Author Description

<i>'You alright, mate? What's your name?'</i><br> <br> In the biggest comedy club in the world, Paul Smith picks a face out of the crowd and strikes up a conversation. Moments later, the room erupts with laughter. Cameras capture the interaction, a comedian at the top of his game, another audience encounter that will soon go viral. It wasn't always this easy.<br> <br> As Paul prepares for the biggest show of his life, he never imagined that a struggling comic with stage fright would make it so far. Or that record-breaking crowds from every corner of the country would flock to hear his stories, finding the experiences of an ordinary bloke from Canny Farm Estate, Liverpool, so relatable.<br> <br> In <i>Joker</i>, Paul charts his meteoric rise to fame, providing a hilarious portrait of his scouse childhood, writing candidly about his family's struggles, and reflecting on how he eventually discovered his comic voice.<br> <br> As Paul recounts a series of increasingly unlikely adventures - from schoolboy street fights to the MMA octagon, from skint taxi rank operator to supercar owner, from struggling comedian to star attraction - he shares his deeply moving, hopeful and wildly funny life story.