Brilliant, Brilliant, Brilliant Brill..., Joel Golby
Brilliant, Brilliant, Brilliant Brill..., Joel Golby
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Brilliant, Brilliant, Brilliant Brilliant Brilliant
Essays

Author: Joel Golby

Narrator: Joel Golby

Unabridged: 7 hr 23 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 03/05/2019

Synopsis

*National Bestseller*

"This is a funny and beautiful book. What a little bastard." --Russell Brand
"Every paragraph is like doing a shot with a friend. A double." --Caitlin Moran

Joel Golby's writing for Vice and The Guardian, with its wry observation and naked self-reflection, has brought him a wide and devoted following. Now, in his first book, he presents a blistering collection of new and newly expanded essays--including the achingly funny viral hit "Things You Only Know When Both Your Parents Are Dead." In these pages, he travels to Saudi Arabia, where he acts as a perplexed bystander at a camel pageant; offers a survival guide for the modern dinner party (i.e. how to tactfully escape at the first sign of an adult board game); and gets pitted head-to-head, again and again, with an unpredictable, unpitying subspecies of Londoner: the landlord.

Through it all, he shows that no matter how cruel the misfortune, how absurd the circumstance, there's always the soft punch of a lesson tucked within. This is a book for anyone who overshares, overthinks, has ever felt lost or confused--and who wants to have a good laugh about it.

About The Author

Joel Golby is a staff writer for Vice, where he is among the site's most read contributors. He has written for The Guardian, Shortlist, and the BBC. He's more of a cat than a dog man, but he see merits in both. He lives in London.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Oriana on August 01, 2019

Okay so this essay collection is a bit of a mixed bag, but Joel Golby is very, very, very funny—like, ludicrously funny—with a voice that's sharp and strong and snarky and delightful. He's also a very specific kind of 30-something white dude, which comes out in ways that are sometimes delightfully f......more

Goodreads review by Chaunceton on April 21, 2019

Generally hilarious. With this wonderful collection of essays, Captain Golby rams the Titanic of polite society into the iceberg of taboo. His frank crudeness and naked honesty, paired with his British wit and knack for nihilism, will keep you laughing and entertained throughout. Definitely recommen......more

Goodreads review by Joanna on March 22, 2019

This book is very honest, and often powerful and moving, and sometimes funny, but I didn’t like it very much. Golby is an affable narrator, and he’s extremely disciplined when it comes to structure, but he’s a little sloppy with word choice. The major problem, though, is that this book wasn’t writte......more

Goodreads review by Esther on January 30, 2021

I think if I ever were to write a book this is how I’d like it to turn out.... 4.5 stars =D......more

Goodreads review by Ashley on February 13, 2025

DNF at 30% Being forcefed camel facts was not what I was expecting. It was funny occasionally, but not enough to waste more Spotify hours on, lol. Some of these essays were just so horrendously boring I zoned out.......more

Quotes

*A BBC Best Book of 2019 So Far*

“Seeing the byline ‘Joel Golby’ means you’re about to ungraciously snort with laughter in a public place. Golby is sharper at dissecting the madness of 21st century online existence than any other writer. Every paragraph is like doing a shot with a friend. A double.” 
—Caitlin Moran, New York Times bestselling author of How to Be a Woman and How to Be Famous

“This is a funny and beautiful book. What a little bastard.”
—Russell Brand, New York Times bestselling author of My Booky Wook and Recovery 

“Joel Golby is my favorite pop culture–obsessed nihilist...You’ll laugh, cry and probably be a bit weirded out.”
—Sharon Horgan, co-creator of Catastrophe

“Using a blend of insightful self-deprecation and almost lovable braggadocio, Golby tackles subjects big and small with the same forensic thinking and enthusiasm… [He] is great at switching between the poignant and the absurd, observing life both with the wonder of a toddler who has just discovered where you hid the crayons and the confidence of the friend who tells you ‘I got this’ before attempting to fix your vacuum cleaner.”
—Adam Kay, The Guardian

“A writer who can be funny and offhandedly profound at the same time…[Golby] sometimes feels like a kindred spirit to David Sedaris, but younger and more biting.”
—Kirkus Reviews

“Golby, a British staff writer for Vice, moves between dark wit and even darker emotion, often in the course of a single sentence…Consistently entertaining.”
—Booklist

“With Golby we’re treated to two things at once: the pleasure of his wit and style as he ranges his themes, and a sustained, near-Swiftian satire on the very real and material challenges driven by the United Kingdom’s housing crisis…That Golby spins comedy gold from such a sorry state of affairs is testimony to how much we need a voice like his.”
—LA Review of Books

"A millennial's answer to David Sedaris. No writer is funnier than Joel Golby."
—Dolly Alderton, author of Everything I Know About Love

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