Description
A boat approaches; a lantern hung on its prow is the only light in this dark, cold world. The boat reaches the edge of the lake. The boatman has a kindly face. He calls out to me. “Mr Dowie?” “Yes,” I reply. “Not any more,” he says. And I step into his boat.
John Dowie, proto-alternative comedian and quixotic cyclist, has a few last things to get off his chest. Join him in this funny and poignant memoir as he tells a story from pre-cradle to post-grave with musings on parenthood, Batman and showbiz along the way.
“John Dowie is an artist I always admire, respect and often like. He is a one off, a living celebration of uniqueness. He is an artist who follows his instinct to create rather than conform to the business models of comedy and thank god for that. Before I Go is part memoir, part meditation on kindness, beautifully honest, poignant and laugh out loud funny. Another slice of uniqueness from a true original.”
Mark Thomas
“A funny, clever and alarmingly wise man”
Julian Clary
“The archaeopteryx of alternative comedy… the fossil record makes no sense without him.”
Alan Moore
“One of those figures from the comedy world who is both hugely important and somewhat marginalised … A master of the striking image”
Bruce Dessau, Beyond the Joke
“I was drinking late one night in the courtyard of the Pleasance Theatre in the year 1999, my thirteenth Edinburgh Fringe, when the comedian Simon Munnery arrived, looking pleased with himself, like a gun dog bringing back a pheasant, or a family cat that comes in and drops a dead rat on the carpet. He had found John Dowie, the pheasant/dead rat of Alternative Comedy.”
Stewart Lee
“Elegant and eloquent. A beautiful journey of humour (which I had expected) and spirituality (which I had not). Touching and hilariously well observed minutiae of parents passing and of parenting.”
Andy McClusky (Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark)
“A beautiful meditation on life, death and childhood – with the odd sideways glance at his hugely influential career”
Entertainment Now
