Entertainment & Performing Arts

This is a self-help book like no other. Because you are not helping yourself, James Acaster is helping you....

From the Academy Award-winning actor, an unconventional memoir filled with raucous stories, outlaw wisdom and lessons learned the hard way about living with greater satisfaction....

Where do comedians come from? Why is it that one person is a funny bloke down the pub while another actually makes a living by standing up in front of an audience telling jokes? And where does all that material come from....

A memoir and self-help manual by one of the country's most treasured comedians - for anyone who feels stuck in a rut but doesn't have the tools or self-belief to shake things up....

The long-awaited, rambling, tender and very funny memoir from Adam Buxton....

At the age of 9, Romesh Ranganathan delivered his first ever stand-up set at a Pontin's Holiday Camp talent competition, smashing the only other competitor, a young girl playing the kazoo.... 

Beneath the streets of London there is another London. A subterranean labyrinth of sewers and abandoned tube stations. A somewhere that is Neverwhere....

Bryan Cranston landed his first role at seven, when his father, a struggling actor and director, cast him in a commercial....

Lee Evans is one of the best-loved comedians in the country; a Hollywood star able to sell out arenas in the blink of eye....

Sean's stand-up is a blend of a finely tuned hyperactive imagination, surreal imagery and insightful observations on the human condition....

Micky has become one of the hottest new comics....

David Mitchell has written a book about his life....

Cabin Pressure is set in a small airline business....

Listen up chumps, basically the Vicar asked us to edit the parish newsletter this month, we weren't gonna do it at first cos the vicar said 'I want you to channel your energy into doing something creative'....

Kenneth Horne, Kenneth Williams, Betty Marsden and Hugh Paddick star in 16 episodes of the anarchic 1960s radio comedy....

Jennifer Saunders' comic creations have brought joy to millions....

A-ha! Six BBC Radio 4 episodes featuring the king of chat Alan Partridge (Steve Coogan), in a series of hysterically excruciating encounters with guests....

Get the kettle on, the biscuits out and settle in for a belting listen....

Why is every film or tv programme a sequel or a remake? Why are people so f***ing hung up about swearing? Why do the asterisks in that sentence make it okay? These and many other questions trouble David Mitchell. Join him on a tour of the absurdities of modern life....

At 95, the legendary Mel Brooks continues to set the standard for comedy across television, film, and the stage. Now, for the first time, this EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony) winner shares his story in his own words....

Graham Norton has been entertaining audiences and having fun with some of the world's biggest stars for nearly 20 years....

Peopled with a wonderful collection of warm, wicked, and weird characters, Vic Reeves' memoir is an enchanting, surreal, and utterly hilarious comic gem....

From a childhood spent making smoke bombs, killing wasps and carving soap in '70s Kent, Harry Hill then found himself in charge of hundreds of sick people as a junior doctor....

A stunning collection of Just William stories, narrated by Martin Jarvis. These BBC radio readings of the adventures of William have come to be some of the most loved adaptations....

The Ricky Gervais Show on Xfm is where Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant first met Karl Pilkington. The trio have been talking drivel ever since....

This is a self help-book like no other. Because you are not helping yourself, James Acaster is helping you. When James quit all forms of social media in 2019 he felt like he'd been born anew, but he was worried he'd suffer withdrawal and get lured back online to compete in a never ending popularity contest with only one possible winner (f--king Zuckerberg). He knew that in order to stay clean he'd have to replace everything social media used to give him with three-dimensional real-life activities.

This book is the first anthology to explore the connection between race and the suburbs in American cinema from the end of World War II to the present. It builds upon the explosion of interest in the suburbs in film, television, and fiction in the last fifteen years, concentrating exclusively on the relationship of race to the built environment. Race and the Suburbs in American Film is a stimulating resource for considering the manner in which race is foundational to architecture and urban geography, which is reflected, promoted, and challenged in cinematic representations.

The world loves Sheriff Andy Taylor. Yet the actor who played him was intensely private. Here, for the first time, is the real Andy Griffith, his career and life defined by the island that made him in the years soon after World War II. He achieved his artistic breakthrough while acting in The Lost Colony drama on Roanoke Island, then spent the rest of his life repaying the island for giving him that start. Here, in unique closeup, is Andy of Manteo, reveling in wild, watery and loving ways with his fellow islanders.

