Butterfly Brain, Barry Cryer (Orion, £6.99) (From York Press)

Butterfly Brain, Barry Cryer (Orion, £6.99)

1:16pm Saturday 30th October 2010 in Books By Dan Bean, dan.bean@thepress.co.uk

VETERAN Leeds-born funnyman Barry Cryer crams 50 years of stories into the third volume of his autobiography, and begins each new chapter with a quote.

One early quote, “Autobiography is an unrivalled vehicle for telling the truth about other people,” sets the tone for the book.

It quickly becomes apparent that in his career as a writer, singer, stand-up comedian and broadcaster, there are few comedy greats Cryer hasn’t worked with.

From Morecambe and Wise to Monty Python, the Two Ronnies to Tony Hancock, there’s a story for everyone, revealing sides of comic icons only their friends or colleagues would know.

Whether recounting tales of Tommy Cooper teasing members of the public, and Kenny Everett first breaking the fourth wall of television, the stories are consistently funny.

But there is a sadness running through 75-year-old Cryer’s writing because many of his contemporaries recalled so fondly in the book are no longer alive.

It’s this mixture of comedy and humanity that makes Butterfly Brain fascinating to read and difficult to put down.