Overview

From brutal schooldays to 80s anarchy, through The Young Ones and beyond, Berserker! is the one-of-a-kind, fascinating memoir from an icon of British comedy, Adrian Edmondson. Berserker [noun]: A Norse warrior frenzied in battle and held to be invulnerable; often off his tits on henbane and large quantities of alcohol; one who is out of control with anger or excitement. Ade Edmondson smashed onto the comedy circuit in the 1980s, stormed The Comedy Store 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? Well, he is part Norse. Could it be his 'berserker' heritage? 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 his 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.

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9781035014279

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Reviews

Boarding school, despair, love, music, Rik Mayall – everything Adrian Edmondson writes about makes you love him desperately -- Caitlin Moran, journalist and author of <i>How to Be a Woman</i>

Boarding school, despair, love, music, Rik Mayall – everything Adrian Edmondson writes about makes you love him desperately -- Caitlin Moran, journalist and author of <i>How to Be a Woman</i> 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 * 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 * 'Gloriously candid and wise all at once' - Sara Pascoe ‘More fun than reading Hegel, and also more enlightening’ * Louis de Bernières *

Author Information

Adrian Charles Edmondson is an English actor, comedian, musician, writer and television presenter. He studied drama at Manchester University where he met his comedy partner Rik Mayall. The influence of the absurdist dramatists he studied and his early love for The Goons, The Muppets and Monty Python are all reflected in his comedy practice. He and Rik were part of the first wave of Alternative Comedy where their glorious pursuit of laughter and anarchic performances changed the comedic landscape forever. He starred as Vyvyan in The Young Ones, the series that blasted its way onto our screens tearing into our preconceptions of what television comedy could be. Adrian has since had a very significant career. A career that has taken him in later years into 'straight' acting as well, at the RSC, BBC TV's War and Peace and EastEnders, and as a writer of books for adults and children. He has also had an award-winning music career with his band The Bad Shepherds, which fused punk and folk.

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