I have mentioned before on this blog that Alan Carr ENCHANTS me. I can't explain it, but when I watch him on television I want to be his friend. When I read his twitter account (don't you dare judge me) I want to cause grievous bodily harm to those who insult him.How can anyone dislike a man who says he'd take a cup of tea over drugs any day, because you can't dip a biscuit in crystal meth?
HOW?
The family I was living with in December found it overly amusing that I had so much adoration for Alan. They would call me when Celebrity Ding Dong (Aussie readers... you're missing out!) was on and I would come rushing in, a huge grin already stretched across my face. The opening credits would be playing, Alan would be grooving to Fat Boy Slim's Weapon of Choice and I would literally feel no pain or sadness for the following hour.
So, you can imagine my exultation when I discovered Alan's autobiography. Look Who It Is! Alan Carr: My Story was the most enjoyable book I have read in a seriously long time. Considering he's only been a famous comedian for about ten minutes the book is not so much about name-dropping and more about his childhood, growing up in Northampton with his parents and younger brother. Alan has said in the past that he never came out to his parents, mainly because "he was never in" and from the stories in his book you can see this is quite true. Alan appears to have been exuberantly self-deprecating, loving and totally 100% gay from the moment he was born and his parents seemed to have been quite clued in. His father (a football coach) used to make him run laps to lose weight, calling him "a fat fairy" and his mother used to ask him to not mince along the beach twirling his spade like a parasol.
However, it's not the reassurance that Alan has always been Alan that made me adore him even more. It's the obvious intelligence and kindness that seeps from the book on every page; without agenda or intent Alan has written a book that screams out just how terrific he is. For crying out loud, the man went backpacking through South-East Asia with a friend of his who was legally blind. No matter how drunk Alan got each night he always made sure Caroline was OK... because, you know... SHE COULDN'T SEE.
Alan, if I wanted to be friends with you before I am now certain, after reading your book, that we could be the BEST of friends. I too love Graham Greene! I too, have worked in a supermarket! I too like a good biscuit dipped in a cup of tea!
I hope I've convinced our Aussie readers to at least YouTube some of his shows, but I really think the key to understanding how marvellous Alan Carr is is to read his utterly engaging book. You will probably begin to adore him too.
Rating: 8/10.
Note: Earhart has technical problems of some sort, so you'll mostly be hearing from me until she gets those sorted... i.e. no coherent, intelligent book reviews for a couple of days.
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