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Running the Light

'The best novel I've ever read about comedy' Megan Nolan
By Sam Tallent
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Check link for latest rating. ( 3,489 ratings, 395 reviews)
Brief Description
'A thrilling, nauseating and painfully real depiction of what happens as youth, talent and charisma sour' - MEGAN NOLAN 'Anyone wondering where The Great American Novel went: this is it on bail' - DBC PIERRE Debauched, divorced and courting death, Billy Ray Schafer is a comedian... Read More
Format: Paperback / softback
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A bona fide 'instant classic' (Doug Stanhope) that tells the story of a road comic crashing and burning, from acclaimed comedian Sam Tallent

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

'A thrilling, nauseating and painfully real depiction of what happens as youth, talent and charisma sour' - MEGAN NOLAN

'Anyone wondering where The Great American Novel went: this is it on bail' - DBC PIERRE

Debauched, divorced and courting death, Billy Ray Schafer is a comedian who has forgotten how to laugh. Over the course of seven spun-out days across the American Southwest, he travels from hell gig to hell gig in search of a reason to keep living, in this bleak and violent glimpse into the psyche of a thoroughly ruined man. Ex-inmate, ex-husband, ex-father - comedian is the only title Schafer has left.

Trapped in the wreckage of his wasted career, Billy Ray knows the answer to the question: What happens when opportunity doesn't come - or worse - it comes and goes?

In a majestically bleak, hilarious and bruising tour of regret, delusion and the detonation of the soul (Sam Lipsyte), Tallent hurls you into an absolute mess of a man's life as we search for the mercy he does not want.

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781399634953

Publisher: Orion Publishing Co

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 15 May 2025

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: White Rabbit

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 28.0mm

Width: 154.0mm

Height: 232.0mm

Weight: 440g

Pages: 352

Collections

Arts & Culture Fiction General Fiction Humour Literary Fiction Sam Tallent

About the Author

Sam Tallent is a comedian. For the last decade he has performed more than 45 weekends per year across America, Canada, Europe, Japan and Australia. His writing has appeared in Birdy Magazine and on VICE.com. Running the Light is his first novel.

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