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  • Tough Crowd

  • How I Made and Lost a Career in Comedy
  • By: Graham Linehan
  • Narrated by: Graham Linehan
  • Length: 7 hrs and 46 mins
  • 5.0 out of 5 stars (17 ratings)

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Tough Crowd

By: Graham Linehan
Narrated by: Graham Linehan
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Publisher's Summary

Having cut his teeth in music journalism, Graham Linehan became the finest sitcom writer of his generation. He captured the comedy zeitgeist not just as the co-creator of Father Ted but also with The IT Crowd and Black Books, winning five BAFTAs and a lifetime achievement award.

Then his life took an unexpected turn. When he championed an unfashionable cause, TV commissioners no longer returned his emails, showbiz pals lost his number, and his marriage collapsed.

In an emotionally charged memoir that is by turns hilarious and harrowing, he lets us into the secrets of the writing room and colorfully describes the high-octane atmosphere of a sitcom set. But he also berates an industry where there was no one to stand by his side when he needed help.

Bruised but not beaten, he explains why he chose the hill of women and girls' rights to die on—and why, despite the hardship of cancellation, he's not coming down from it any time soon.

©2023 Graham Linehan (P)2023 Graham Linehan

Critic Reviews

"A must-read. Funny and utterly compelling." (Jonathan Ross)

What listeners say about Tough Crowd

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You have to laugh or you’d go insane

Maybe this book resonates with me so much because I have an eery amount of similar experiences to Graham. I was a screenwriter, although my career ended due to pre-MeToo Hollywood sexual assault. While recovering from the trauma of years of sexual assault, I decided to create a female-only online platform. For 3.5 years a different demographic of men have tried to destroy my life. At this point, I feel like my entire professional life has been fighting against men who hate women. So you can imagine how refreshing it is to read a book by a man who actually likes us!

No one will truly understand what it’s like to have your life destroyed (or, at least, an attempt for it to be destroyed) simply because you know that men are not women and a double-mastectomy on vulnerable 15 year old girls isn’t going to make anything better unless you’ve experienced it. A depressing number of people have. But this book gives as much of an insight as possible. It’s much better to read it than to live it, I assure you.

Eventually, people will look back in shock that a book like this even had to be written. It will serve as a great reminder for all the cowards who try to pretend that the gender ideology years never happened. I genuinely believe that sooner rather than later people will look us in the eye and say “I never meant that men are *actually* women” and we can just refer them to pages of this book.

Tough Crowd is at times a tough read because you can’t possibly fathom that what Graham is saying is true. But it is. Significantly truer than men being women.

Come from the tales of writing and transgender terrorism but stay for the laugh out loud story of his mum in a library with a dwarf.

I’d give it 6 stars if I could.

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A must read

Perhaps gender ideology hasn’t touched your life? Not yet? It will. Want to understand what’s been happening? Read this book. Graham Linehan is a brave truth teller who has paid a heavy price. If justice and sanity prevail then we will see the unravelling of the monstrous gender madness that has taken hold of our society and preyed on our vulnerable youth and erased the hard won rights of women.

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A must read for all who think ‘it couldn’t happen to me’

A stark report on our current cancel culture - how even speaking the truth can be twisted and used against you. How fear of cancellation will cause close friends to betray you. I truly hope the tide is turning but this should serve as a lesson for us all that failure to speak up is as damning at a historical pitchfork.
Huge respect to Graham for his work in women’s rights, for having the balls (pun intended) to stick to your guns and not desert us. I thank you.

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A fabulous read.

I laughed out loud many times during the first half of this book, and wanted to cry many times during the second. Graham’s bravery and courage is just astounding. Everyone needs to read this book.

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Fantastic, thank you Graham

I have loved all of Graham’s shows over the years and was appalled at the cowards who discarded this genius for not accepting the new extremist religious ideology referred to commonly as gender ideology.

That appalling chapter of his life aside, if you’ve ever loved his shows this book is for you.

Thank you, Graham

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Brilliant

A great read from one of the best comedy writer’s in the world. Shame on those people trying to shut Graham up for speaking up about the erasure of women’s rights.

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A brave truth teller

Graham Linehan is unlike many others; willing to fight the good fight against the homophobic and misogynistic, “right side of history”. A fascinating look into his early writing career and subsequent cancelling for his ability to see the writing on the wall and stand up for the rights of children, gays and lesbians, and biological women.

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Fantastic

Amazing. Great story and well told. And important collection of stories at this time. Highly recommended

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Striking

Literally two halves. A fascinating insight into (a) comedy writing by a true master, and (b) the experience of being canceled for gender critical views. Anyone remotely interested in either should read/listen to it.

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  • J.C.
  • 08-11-2023

Raw personal and authentic

Thanks Graham for laying out your story. May this be a turning point! Well written, engagingly read.
—- Jen, IT Manager, 🙂

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  • Amazon Customer
  • 27-11-2023

Such a brilliant hero

Such a brilliant hero. Hoping the tide turns and the world can access your work again

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  • Marcia K. Matthews
  • 05-11-2023

History in the making. The man who stood up to the bullies.

