or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
 
 
More Buying Choices
257 used & new from £0.01
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
 
   
The Sound of Laughter
 
See larger image 
Share your own customer images
Publisher: learn how customers can search inside this book.

The Sound of Laughter (Paperback)

by Peter Kay (Author)
3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (122 customer reviews)
RRP: £7.99
Price: £5.09 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
You Save: £2.90 (36%)
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
In stock.
Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk. Gift-wrap available.

Want guaranteed delivery by Tuesday, November 24? Choose Express delivery at checkout. See Details
32 new from £2.77 225 used from £0.01
Other Editions: RRP: Our Price: Other Offers:
Hardcover (1st edition) £18.99 £12.99 481 used & new from £0.01
Paperback (UK Airport ed) 41 used & new from £0.01

Special Offers and Product Promotions

Frequently Bought Together

The Sound of Laughter + Saturday Night Peter + Michael McIntyre Live 2009 [DVD]
Price For All Three: £25.04

Show availability and delivery details

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

Saturday Night Peter

Saturday Night Peter

by Peter Kay
4.0 out of 5 stars (20)  £9.97
That Peter Kay Book

That Peter Kay Book

by Johnny Dee
4.0 out of 5 stars (1)  £9.77
The Gospel According to Chris Moyles: The Story of a Man and His Mouth

The Gospel According to Chris Moyles: The Story of a Man and His Mouth

by Chris Moyles
3.2 out of 5 stars (65)  £5.08
Peter Kay - Live At The Top Of The Tower / Live At The Bolton Albert Halls (2 Disc Box Set) [DVD]

Peter Kay - Live At The Top Of The Tower / Live At The Bolton Albert Halls (2 Disc Box Set) [DVD]

DVD ~ Peter Kay
4.8 out of 5 stars (6)  £10.08
Celebrities My Arse!

Celebrities My Arse!

by Ricky Tomlinson
3.2 out of 5 stars (4)  £10.00
› Explore similar items

Product details

  • Paperback: 368 pages
  • Publisher: Arrow Books Ltd (5 Jul 2007)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 009950555X
  • ISBN-13: 978-0099505556
  • Product Dimensions: 19.2 x 13 x 2.8 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (122 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 1,275 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

    #94 in  Books > Humour

    •  Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

Customers Viewing This Page May Be Interested in These Sponsored Links

  (What is this?)
   Compare Book Prices: opens new browser window
www.BooksPrice.co.uk  -  The Sound of Laughter, Hardcover Find the Lowest Price! 
   Laughing Sound Effects opens new browser window
www.sfxsource.com  -  Download Laughing Sounds! Giggles, Laughs, More, Royalty Free 
   Can I Make You Laugh? opens new browser window
www.hypnosishealthcare.com  -  Listen to the Demonstration if it makes you Laugh then Buy this CD. 
  
 

Product Description

Product Description

Peter Kay's unerring gift for observing the absurdities and eccentricities of family life has earned himself a widespread, everyman appeal. These vivid observations coupled with a kind of nostalgia that never fails to grab his audience's shared understanding, have earned him comparisons with Alan Bennett and Ronnie Barker. In his award winning TV series' he creates worlds populated by degenerate, bitter, useless, endearing and always recognisable characters which have attracted a huge and loyal following. In many ways he's an old fashioned kind of comedian and the scope and enormity of his fanbase reflects this. He doesn't tell jokes about politics or sex, but rather rejoices in the far funnier areas of life: elderly relatives and answering machines, dads dancing badly at weddings, garlic bread and cheesecake, your mum's HRT...His autobiography is full of this kind of humour and nostalgia, beginning with Kay's first ever driving lesson, taking him back through his Bolton childhood, the numerous jobs he held after school and leading up until the time he passed his driving test and found fame.


About the Author

Peter Kay was born in Bolton in 1973. After leaving school with a GCSE in art, he held a series of jobs including working as a cinema usher, mobile disc jockey, in a factory packing toilet rolls, garage attendant and in a bingo hall. After a Btec in Performance Studies, he went on to win the 1997 So You Think You're Funny contest at the Edinburgh Festival and was nominated for the Perrier Award the following year. Peter Kay's first TV series was That Peter Kay Thing, followed by Phoenix Nights series 1 snd 2. The series Max and Paddy's Road to Nowhere was a spin off from Phoenix Nights. Peter Kay has played a cameo role in Coronation Street, has appeared in the recent series of Doctor Who and recently starred as Roger DeBris in the smash hit Mel Brooks musical The Producers in Manchester.

Tags Customers Associate with This Product

 (What's this?)
Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
 
(4)
(4)
(2)
(1)
(1)
See all 7 tags...

Your tags: Add your first tag
 
See most popular tags

What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

The Sound of Laughter
83% buy the item featured on this page:
The Sound of Laughter 3.5 out of 5 stars (122)
£5.09
Saturday Night Peter
13% buy
Saturday Night Peter 4.0 out of 5 stars (20)
£9.97
The Gospel According to Chris Moyles: The Story of a Man and His Mouth
1% buy
The Gospel According to Chris Moyles: The Story of a Man and His Mouth 3.2 out of 5 stars (65)
£5.08
Ooh! What a Lovely Pair: Our Story (Ant & Dec)
1% buy
Ooh! What a Lovely Pair: Our Story (Ant & Dec) 4.6 out of 5 stars (22)
£8.00
Explore similar items
 

Customer Reviews

122 Reviews
5 star:
 (41)
4 star:
 (31)
3 star:
 (16)
2 star:
 (20)
1 star:
 (14)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.5 out of 5 stars (122 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Ends a bit too soon, 5 Feb 2008
By KM (England) - See all my reviews
(TOP 100 REVIEWER)      
I'm not going to go into a great deal of depth here as there are already 96 reviews on this product, so I'll just give you my (short) opinion - brilliant!