When children’s TV programme Teletubbies first aired in 1997, no one expected the cult status it would achieve. Propelled by a unique blend of educational theory, child psychology and linguistics, the show went on to air in 45 languages in 120 countries, win multiple BAFTA Awards, and achieve viewing figures of three billion a year. In a memoir as lively and funny as the programme itself, Nikky Smedley lifts the curtain on what it was like to be a Teletubby and takes us behind the magical scenes of a global phenomenon.

As a teacher of voice and speech for the theatre, I have worked with students and actors in a variety of institutional and professional settings. One of the chief aims of my teaching—as it was in my own training—is to enable students to discover or free their "natural voices". The rationale of this approach is that everyone has his or her own natural voice, that the natural voice provides liberation from the detrimental effects of society on our psychology, and that finding one's natural voice is better not only for communication as an actor, but for life as an individual.

When the Nicholas Brothers danced, uptown at the Cotton Club, downtown at the Roxy, in segregated movie theatres in the South, and dance halls across the country, audiences cheered, clapped, stomped their feet, and shouted out uncontrollably. In Brotherhood in Rhythm, Constance Valis Hill interweaves an intimate portrait of these great performers with a rich, detailed history of jazz music and dance, both bringing their act to life and explaining their significance through a colorful analysis of their eloquent footwork, their full-bodied expressiveness, and their changing style.

Sondheim in Our Time and His offers a wide-ranging historical investigation of the landmark works and extraordinary career of Stephen Sondheim, a career which has spanned much of the history of American musical theater. Each author uncovers those aspects of biography, collaborative process, and contemporary context that impacted the creation and reception of Sondheim's musicals. In addition, several authors explore in detail how Sondheim's shows have been dramatically revised and adapted over time, bringing together his past with the present, thriving existence of his musicals.

Daryl Joji Maeda's account of Bruce Lee's legacy traces how movements and migrations across the Pacific Ocean structured the cultures Lee inherited, the milieu he occupied, the martial art he developed, the films he made, and the world he left behind. A unique blend of cultural history and biography, Like Water unearths the cultural strands intertwined in Lee's rise to a new kind of global stardom. Moving from the gold rush in California and the British occupation of Hong Kong to the Cold War, Maeda builds depth and complexity to this larger-than-life figure. 

This book examines order and time in the classic noir film Touch of Evil.

HowExpert publishes how to guides by everyday experts. Lauren Dillon is a multifaceted writer who has been dancing classical ballet for over two decades. She has worked as a dance instructor for children and enjoys sharing classical ballet with others. If you are thinking about taking ballet classes, have a child who is starting to dance, or want to know more about ballet, then HowExpert Guide to Ballet is for you.

Straight-forward advice for how to start narrating audiobooks in a quick-to-digest package. With humor, a straight-forward tone, and anecdotes from his career, audiobook narrator and award-nominated voice actor Brian Wiggins shows you how you can get started narrating audiobooks while avoiding many of the pitfalls that he discovered (and sometimes fell into) along the way. 

So you’ve got this script or this novel you’re working on. Is it good? How do you know? Does it have fully dimensional characters and a plot that digs up their demons and forces them into a reckoning? Story by Numbers is a step-by-step deep dive into structure that will take your story from an underdeveloped storm of “cool ideas”, to a slick, compelling work with fully dimensional characters. It uses the protagonist’s inner conflict as the guide to developing plot points and meaningful conflicts. 

Gilligan's Island and The Many Lives of Dobie Gillis are two of the most popular shows in television history, and Bob Denver takes us backstage and behind the scenes! Recorded by Bob Denver, this audiobook contains hundreds of stories about the cast and crews of Denver's various shows. Gilligan, Maynard, & Me also provides a genial insider's view of how Hollywood and television work.

The Bridgertons are by far the most prolific family in the upper echelons of society, both in deed and word, and now, for the first time, their most indelible quips and barbs have been gathered here for your pleasure. From Anthony’s arrogance to Hyacinth’s hijinks, the family has long been fodder for society gossips … and indeed even for This Author, who has come out of retirement to pen thirteen new columns, each more delicious than the last.

A master class of 27 lessons, drawn from 27 diverse narratives, for novelists, storytellers, filmmakers, graphic designers, and more. Author Daniel Joshua Rubin unlocks the secrets of what makes a story work, and then shows how to understand and use these principles in your own writing. The result is “an invaluable resource” (Publishers Weekly, starred review), offering priceless advice like escalate risk, with an example from Pulp Fiction.