Dead Funny clearly show great affection for the genre that comes through in the writing. Don't expect all the stories to be a laugh a minute, some of them are pretty gruesome, though there are some tasty little gags to be found. I give Dead Funny a 666/666.

* The Horror Hothouse *

Robin Ince is a multi-award-winning comedian and author. His book Robin Ince's Bad Book Club was based on his tour Bad Book Club. More recently he has toured Happiness Through Science, The Importance of Being Interested and is currently touring Robin Ince Is In And Out Of His Mind and Blooming Buzzing Confusion. Award winning editor, author and horror historian. Has written for SFX Magazine, Illustrators Quarterly and The Paperback Fanatic. Project editor to Pan Macmillan's 2010 re-issue of The Pan Book of Horror Stories. Co-editing Dead Funny with multi-award winning comedian Robin Ince. Has written introduction to Stephen King's 30th Anniversary edition of Thinner. Author of two short story collections and editor of five horror anthologies. Mitch Benn is an award-winning comedian, musician, presenter and author. He has released seven albums and is the author of the acclaimed science fiction novel Terra (his debut book) and its recent follow-up Terra's World. Mitch has also featured as the voice of Zaphod Beeblebrox in a touring production of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Katy Brand is an award-winning writer, comedian, actor and journalist. She has appeared in numerous films, TV shows, radio programmes and live events. In 2008 she won the Best Female Newcomer Award at the British Comedy Awards for Katy Brand's Big Ass Show, which ran for three series on ITV. Since then she has written extensively across all genres for herself and others, including screenplays, sit-coms, sketch shows and for national newspapers and magazines. Her first novel, Brenda Monk is Funny, was published in 2014. Neil Edmond was part of Perrier Best Newcomers The Consultants, has written sitcoms Home Time and Knocker and made humble contributions to shows like Twenty Twelve, Mid-Morning Matters with Alan Partridge and Parks and Recreation. He often stooges for Robin Ince, dancing to the work of Guy N. Smith. Richard Herring is a writer, comedian and podcaster and the world's only semi-professional self-playing snookerist. In the 1990s he appeared alongside Stewart Lee in TV shows like This Morning With Richard Not Judy. More recently he has written stand-up shows such as Christ on a Bike and Hitler Moustache and his current show Lord of the Dance Settee. He is obsessed with Rasputin and has written a knockabout musical Ra-Ra Rasputin and a more serious play I Killed Rasputin about him. He lives in West London with his wife and cats, Liono and Smithers. Charlie Higson is the co-creator of The Fast Show and Bellamy's People. He has written five entries of the Young Bond series and is king of the zombie novel with his defining The Enemy series. Charlie has also produced, written and directed the return of Randall & Hopkirk to great acclaim. Matthew Holness created the character Garth Marenghi and co-wrote Channel 4's Garth Marenghi's Darkplace. He has recently written and directed two short films, A Gun For George (Film4) and The Snipist (Sky Arts Playhouse). Rufus Hound is currently an actor. He is not currently a panel show turn, a TV presenter, a stand-up comedian or proud of himself. Robin Ince is a multi-award-winning comedian and author. His book Robin Ince's Bad Book Club was based on his tour Bad Book Club. More recently he has toured Happiness Through Science, The Importance of Being Interested and is currently touring Robin Ince Is In And Out Of His Mind and Blooming Buzzing Confusion. Phill Jupitus is a performance poet, stand-up comedian and actor. He has been the team captain on the infamous Never Mind the Buzzcocks since its inception in 1996. He has also appeared on QI, plays Councillor Cowdrey in CITV's series Bottom Knocker Street and is notable for his performances on I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue and Just a Minute. Tim Key is a comedian, actor and writer. He is known for his character Sidekick Simon starring alongside Steve Coogan's Alan Partridge in Mid Morning Matters and Alpha Papa. He is also the author of three books. Stewart Lee is a comedian, writer and director. In the 90s he worked with Richard Herring and has since gone on to write Jerry Springer: The Opera which found itself in the centre of a media meltdown (although the critics loved it). He has written five novels and a new series of Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle has been commissioned for 2015. Michael Legge is a stand-up comedian known for being grumpy and shouty. He's one third of the Do The Right Thing podcast, half of Pointless Anger Righteous Ire with Robin Ince and completely responsible for his own award-winning, furious blog. Michael is a vegan and, if you're not, he probably hates you. Al Murray is a comedian probably best known for his alter ego the Pub Landlord, the self-styled King Cnut of Common Sense. Along the way he's made TV programmes, done some radio, written some books: maybe you've seen, heard or read some of them. If you have he's grateful - as long as you liked them. If you haven't you've no idea what you're missing out on. Sara Pascoe is a comedienne, writer and actress who has been performing stand-up since 2007. She co-wrote Channel 4's Girl Friday, has starred in Twenty Twelve and its spiritual follow-up W1A. Sara is also the winner of the 2014 Chortle Breakthrough Award. Reece Shearsmith is an actor and writer. He starred in and co-wrote The League of Gentlemen, Psychoville and Inside No 9 all for BBC2. He is equally at home on stage, screen or radio. But he is mostly at home at home. Danielle Ward is a writer, actor, comic and musician. She has won a handful of awards, performed Shakespeare in New York, is the brains behind hit podcast Do The Right Thing and wrote cult musicals Psister Psycho and Gutted. Her favourite horror film is An American Werewolf in London.

SKU	GOR006332014
ISBN 13	9781907773761
ISBN 10	1907773762
Title	Dead Funny
Author	Robin Ince
Condition	Very good
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	Salt Publishing
Year published	2014-10-01
Number of pages	224
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
Note	This is a used book - there is no escaping the fact it has been read by someone else and it will show signs of wear and previous use. Overall we expect it to be in very good condition, but if you are not entirely satisfied please get in touch with us