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Berserker!
- An Autobiography
- Narrated by: Adrian Edmondson
- Length: 11 hrs and 50 mins
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Berserker!
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Summary
Hilariously read by the author, Adrian Edmondson.
A Financial Times Best Audio of 2023
The instant Sunday Times bestseller
From brutal schooldays to 80s anarchy, through The Young Ones, Bottom and beyond, Berserker! is the one-of-a-kind, fascinating memoir from an icon of British comedy, Adrian Edmondson.
Ade Edmondson smashed onto the comedy circuit in the 1980s, stormed The Comedy Store and, alongside Rik Mayall, brought anarchy to stage and screen. How did a child brought up in a strict Methodist household – and who spent his formative years incarcerated in repressive boarding schools – end up joining the revolution? Well, he is part Norse. Could it be his ‘berserker’ heritage?
With wisdom, nostalgia and uniquely observed humour, Ade traces his journey through life and comedy: starting out on the alternative scene, getting arrested in Soho, creating his outrageously violent characters and learning more about his curious (possibly Scandinavian) heritage. With star-studded anecdotes and set to a soundtrack of pop hits which transport the listener through time, it’s a memoir like no other.
Berserker [noun]: A Norse warrior frenzied in battle and held to be invulnerable; often off his tits on henbane and large quantities of alcohol; one who is out of control with anger or excitement.
Critic reviews
'This is a bloody good book. Lots of people live interesting lives, but very few people can write genuinely interesting books about those lives. Adrian Edmondson has done both. It is incredibly funny, but it is also a lot, lot more than that' - Miles Jupp
'The Berserkers from The Young Ones and Bottom tells his story with self-effacing charm and no end of backstage ancedotes' - Ian Rankin
'Everything Adrian Edmondson writes about makes you love him desperately' - Caitlin Moran
What listeners say about Berserker!
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Kindle Customer
- 28-09-23
Fantastic.
Becoming a teenager when 'The Young Ones' first hit the tv screens instantly made Rik Mayall and Ade two of my comedy heroes. Wild, mental humour which my parents thought was utter crap made me love it even more. Now in my 50's nothing has changed and Ade's autobiography has been too long in the coming. It will make you laugh and cry and think. It's brilliant.
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15 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Lesley Goodman
- 30-09-23
A TRULY MEMORABLE LISTEN.
Well, that's 12 hours I'll never get back!!! AND I WOULDN'T WANT TO. This has been a truly memorable listen. Particularly enjoyable as it is read by Ade himself, one small note, I would like to have heard a little more about Jennifer and the girls. That said, it was informative, entertaining, moving (I cried) funny (as you'd expect) erudite, honest, articulate, and many more superlatives i won't say for fear of you thinking I've fallen in love with this man!! Well I have actually. He's so clearly a very special and gifted person, and as with all genius, there's payback. His honesty regarding his mental health issues is commendable and frankly Adrian Edmondson, from one NUTTER to another, I applaud you. This book is a triumph. I will most definitely listen to it again. Thank you so much Mr Edmondson, it's official, you ARE simply amazing. My very best wishes to you and your lovely family.
Lesley Goodman
P. S. A little note to the reviewer "B" who called this book self indulgent!! Surely most autobiographies are by definition. Your loss.
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13 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- G. P. Hobson
- 01-10-23
Illuminating
For me, it was The Dangerous Brothers, Bad News, MrJolly Lives Door, Bottom and his cameos in Blackadder that put Ade into my pantheon of great comic actors. I never realised ( and he never let on) how much pain he endured growing up. This is so honest and unflinching in putting across his personal struggles that it demolished everything I’d mistakenly assumed.
His descriptions and analysis of his relationships with his father and with Mayall are illuminating and saddening. In the latter case, why the friendship soured is recounted with a clarity that anyone who has experienced a changing and ultimately damaging shift in a personal dynamic will relate to.
Well read and well written. Thank you, Adrian.
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6 people found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- J Salisbury
- 05-10-23
Good but…
If you’re here for the Young Ones and Bottom stuff you’re gonna be a bit disappointed.
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4 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Princess.Consuela.Banana-hammock
- 30-09-23
Just a lovely listen.
Very entertaining, frequently moving.
If I ever meet Ade I will definitely not ask for an autograph or selfie or chase him through the back streets of Soho.
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4 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Mort
- 04-10-23
Heartfelt and Eye Opening
Discovered so much about this talented actor & musician.
At times your laughing out loud and others your on the verge of tears. Written in a very open and honest way we discover perhaps the reasons behind some of his greatest characters that he's played.
His brutal honesty about his relationship with others is eye opening but you do feel he was correct in his choices.
Most people from similar generations will feel some kind of affiliation to parts of his story.
Totally enjoyed it.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Matt Breading
- 03-10-23
Beautiful and inspiring
A beautiful and humorous life that has educated me more about Adrian and make me want to meet him and have a chat over a coffee
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Samson Briggs
- 30-09-23
Funny, moving memoir
Excellent - and so much of it will particularly resonate with anyone who grew up in the same era. Thought-provoking and beautifully expressed.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Chinchillaka
- 29-09-23
Comedy Legend
A deeply honest and personal journey onto the mind that hilariously performed on falling beds, exploding buses and generally all-around anarchy from Vyvyan, Vim Fuego, Sir Adrian Dangerous and Eddie Hitler. He was seminal in the groundbreaking alternative comedy movement and in bringing it into the mainstream. As a kid in an unfair world, The Young Ones meant the world to me. Bottom was, in my opinion, the funniest comedy act ever to be shown on British TV. Their live shows were hilarious. Yet, Ade is humble and a very endearing, loveable figure who doesn't seem to know how much he is loved and how much he and his alternative comedy crowd, influenced comedy.
It's heartbreaking yet relatable to hear about his brutal hardship in school days and his strained relationship with his cold father. It's also a wonderful insight into his friendship with Rik over the years. They were the Laurel and Hardy of our generation.
Where is this man's knighthood for Ade's services to entertainment?? Ade is a comedy legend.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Steve
- 08-12-23
legend
I grew up watching Adrian and Rik, both are my ideals. Reading/listening to his autobiography has given me more respect for that man, he is how i imagined him to be!. They say you should never meet your ideals but i feel i'd be safe meeting Adrian. The book is amazing, funny, sad, and even irritating in parts, so has it all. Thank Adarain for this brilliant insight into a legend!
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