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HELEN LEDERER

a truly, madly, funny memoir

my other bits

Dear Kind Viewer I have taken over my own website to bring you news

You may or may not be aware that I’ve written a memoir.

If you would like to order a book, I will love you for ever. I realise ‘for ever’ is a tricky concept, but you can assume my love for you will be in play for at least the next five years - possibly more. Click on these why don’t you - before they sell out

WATERSTONES

AMAZON

“Dizzy, dippy and divinely funny Helen Lederer takes you on an insanely readable tour through her chaotically wonderful life. Under her costume of the madcap and the daft, there ticks a very, very smart brain and there beats a most warm and kindly heart. It’s a wonderful read.”
- Stephen Fry

“This wildly entertaining ride through Helen’s fabulous life is funny, adorable, and thought-provoking in equal measure, rather like the dazzling author herself.”

- Joanna Lumley

“Helen’s book is funny, wise, brilliant, and brave Just like its author. A fascinating trip through the life and times of one of the early (and not sufficiently recognised) heroes of Alternative Comedy.”
- Ben Elton

“Helen Lederer is the third funniest woman in the world.”

- Dawn French

“Helen is an open book, and this is a book you should open. Her progression through the comedy swamp of the eighties is fascinating, poignant and laugh-out-loudy.”
- Jo Brand

“Honestly funny, honestly truthful, from one of the pioneers of the 80’s comedy scene, when women on the circuit were as rare as unicorns.”
- Jenny Eclair

It’s a bit of a truth fest – but no toilet humour – well I don’t think so, best check – but these words below describe my alarmingly honest book which I’d like to think is quite accurate... and very nice talented people have given me VERY NICE QUOTES without me paying them.

A hilarious and alarmingly honest memoir by one of Britain’s first female stand-up comedians of the 80s, when Alternative Comedy created a new generation of TV heroes, and when women were seen as ‘high maintenance’ if they dared to send in a comedy script to the BBC.

‘How did I get from being what my mother called a ‘show-off’, to an ’80s stand-up comedian? It’s not as hard as you might think...’

Helen Lederer’s face and wry, witty perspectives are unforgettable. A regular on the stand-up circuit and new-wave sketch shows that launched the careers of today’s comedy national treasures, she performed on stage and TV with other household names from that time.

But Not That I’m Bitter is more than the story of one decade. The child of a Czech wartime refugee, she was never part of the mainstream. Her powerful, frank, moving and characteristically funny memoir, reveals exactly how tough it was for a woman to break through. Even in the ground-breaking 1980s, it was as much a struggle for women to be seen and heard in comedy as in any boardroom or workplace, and just as hard to avoid predators.

Here in her first full account of her life, Helen Lederer is in joyous flow, mixing startling self-revelation with nail-sharp observation. How does humour help to cope with a lifelong battle with weight and low-self-esteem, diet-pill addiction, or dependence on steroid injections? How can laughter defeat the darker moments, despite enormous success, the constant self-sabotage of always feeling a failure?

There’s something in Helen Lederer’s life story that everyone can relate to. A memoir full of heart and just the right amount of bitterness, Not That I’m Bitter is a compelling, addictive mix of the sweet, the sour, and the genuinely laugh-out-loud.

Here are some bits of footage that young people tell me are necessary to promote the book in a light and fun manner?

“I invite you to imagine a time when women didn’t do comedy unless they were fat, or an impressionist, or enabled by a man. Be happy you weren’t around in the ’80s. But I was. I need to write this.”