Ian Cognito: A Comedian's Tale

 I am now exactly a year into my renaissance and have decided to get my first book off my back. First the technical details. The book which you are about to download for free is in several formats, some zipped/packed; choose the one that suits you. Needless to say you can print it out, it’s around 90 A4 pages.

The book was written during the two and a half years I allowed myself as sabbatical in order to evaluate what the business of comedy meant, and what toll my style of presentation was taking upon me. Absolutely nothing has since been added, despite the benefit of constant gigging throughout 1998 and the realisation that some of the people mentioned in it have turned out to be better than I credited them for, and some, inevitably, worse. However that is for my next work "How to Comeback": a view from the periphery.

While I have had interest from publishers to bring this book out in a conventional format, I cannot resist the lure of publication at the vanguard of the most powerful medium the world has yet seen. Also I am under no illusions that there is very little for a relatively unknown comedian like myself to gain from the publishing merry go round. Certainly no pecuniary advantage, particularly when allowing for the amount of bullshit involved in shifting a few copies. Have you been in Waterstones recently? I haven’t read half the books in there, and another 100,000 are being added each year. You are welcome to distribute the book, as a whole, freely by disk, print or digital media, provided it contains the title page. I do however, retain my copyright interest in it, and as such no part or recognisable section of "A Comedian’s Tale." may be reproduced without the express permission of Ian Cognito. A printed and dated copy of "A Comedian’s Tale" is lodged with my solicitor, in case of dispute.

Personally, I feel the book works best if read as a whole, without episodes or events taken out of context. It is 240 regular paperback pages long and as such is necessarily a more considered personal look at my first eight years as a alternative comedian. I hope you find it interesting and that it amuses you. Just remember that in the market economy, something is deemed to be worth what you pay for it.

And that gets that off my chest.