Description

The instant Sunday Times bestseller and Financial Times Best Audio of 2023

From brutal schooldays to 80s anarchy, through The Young Ones, Bottom and beyond, Berserker! is the one-of-a-kind, hilarious memoir from an icon of British comedy, Adrian Edmondson.

Ade Edmondson revolutionized the comedy circuit in the 1980s and, alongside Rik Mayall, brought anarchy to stage and screen. How did a child brought up in a strict Methodist household – and who spent his formative years incarcerated in repressive boarding schools – end up joining the revolution?

With wisdom, nostalgia and uniquely observed humour, Ade traces his journey through life and comedy: starting out on the alternative scene, getting arrested in Soho, creating outrageously violent characters and learning more about his curious (possibly Scandinavian) heritage. With star-studded anecdotes and set to a soundtrack of pop hits which transport the reader through time, it’s a memoir like no other.

Nominated for Radio Times Moment of the Year for sharing his memories of Rik Mayall on Desert Island Discs.

‘The Berserker from The Young Ones and Bottom tells his story with self-effacing charm and no end of backstage anecdotes’ – Ian Rankin

‘Amazing’ – Richard Osman

‘Gloriously candid and wise all at once’ – Sara Pascoe

‘It is incredibly funny, but it is also a lot, lot more than that’ – Miles Jupp

‘More fun than reading Hegel, and also more enlightening’ – Louis de Bernieres

Publisher Review

Boarding school, despair, love, music, Rik Mayall – everything Adrian Edmondson writes about makes you love him desperately — Caitlin Moran, journalist and author of How to Be a Woman The berserker from The Young Ones and Bottom tells his story with self-effacing charm and no end of backstage anecdotes — Ian Rankin This is a bloody good book. Lots of people live interesting lives, but very few people can write genuinely interesting books about those lives. Adrian Edmondson has done both. And while it is incredibly funny, it is also a lot, lot more than that — Miles Jupp, comedian and host of The News Quiz The bravest, most affecting celebrity book of the year * Daily Express * Edmondson can be very funny and very poignant simultaneously * Daily Mirror * A hilarious romp through a golden era of comedy and a searingly honest and moving memoir * Red Magazine * Absolutely brilliant * Marina Hyde *