in print
www.fistoffun.net
Fist Of Fun
STEWART LEE & RICHARD HERRING - FIST OF FUN

After the success of the first televsion run of "Fist Of Fun", the BBC commisioned this book from Rich & Stew as part of the merchandising campaign they launched for Fist Of Fun in late 1995. This was released alongside a "Best Of.." collection of the radio version of Fist Of Fun on CD & Casette and the "Live From The Cochrane" video.

Strangely, their campaign didn't feature a video release of the actual television show they were trying to promote, and to date, "Fist Of Fun" has never seen an official video (or DVD) release. Write to the BBC about this, perhaps they'll follow their own lead with "The Day Today" and put out a 10th anniversary set or something....

The book itself, however, featured a wealth of material - some culled from radio & television - and some specifically written for this release. A number of ideas would later be revisited & fleshed out in future Lee & Herring projects (for example, the Organ Gang from TMWRNJ1). Certainly one of the better "cash in" books of it's type, this is a laugh-out-loud tour of the Lee & Herring universe. Sadly no longer available, it can still be picked up in second hand book shops, and downloaded from this very site.
Click here for downloads of the whole Fist Of Fun book.
The Perfect Fool
STEWART LEE - THE PERFECT FOOL
Stewart Lee's debut novel, released in June 2001 by Fourth Estate.

From the back of the book:

"The Perfect Fool" charts the progress of a collection of misfits, spread across the wide open spaces of Arizona & the narrow streets of South London, all unwittingly caught up in a quest for the Holy Grail.
Mr Lewis believes he was once an astronaut; Sid & Danny's Dire Straits covers band isn't exactly filling the pubs of Streatham; Tracy travels between Las Vegas & the Mexican border, fleeing the suspicion that she's a serial killer; Bob, a Native American clown, no longer finds anything funny; Luther, and acid casualty 60s rock star, has long since forgotten the most basic chord shapes; and Peter Rugg lost a cigarette down the back of a Portobello Road sofa thirty years ago and is still looking for it.

These seemingly unrelated individuals eventually collide in the deserts of the American South West, where they form an uneasy silence. Stewart Lee's first novel combines an eclectic range of characters and cultures with an instinctive comic touch."

Talking Cock
RICHARD HERRING - TALKING COCK
It has been known by many different names to many different people.

Knob, dick, schmuck, rod, tool, percy, John Thomas, the bald headed mouse, the yoghurt-spitting sausage, Kojak's Moneybox, the salty salami, the sergeant with
one blue stripe who loves to stand to attention, Captain Winky, the pink lighthouse that wants to draw you onto its rocks, the sentimental teaser, the arrow of desire, the crimson butterfly, the flute of love and of course Russell the fur-faced chicken.

It has meant different things to different cultures.

To the Ancient Greeks the penis was worshipped and people paraded the streets with six foot high phalluses. To early Christians it was the Devil's Rod, a thing of evil shape and issue that must be hidden away at all times. To the people of the 1980s the funniest thing imaginable was a wicked cartoon willie that could speak. How times change.

It inspires lust, fear, awe and laughter. And yet, it is an object of shame and when engorged, indecency. And though men may brag and exaggerate about their little chap, they rarely talk about their feelings for it. Whilst women celebrate their sexuality in worldwide smash "The Vagina Monologues", men are twisting their genitals into the shape of hamburgers in "Puppetry of the Penis". Isn't it time for the twisting to stop and the schlong celebration to begin. Isn't it time for a Vagina Monologues with balls?