Quercus to publish Rich Hall’s Nailing It this August

Non-fiction Publisher Katy Follain has acquired a comedic memoir from the hugely loved and revered American comedian, Rich Hall. A collection of funny and often absurd epiphanies that came to define his life – more in a ‘for worse’ than ‘for better’ kind of way – it represents Rich Hall at his finest: hilariously self-deprecating, deliciously acerbic and often utterly surreal. All delivered in his unique deadpan style.

Nailing It will be launched at the Edinburgh Festival in August 2022 available for pre sale here.

Growing up, Rich Hall aspired to be a writer, and after school he trained to be a journalist. But after a stint at the Knoxville News Sentinel in Tennessee, he found himself trying to impress a girl by doing a one-man show in a state university campus in Kansas, armed with a bucket, a loudhailer and some dog biscuits. It wasn’t exactly a triumph, and he didn’t get the girl, but he had found his true calling.

Nailing It is a collection of true stories from both Hall’s professional and personal life where he really had to nail it. They’re not about glitz, or fame, or how he met his seventh wife at the rehab clinic and found spiritual direction. None of that happened to him.

They’re about accidentally melting Kraft cheese at his first Edinburgh Fringe Festival, alienating an entire convention of RV holiday-makers in Las Vegas, singing The Who’s You Better You Bet at a charity gig and turning his performance into a legendary rock ‘n’ roll disaster, and attempting to seduce Karen, which must have been successful because she is now his wife. And other such escapades.

Hall doesn’t always come out of them all covered in glory – far from it – but if someone propped him up at the end of the comedy bar and put a 50p coin in him, these are the tunes he would spin. And you’d be laughing all night.

Rich Hall says: ‘There are only two kinds of good comedy: smart stupid and stupid smart. With Nailing It, I strived for the latter, but I can live with the former. This is my first book with Quercus and already I feel like they’ve taken me into their fold.’

Katy Follain says: ‘I am so excited for people to read Rich Hall’s book. It’s sharp, it’s witty and it’s extremely funny. Rich is a very talented wordsmith, and he is as hilarious in writing as he is on stage. And while his legendary grouchiness pervades each page of this fantastic book, the stories are ultimately joyful, with a healthy dose of cynicism and darkness that his fans will love.’