Coronet have acquired the first book from comedian and Friday Night Dinners star, Tom Rosenthal. There is only one problem. He hasn’t written it yet. And he needs YOU.
Actor and comedian Tom Rosenthal has achieved peak capitalist disconnection - a solo-living, daily-Deliverooing, Uber-abusing, screen-addicted community-contact-avoiding cog in the machine. If he’s ever going to emerge into adulthood, he needs a shock to the system.
Can you save him from himself?
And, more importantly, what can you get in return?
In a once in a lifetime opportunity, you can get a largely incompetent, but sometimes funny man-child to do anything you want – all you have to do is help him complete a challenge so immersed in agonising human contact, he might just change his ways.
The challenge
Get around the World by trading favours
The rules
Tom must circumvent the entire globe, in one direction, spending no money on travel
All travel can only be in exchange for a fair and equal favour
All favours must be agreed and performed before returning home
No flagrant criminality (unless the criminal has been particularly accommodating)
The journey starts on Thursday 4th May, 2023. Who knows how and when it will end. All we know for sure, is that he’ll do almost anything to get there
Need a stand in boyfriend at your ex’s wedding? Want someone to deliver a letter to Timbuktu? Have a hankering for a Tim Tam? Short a nude life model? Say no more. Just contact him on social media, and help him on his way.
Around the World in 80 Favours will be Tom’s account of the trip, from the sublime to the ridiculous. Structured around some of the weirdest requests, the most seismic detours, and the favours that threw him, this will be the story of a journey that just might change Tom’s life. Part Bill Bryson, part Dave Gorman, with a bit of Francis Drake thrown in; Around the World in 80 Favours is going to be a wild and funny ride.
So, can anyone give him a lift to Heathrow?
Tom Rosenthal says, ‘I never thought I’d get the opportunity to write a book, and I still don’t, because I’m fairly convinced I’ll die attempting to write this one. It’s very kind of Hodder and Stoughton to fund my pre-midlife-crisis-crisis and to publish a record of it in various formats so my children’s children’s children will be able to both read and hear about what a loser I was.’
Harriet Poland says: ‘All I want to do this year is laugh. If that comes at Tom Rosenthal’s expense, so be it. This book is going to be a pleasure, a riot, a spectacle, a circus, a feast and a serious test of character. We truly can’t wait.’
Tom Rosenthal began his career as a winning the Paramount Funniest Student Award (2009) and the coveted Leicester Mercury Comedian of the Year (2011). He has taken three stand-up shows to the Edinburgh Festival, the latest of which, Manhood, had a sell-out national tour. He is best known for smash-hit sitcoms Plebs (ITV2) and Friday Night Dinner (Channel 4), both of which are the highest rating sitcoms for their respective channels over for the last decade. Between them they have won Broadcast Awards, Comedy Awards, the Rose D'Or and have been nominated for a BAFTA. Personally Tom was nominated for Best Newcomer at the British Comedy Awards (2012) for his performance as Jonny in Friday Night Dinner.
The book will be published in May 2024. Link here.
