It's a big night at the London Palladium. Jimmy Conway is about to perform his stand-up comedy routine in front of two thousand invited guests and millions more watching the event live on TV. He steps into the spotlights and waits for the applause to die down. He tries to appear confident but he can't help wondering whether he should have shared his little secret with someone by now. Jimmy has never performed comedy, or anything, before. Ever.
How did he get here? After convincing a naive journalist that he is the latest comedy phenomenon, the under-achieving Jimmy bluffs and stumbles his way up the celebrity ladder, discovering as he goes that in their desperation to be associated with the next big thing, nobody has bothered to check his credentials. Quicker than you can say "flavor of the month," Jimmy Conway becomes a bogus celebrity, winning an award for something he never did, and ultimately fooling the entire celebrity industry.
"The conclusion is ingeniously done. All credit to O'Farrell's resourcefulness and his relish of the comic twist and detour."
The Guardian
"[A] delightful comedy. . . O'Farrell is one of the funniest things in Britain, funnier even than Prince Charles' ears. . . [the ending] supplies a genuinely stunning climactic twist."
Kyle Smith, People
"You might annoy the family down the beach with your regular bursts of laughter."