The book was fascinating and the audible was a treat! I could listen to Graham read the phone book. He makes me feel better about the situation we’re in. When a man like him rides to the rescue, the bandits clear out.

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  • Jason
  • 04-11-2023

A great story about a legend with integrity

I knew some of his work (IT Crowd) and I knew some of his positions on women's rights (X) before I selected this audible. As an American, it helped fill in the gaps. It's a good story about a good human trying to do what's right. I usually prefer narration by the author and this audible did not disappoint. Hear it in the author's own voice if you can!

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  • Robert Wright
  • 03-11-2023

Legend.

A profoundly courageous and humane work. Graham Linehan is a hero who will be remembered for speaking honestly when few would.

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  • Anonymous User
  • 03-11-2023

Brilliant

This guy is a modern hero. I saw some of Father Ted years ago and it was funny, but haven’t seen anything else he’s done. Just learned about his cancellation story on a podcast recently. Got the book more out of pity for his ordeal and didn’t expect it to be so hilarious. Loved his narration. I’m sure it will be very informative for writers, but even this non-writer was fascinated by his descriptions of the collaborative writing process and behind the scenes tales of the tv industry.

Shameful treatment by the moral grandstanders of the celebrity class. Especially disappointed to hear about Jon Ronson! I’ve read and liked his work. Hat’s off to Jonathan Ross though, and a few others. Sadly few. When this madness is over I hope there is a true reckoning on the first big social contagion of the social media era. We need to learn from this.

Anyhow, congrats to Linehan on a thoroughly enjoyable listen.

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  • Laurence graham
  • 02-11-2023

Absolutely superb.

Dreadful what happened to Linehan by a deranged cult and spineless friends. A cowardice so revolting. History WILL vindicate him. It already has.

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  • Kindle Customer
  • 26-10-2023

An incredible story

What a time to be alive. The first half of the book is an interesting insight into how comedy production and writing works, filled with lots of humour. The second half is a lesson in how authoritarian people can be, how intolerant people are and proof that cancel culture is real.

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  • Amazon Customer
  • 31-10-2023

Fantastic and heart felt

A truly astonishing story in these interesting times. Everyone should hear it who is even vaguely concerned about societal shifts and audience capture through social media.

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  • A Majury
  • 31-10-2023

Excellent

Well worth a listen, it serves as a warning as to what happens to people who say anything relating to support previously established facts and knowledge that contradicts the current narrative

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  • FFigwit
  • 03-11-2023

Excellent

The first half of the book offers a fascinating insight into the craft involved in creating a successful sitcom. Father Ted is a masterpiece! The second half is a much darker account of the author’s experiences over the past six years. It’s extremely well written and made even more powerful by the author narrating it himself. I’m angered and saddened at what Graham has been put through and admire him immensely for having the courage to express views in the face of vitriolic persecution.

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  • Mr. Patrick J. Crooke
  • 03-11-2023

excellent account of a very brave and gifted man

I never normally read showbiz / entertainment industry type biographies/autobiographies, and I'd never before even seen Father Ted, but I purchased this audible book as a gesture of support and respect for the authors brave stand against the trans madness, a stand which has come at a particularly high personal cost to both himself and his family.

it is a very engagingly written and passionate account, which articulates brilliantly the evils of this offshoot of the woke mind virus that is destroying our society. The narration by the author is excellent. Thoroughly recommended. I'm now seeing what I've been missing all these years with all his various sitcoms. 3 episodes into Father Ted and it's hilarious!

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  • Alan
  • 03-11-2023

Funny and Heartbreaking at the same time

Great book. Graham tells us the history of his TV career in a wonderfully entertaining way. The second half of the book focuses on his recent fight for the rights of women, girls and children which is as heartbreaking as it is encouraging

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  • Mark Kavanagh
  • 01-11-2023

Highly engaging and entertaining

I loved every minute of it. Having grown up in Dublin around the same time and having similar interests, there was a definite nostalgia for the comic and record shops mentioned in the early chapters. The recounting of his early days as a comedy writer is dramatic, exciting and educational, and the whole thing is told with such clarity and humour that you could never doubt his intentions.

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  • S. A. Lockitt
  • 31-10-2023

incredibly funny and deeply moving

laugh out loud funny, Graham is a great among our best loved comedy writers. Thank you for a you do and have done, and thank you for Father Ted

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  • ctk
  • 03-11-2023

A great listen

Wow, did not know Graham had been involved in so many comedy hits. Why are Hatrick being so cowardly about putting on ‘Father Ted’ the Musical? Probably because one person in the company is a trans extremist.They should be ashamed of themselves.
Best wishes for the much better future you deserve, Graham.

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