Known for his intelligent and often surreal humour, Paul Merton-s weekly appearances on BBC1-s Have I Got News For You - as well as Radio 4-s Just A Minute and his travel documentaries - have seen him become an artfully rebellious fixture in our lives for over 25 years.
He also has a real story to tell. In ONLY WHEN I LAUGH, his rich and beautifully-observed autobiography, Paul takes us on an evocative journey from his working-class Fulham childhood to the present day.
Whether writing about school days, his run-ins with the nuns and other pupils; his disastrous first confession; his meatpacking job; taking acid; leaving home to live in bedsit; his early brushes with the opposite sex - and not forgetting his repeated attempts to break into the world of comedy - Paul-s writing is always funny, poignant and revealing. And when his star finally ascends in the atmospherically drawn 1980s alternative cabaret scene there is a sense of excitement, energy, camara
