Funny People is Roy Smiles' whimsical account of his life in comedy; from his childhood growing up with the star actors and comedians on television, stand-up and film in the 1960s and 1970s, through to his own work, writing hit plays that pay tribute to those legends of comedy who had a vital influence on both him and British popular culture of the post-war years. From Sunday Night at the Palladium and The Dean Martin Show through Monty Python to The Simpsons and When Harry Met Sally and from Laurel and Hardy and Danny Kaye through Les Dawson to Jon Stewart and Chris Rock, Funny People is a compelling celebration of comedy and its value in our lives.

I am a religious man and I believe in the Holy Trinity:and they are Lenny Bruce, Richard Pryor and Bill Hicks. Amen.

Billy Connolly is the best comic ever to come out of the British Isles in my lifetime: I can prove it using slides and pie-charts.

Jo Brand [is] easily the most fearless performer I've ever seen live (she used to swat down hecklers like they were slightly irritating gnats).

Am I the only guy in the world who adores Abbot & Costello? Does this mean I'm a bad person?

Gerald Rose was born in Hong Kong. When the Second World War started, his father became a prisoner of war, and Gerald and his mother were interned in a civilian camp, which was where he saw his first live tiger.

Frustrated by the dearth of good illustrated books for children, his wife, Elizabeth, helped him to write and illustrate a number of books. Gerald won the Kate Greenaway Medal in 1960 for Old Winkle and the Seagulls and won the Premio Critici in 1979 in Erba, Italy for 'Ahhh!' Said Stork. Gerald now lives in Hove, East Sussex.