Dead Funny: Horror Stories by Comedians

Robin Ince, Johnny Mains (Editor), Mitch Benn, Katy Brand, Neil Edmond, Richard Herring, Charlie Higson, Matthew Holness, Rufus Hound, Phill Jupitus, Tim Key, Stewart Lee, Michael Legge, Al Murray, Sara Pascoe, Reece Shearsmith, and Danielle Ward

What happens when mirth turns to murder? When the screams are not from joy, but flesh-ripping pain? Dead Funny is an audacious anthology, featuring tales of terror from some of the brightest lights in UK comedy.

Award winners Robin Ince and Johnny Mains team up for this unique exploration of the relationship between comedy and horror to see if they do, as believed, make the most comfortable of bedfellows.

Featuring the talents of

Mitch Benn, Katy Brand, Neil Edmond, Richard Herring, Charlie Higson, Matthew Holness, Rufus Hound, Robin Ince, Phill Jupitus, Tim Key, Stewart Lee, Michael Legge, Al Murray, Sara Pascoe, Reece Shearsmith, Danielle Ward

Dead Funny

You’ll die screaming.

• ISBN10: 1844719928
• ISBN13: 9781844719921
• Publish Date: 1 October 2014
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Imprint: Salt Publishing
• Format: eBook (EPUB)
• Pages: 224
• Language: English
• URL: http://saltpublishing.com/products/dead-funny-9781907773761

Reviews

[pamela]

Editited (but have left original review for comparison):

After Johnny Mains comments below I chose to persevere and read some more of the stories. I'm glad I did, as there really were some good pieces in there, which just goes to show you can't always judge a collection on its opening story. There were some stories which were brilliant (I especially liked Charlie Higson's offering which made me feel almost nostalgic for the glory years of hammy horror), and others which really weren't to my taste, but all in all I'm glad I read on.

Stories I enjoyed were:

THE PATIENT by Mitch Benn

A VIEW FROM A HILL by Stewart Lee

FILTHY NIGHT by Charlie Higson

The rest weren't 'bad' as such, they just weren't to my taste and from a personal perspective I didn't enjoy reading them. Still, all in all I'm glad I forced myself to read on, even if only a handful of the selection really drew me in. That is the issue with a compilation though, no matter how hard you try, you just can't please everyone with every story.


(Original Review) I couldn't even tell you if this compilation has potential, because I stopped reading just a few pages in to the first story. It was a brave choice to begin a comedy compendium, no matter how dark, with a tale of animal cruelty but Salt Publishing have done it. Whether it's something that appeals to others I do not know, but for me, it turned me off reading any of the other stories all together.

I can't comment on the collection as a whole, but from the outset I failed to see how this collection was going to go anywhere that I would find funny if its opening gambit was dog murder.