I've been a big fan of Kay for a while now and reading his heart-warming memories from his early life, written in a stand-up story kind of way I now have more of an in-sight into how he got into the show biz career he is so famous for now and have a history of all of the crappy jobs he had beforehand and the funny tales that accompany them. My only complaint is that the book finishes way too early as it doesn't really touch on his stand up, A Peter Kay Thing, Phoenix Nights or Max & Paddy days or his relationships with Paddy McGuiness or Dave Spikey. Hopefully this will mean that a follow-up is in the works (which might explain why he hasn't done much for the past year or so!). I normally hate reading biographies and auto-biographies, but this one I couldn't put down. An excellent and hilarious read.
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars I have a lot of time for Peter Kay but..., 7 Jan 2007
By James Savin (London, UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: The Sound of Laughter (Hardcover)
this is hugely below par. I get the feeling a bit of judicious editing could have turned this into a half-decent book, but maybe now he's just too important for people to say no to him too often. The stories were ok but the writing was appalling, most of the sentences were very short, and the phrase "Im only joking, of course" was used once too often for the autobiography of a comedian. We know you're joking, thats your job ! Current sales figures at 750k hint to me that he will be enouraged to write more after this in the same style, when really those figures are related to his general popularity that can onl be diminished after this.
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars A Bit Disappointed, 9 Jan 2007
By RP MCCANN "Richard" (Jersey, Channel Islands) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: The Sound of Laughter (Hardcover)
I am a big fan of Peter Kay, and thoroughly enjoy his stand up routines and Pheonix Nights.

But I have to say that although there are some laugh out loud moments in the book, overall when I finished it, I felt a little disappointed.

It felt like Kaye was trying to say 'look what I went through before I got famous, I have n't half done well'.

The book seemed to jump around a quite a lot, and lacked real flow.

On the plus side, it is very easy to read, and in parts it feels like you are having a conversation with Kaye, which is great for a bedtime book.

I really wanted to like it, but when I finished the book, I felt slighty deflated and said to myself "is that it".

If you have seen his stand up routines, particularly from the 'my mum wants a bungalow' tour, then you have heard most of the stuff in here.

For someone whose scripts for Pheonix nights, were insightful and funny, that got to the real heart of northern working class life and clubland, this book is a real let down.
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)


Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Most Recent Customer Reviews

1.0 out of 5 stars Spend your money elsewhere
This book is all about putting money in Peter's pocket, great live shows but don't waste your money here.
Published 21 hours ago by Robberkamp

5.0 out of 5 stars The Sound of Laughter.....Deffo!
I have never laughed so much in my life reading any book such as this. Bolton's favorite son, Peter Kay, who always has a way to make even the sour pruned faces smile with his... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Alexandra Fleming

5.0 out of 5 stars a brilliant book of laughter
I wasn't a true Peter Kay fan my son in law lent me this book to read on holiday it was wonderful so humorous and easy to read. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Dan Dare

2.0 out of 5 stars Part 1?
I was looking forward to reading this after it won the award for "best autobiography in the world ever" (or something like that). However, I was left disappointed. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Grubby

5.0 out of 5 stars why is there not 10 stars?
i want to click on 10 stars as for all the fab biographys i have read this just for me will always stand out and even bring back good memories not only of my past he made me think... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Lisa Keyver- El Teir

3.0 out of 5 stars Open, honest, but ultimately disappointing
Overall, I have to describe the book as disappointing. As an autobiography it is going to be relatively lightweight given Peter Kay's relatively young age but I think that the... Read more
Published 3 months ago by JFD

2.0 out of 5 stars Not suitable for Peter Kay fans
Disappointing. Large portions of this are rather obviously not Peter Kay's style, not Peter Kay's phrasing, not Peter Kay's timing, not Peter Kay's sense of humour, and not even... Read more
Published 4 months ago by specklepilot

4.0 out of 5 stars well worth a read
The only book that has made me laugh out loud, if you're a fan of Kay you'll love this book. Just be careful where you read it, you may get some funny looks like i did.
Published 5 months ago by Mr. J. D. Hawthorne

4.0 out of 5 stars Part One of his life story.
This is an enjoyable read for anyone who likes Peter Kay, and perhaps those of you who are not quite sure will still be left undecided? Read more
Published 6 months ago by A. R. Tyte

3.0 out of 5 stars That Peter Kay Book
As far as autobiographies go this is a pretty lightweight affair. I'm a Peter Kay fan but as it turns out this book is probably better for those that perhaps have just a passing... Read more
Published 8 months ago by Mr. R. M. Lathwell

Only search this product's reviews


Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
   
Related forums

Listmania!

Create a Listmania! list

Look for similar items by category

Look for similar items by subject











i.e., each product must be in subject 1 AND subject 2 AND ...

Feedback

Ad

Your Recent History

 (What's this?)

After viewing product detail pages or search results, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in.