The Life of Lee Lee Evans 9780718156190

Lee Evans is one of the best-loved comedians in the country; a Hollywood star able to sell out arenas in the blink of eye.

But he was not always such a roaring success.

The Life of Lee is an utterly hilarious and very moving autobiography charting his ups and downs on the way to the top. Lee takes us on a darkly humorous journey through his childhood spent running wild on a Bristol housing estate, his unconventional school days and through a grim teenage period of numerous dead-end jobs.

The book also reveals how as a boy Lee got his first taste of showbiz, accompanying his entertainer father around the rowdy, unforgiving working-men's club and theatre circuit.

Desperately struggling to be accepted, this quiet young loner always saw himself as an outsider. But he finally met the love of his life and accidentally discovered the one place where he felt at home: the stage.

In November 2005, Lee Evans smashed the world record for playing to the largest ever comedy audience - 10,108 people at the Manchester Evening News Arena. The record underlined his status as the most popular comedian in the UK. A former boxer, Lee went on to break more records. In 2008, he sold more than 500,000 tickets on fifty-nine arena dates. He has now sold in excess of 4 million DVDs.

Born in Bristol in 1964, the award-winning comedian also headlined in such films as There's Something About Mary, MouseHunt, The Fifth Element, The Martins and Funny Bones. He has also performed in the West End in The Producers, Endgame and The Dumb Waiter, receiving numerous theatre awards along the way. Lee has been happily married to Heather for twenty-seven years. They live in Essex and have a daughter called Mollie.