Yardsticks for Failure

At the age of 33, Ivo Graham has found himself wondering whether he''s cut out for self-employment. After yet another day where hour after hour disappears into the sinkhole of not getting stuff done, getting annoyed with himself for not getting stuff done, and more not getting stuff done, he doesn''t leave the house til 7pm. Like many of us, the thing that stands between Ivo and greatness (apart from an inexhaustible curiosity for looking up literally any old shit on the Internet), is battling with issues around sleep, memory, attention span, lateness, email response times, etc., so what better to focus his distractible brain than by writing a book about achieving his goals? Aims : 1) Write this book 2) Organise triumphant MS Society fundraising gig 3) Organise a big MS Society fun run, including sub-3 hour marathon with Mum 4) Revise the films of Philip Seymour Hoffman and have no Hoffman passes on Celebrity Mastermind 5) Organise brilliant 5th birthday party for my daughter 6) Organise brilliant stag for Alex Kealy 7) Host huge DJ Battles night (MS Society fundraiser?) in London 8) Short London run of 2023 theatre show 9) Make some content, any content, with Frankie Boyle 10) Organise comedians parallel parking tournament In Yardsticks for Failure , Ivo will attempt defy the dark (well, beige) forces of inertia with the pride of self-actualisation and fulfilment. It''s a journey down the sink hole of Ivo''s brilliant brain as he attempts to get his life together, achieve his goals, and somehow write a book about achieving his goals, all while battling the distractions of the modern world. This is a book about those aspirations we all have - both big and small, that are slipping away as we battle the day-to-day literal and metaphorical inbox that''s never getting to zero. It''s about leaning into your dreams, and your to do list, and finding out a little bit more about yourself on the way. ...

Auteur

Despite extensive grooming for more serious careers at Eton and Oxford, Ivo Graham has spent his entire adult life on the stand-up circuit, winning So You Think You're Funny? at aged 18 in 2009 and since establishing himself as, if not the UK's poshest, then certainly its most apologetically posh comedian. His 2019 show The Game of Life, received nominations for Best Show and Best Joke at the Edinburgh Fringe. He's appeared on TV comedies including Have I Got News for You, QI, The Last Leg, Mock the Week, and Live at the Apollo, quizzed with varying degrees of success on Pointless, House of Games and University Challenge, and toured the country with Fern Brady and Darren Harriott for Dave's six-part travelogue British as Folk. He's earned his parents' respect with appearances on Radio 4's The Now Show, The News Quiz, Just a Minute, and the drama Unite, and shoehorned Swindon Town references into many an episode of 5 Live's Fighting Talk and BT Sport's The Football's On.

2023 saw Ivo appear as a contestant on the fifteenth series of Channel 4's Taskmaster, and fans of his chaotic energy on that show can see it live, first on the concluding leg of his My Future, My Clutter tour, before August sees Ivo travel to Edinburgh and then nationwide with his new show, Organised Fun.

Texte du rabat

The debut book from comedian and Taskmaster breakout star, Ivo Graham.

Résumé

After coming last by quite such a distance on Taskmaster Series 15, and seeing his emotional frailties laid bare in a series of memes of him with his head in his hands, Ivo Graham is adapting to an increasingly irreversible reputation as a man better known for his chaos than his comedy.

Yardsticks For Failure is an exquisite map of the brain behind the breakdowns; a deep dive into the various facepalms of Ivo's recent past, and a live diary of his unravelling present, where his solution to the general bedlam of his life has been to pile his plate higher than ever before. Longer-term resolutions of rest and relaxation can wait; in the meantime he's trying to host the greatest club night of all time, run a Sub-3 marathon while pushing a wheelchair, and put his heart on the line in a show unlike anything he's ever done before. Can these dreams become a reality, or will they just become more yardsticks for failure?

A gleeful glimpse behind the grubby curtain of stand-up comedy, via friendship and films, fatherhood and Funkytown, this book is a feast for anyone who's ever been enthralled or appalled by Ivo's cursed politeness, squandered promise, or serial prank-victimhood; for anyone battling to get their own life inbox to zero; for anyone who's ever set fire to a diary, lost their mind over a quiz, or pegged it through a station for the last train home. Yardsticks For Failure is a unique self-examination from one of the most eloquent writers and worriers of his generation. Ivo almost certainly won't achieve everything he sets out to, but it's going to be a hell of a ride.