Showing results by publisher "Penguin Audio" in Entertainment & Performing Arts

Zombies in North London, death cults in the West Country, the engineering deck of the Enterprise: actor, comedian, writer, and self-proclaimed supergeek Simon Pegg has been ploughing some bizarre furrows in recent times. Having blasted on to the small screen in the gut-busting and now legendary sitcom Spaced, his enduring appeal and rise to nation’s-favourite-son status has been mercurial, meteoric, megatronic, but mostly just plain great.

For 70 years now Desert Island Discs has managed that rare feat - to be both enduring and relevant. By casting away the biggest names of the day in science, business, politics, showbiz, sport, and the arts, it presents a cross-sectional snapshot of the times in which we live. As the decades have passed, the programme has kept pace; never frozen in time yet always, somehow, comfortingly the same.

BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs celebrates its 70 birthday in 2012.

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? Well, young Lee McKillop used to wonder that too. Growing up in his parents’ pub, small and wiry in a world of bigger and chunkier specimens, Lee quickly learned that cracking jokes was a way to get attention. 

The rules of entertainment have changed. Last year the vlogger PewDiePie made more money from his YouTube videos than high-profile movie stars such as Meryl Streep, Cameron Diaz and Anne Hathaway. And no one knows more about how it works than Robert Kyncl, chief business officer at YouTube. YouTube is the first truly global media platform, reaching 87 percent of all online adults in the UK.

Drag superstars Trixie Mattel and Katya have long captivated fans with their stunning looks, onscreen chemistry and signature wit. In Trixie and Katya’s Guide to Modern Womanhood, the pair channel that energy into an old-school etiquette guide for ladies. In essays and how-to sections, Trixie and Katya will advise listeners on beauty and fashion and tackle other vital components of a happy home, such as money, entertaining and friendship; sharing advice and personal stories in high-concept fashion.

An instant New York Times Bestseller! Since The Karate Kid first crane-kicked its way into the pop culture stratosphere in June 1984, there hasn’t been a week Ralph Macchio hasn’t heard friendly shouts of “Wax on, wax off” or “Sweep the leg!” Now, with Macchio reprising his role as...

“Writing this funny requires immense talent.” —AV Club H. Jon Benjamin—the lead voice behind Archer and Bob's Burgers—helps us all feel a little better about our own failures by sharing his own in a hilarious memoir-ish chronicle of failure. Most people would consider H. Jon Benjamin a...

Discover richly written insights into the locations, characters and adventures featured in the hundreds of episodes across Critical Role's two campaigns, Vox Machina and the Mighty Nein. Go behind the scenes with exclusive interviews with Dungeon Master Matt Mercer and the entire Critical Role cast as they explore their characters' most triumphant moments and darkest hours. And celebrate the massive community of Critters who support and expand the show's world through a highlighted tour of the crafts, cosplay and art they create every day. 

Spend a rollicking evening with Nick Offerman's All Rise, an evening of deliberative talking, mirth, and song that compels listeners to chuckle while also causing them to contemplate a better side of humanity than the one to which they've grown accustomed. In Nick Offerman's view, we as a...

As far back as he can remember James Corden has only ever wanted to be in one place: in front of you, doing something to make you laugh, cry, shout, or giggle uncontrollably. At the age of 4, he grandstanded throughout his baby sister’s christening, standing on a chair in front of the whole congregation, pulling faces and cracking everyone up. Despite himself, the vicar was impressed. And from then on he couldn’t get enough of the spotlight, even when it always seemed to avoid him. Throughout his teens, he and his Dad trudged up and down towards London....

From Lewis Black, the uproarious and perpetually apoplectic New York Times-bestselling author and Daily Show regular, comes a ferociously funny book about his least favorite holiday, Christmas. Christmas is supposed to be a time of peace on earth and goodwill toward all. But not for Lewis Black...

Comedy, Tragedy, Therapy. Simon Amstell did his first stand-up gig at the age of 13. His parents had just divorced, and puberty was confusing. Trying to be funny solved everything. Read by Simon Amstell, and interspersed with footage from his stand-up tours, HELP is the hilarious and heartbreaking account of Simon's ongoing compulsion to reveal his entire self onstage. To tell the truth so it can't hurt him anymore. Loneliness, anxiety, depression - this book has it all. And more.

The inspiring profile brought to life in the major motion picture A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, starring Tom Hanks in theaters Thanksgiving, plus a collection of warm advice and encouragement from America’s favorite neighbor Tom Junod’s Esquire profile of Fred Rogers, “Can You Say...

Lawrence Chaney is a testament to the strength that comes from drag. Lawrence (Drag) Queen of Scots celebrates the little boy learning to sew at age seven and his journey to taking the UK by storm. From growing up as the gay class clown and being bullied to finding an outlet in performance and drag, celebrating both his outer curves and inner beauty. The book will showcase valuable life lessons and tricks of the trade, all told in Chaney's trademark charming style and will resonate with anyone who holds dreams and aspirations that are bigger than the town they grew up in.

A riveting and revealing look at the shows that helped cable television drama emerge as the signature art form of the twenty-first century. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the landscape of television began an unprecedented transformation. While the networks continued to chase the lowest...

In this side-splitting memoir, the former Saturday Night Live star recounts the hilarious adventures and unexpected joy of dating and becoming a mother when she least expected it-at the age of forty-four. Anyone who saw an episode of Saturday Night Live between 1999 and 2006 knows Rachel Dratch...

The definitive book on the TV show Ted Lasso, written by New York Times journalist and editor Jeremy Egner, celebrating the show’s improbable rise and cultural impact while never losing sight of the heart, friendship, and passion that have made it an enduring favorite for the ages When Ted...

Police Sergeant Catherine Cawood may be a fictional character, but her bravery, compassion and determination exist in real-life policewomen serving across Yorkshire today. In The Real Happy Valley, former policewoman Alice Vinten reveals what life on the beat is really like for those protecting the cobbled streets and windswept hills of this historic county. From domestic abuse to kidnap, gang crime and murder, these women will stop at nothing to bring their criminals to justice and in the most extraordinary circumstances, they never fail to put others' safety before their own.

Adopted at six months old by Dubliners Sean and Helen Gallagher, PJ spent much of his childhood knocking back Lucozade with the local alcoholics in his parents' northside pub. But the chaos that reigned for his first ten years was nothing compared to what happened when - having lost the pub - Helen took in psychiatric patients from the local hospital to give them 'care in the community'. Now it was a household of ten - PJ, his sister, his parents and six lost souls. Worst. Idea. Ever. Madhouse is PJ's riotous life story.

In this unexpected memoir, written in a creative burst of just a few months in 2022, Sam Neill tells the story of how he became one of the world's most celebrated actors. By his own account, his career has been a series of unpredictable turns of fortune. Born in 1947 in Northern Ireland, he emigrated to New Zealand at the age of seven. His family settled in Dunedin on the South Island, but young Sam was sent away to boarding school in Christchurch, where he was hopeless at sports and discovered he enjoyed acting.