Film, Television & Music
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Thirst: Twelve Drinks That Changed My Life (Audio Download): John Robins, Penguin Audio: Amazon.co.uk: Books
Brought to you by Penguin.
John Robins is a critically acclaimed stand-up comedian, Taskmaster champion, and an award-winning broadcaster. He is also an alcoholic.
But what does that mean? What is an alcoholic?
In Thirst, John tells the story of his life through the lens of alcohol, the drinks that made him, and those that broke him. From his earliest drinking experiences – pretending to be drunk after a sip of champagne aged five, spraying aftershave into his mouth at the school play afterparty, and university nights spent downing red wine alone in his room – to his last drink in 2022 and the journey into sobriety that followed, John explores our relationship with alcohol through reflections on decades of his own drinking.
From hazy memory to sudden clarity he sheds light on subjects from mental health to friendship, from creativity to the lies we tell ourselves, and answers questions such as: are alcoholics born or made? How can we make sense of youthful missteps? And can Buddhism provide relief when dealing with hemorrhoids?
Filled with insights and epiphanies from the world of addiction and recovery, Thirst blends John’s trademark raw honesty and hilarious digressions with the collective wisdom of alcoholics and those around them to offer a compelling, powerful and morbidly funny narrative for anyone who has ever asked ‘why do we drink?’, ‘why do I drink?’ or ‘do I drink too much?’.
John Robins 2026 (P) Penguin Audio 2026
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This Was Funnier in China: An American Comedian’s Journey to Make China and the West Laugh With Each Other, Not at Each Other (Audio Download): Jesse Appell, Jesse Appell, Simon…
A heartfelt, one-of-a-kind memoir chronicling the hilarious, absurd, and thought-provoking experiences of an American pursuing comedy in China, learning first-hand how humor does and doesn’t translate—and whether laughter transcends borders.I marched onstage in a long robe beside my Shifu, under the curious eyes of a thousand Chinese comedy fans, armed only with a microphone and the goal to kill onstage or die trying.
Over the speakers, the host shouted: “Welcome to the stage: Master Ding Guangquan and his American disciple, Ai Jie Xi!”
When self-proclaimed American class clown Jesse Appell signed up to study Mandarin in high school, he never imagined that one day his name would be written into the traditional family tree of Chinese comedy. But when he first moves to Beijing to apprentice to the legendary Master Ding, a single show is all it takes for Jesse and his fellow comedy misfits to understand that book learning means bombing jokes.
To truly get the big laughs, he realizes he needs to know everything, like how long the fuse is on a thirty-cent firework, what card games coal miners play over Chinese New Year, and why comedy writers in Shanghai sometimes sleep in heart-shaped beds.
The result? Asking questions that might seem simple—if they weren’t being asked by an American caught in the breakneck whirlwind of a rising China.
“What do people here find funny?”
“How do you deal with hecklers?”
And, of course, the biggest one of all:
“Can I say that?”
From Jesse’s first forays into the traditional teahouse performance scene to being the only American cast member and writer on a Chinese version of Saturday Night Live, This Was Funnier in China captures an American’s wide-eyed, enthusiastic experiences trying to build a world where we can all laugh together.
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From £16.44