I've called books "hard to put down" before, but the hardest moment to put this one down came right after I'd finished it. This book made me feel a lot of things. Aussie comedian and actor, Greg Fleet, is a heroin addict. Yell so loud and for so long at hitting a baby in a snowboarding video game that a concerned neighbour knocks on the door in an attempt to help the poor child? Here's a first. Pulling thoughts, scenes and stories from early childhood right up until the moment of writing, Fleety tells a story of a life propelled by relationships, comedy, and, most especially, drugs. The pining, the angst, the heady emotions! Thanks for sharing your journey. I was laughing out loud regularly. I think those two words are the closest I can come to describing this book. Aussie comedian and actor, Greg Fleet, is a heroin addict. He has always been frank about his drug addiction and uses this as a platform for his opening gags. It's a treatise on drugs and the world of comedy, containing all you need to know about how to score, shoot up, lie with self-deluding impuni. A book written as therapy. We see you are using AdBlocker software. That message might be a little obvious… but the compelling stories that lead up to it should have you beating a path to your nearest bookshop to buy Fleet’s book. Melbourne comedy festival review by Steve Bennett. George Washington, a Founding Father of the United States, led the Continental Army to victory in the Revolutionary War and was America’s first president. Fleet in particular, as he was in his autobiography, is brutally honest about mistakes he has made along the way, including his heroin addiction. A litany of whip-assing that seems to go on rather too long, but Fleet wants us to understand that this has been his reality. His lie about quitting last time unwound very publicly when he wound up in court, having stolen his flatmate’s jewellery to fund his ‘hobby’, and his misdeeds were splashed across every newspaper in Australia. If there’s one good thing to come from 30 years of heroin abuse - big ‘if’, admittedly - it’s that you get a lot of stories. I kind of remember Greg Fleet from his days as a regular on "Full Frontal" and some of his stand-up - and I was quite surprised when I saw a recording of his show "13 Years in a Long Sleeved Shirt" when he seemed to be very candid about his (seemingly then past) hard drug habit. This is certainly not the first time he’s spoken of his drug abuse on stage. As uncovered by Canada historian Greg Nesteroff, ... After all, every time I act I provide employment for a fleet of doubles. Just a moment while we sign you in to your Goodreads account. Holy. As one of Australia’s finest and longest-serving comedians, Greg Fleet delivers his autobiography in the way that I imagine seems most natural to him. Welcome back. Chortle. Narrowly avoid being stabbed and mugged in a dank Edinburgh alley while trying to score heroin, after being recognised as an actor from Neighbours? Willingly engage in an enthusiastic, one-off homosexual encounter with a friend while both under the influence of ecstasy? He lets it be known that he would rather be remembered as an actor who did a bit of comedy, than as a comedian who did a bit of acting. Less frequently it made me feel an uncontrollable urge to shake my head in horror. Fleet then moved into the ad-lib part of his performance and audience members had written down topics for Fleet to bounce off. This book is two things brutally honest and emotionally exhausting, while the early years of Fleet's decades long addiction have a certain sense of romance about them, even though he is brutally honest about the damage they wrought, much like Anthony Kiedis's Scar Tissue there comes a time towards the end of the book where the tales are largely just a repetition of terrible behaviour and betrayal of those who despite it all continue to believe in him. The book is roughly chronological, frequently laugh-out-loud funny, desperately raw, unflinchingly honest and littered (right word) with bad stories embellished with bad language. Narrowly avoid being stabbed and mugged in a dank Edinburgh alley while trying to score heroin, after being recognised as an actor from Neighbours? Review date: 1 Apr 2016 In short, a compelling storyteller. It strips bare the colour of life until all you have left is existence. 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