Too Much: the hilarious, heartfelt memoir

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As with his first book, No Shame, I did feel the narrative lost focus about 2/3 of the way through and again I lost the sense of time and place that was very clear in the earlier part of the book. In Too Much, with his trademark wit and insight, Tom Allen takes a funny and moving look at how he’s been thrown into adulthood, as he finally leaves the family home and starts a relationship with a new boyfriend. Allen was on holiday in the Caribbean with his partner, Alfie – his first boyfriend, he points out – when his father died.

But when his father died suddenly in late 2021, Tom’s newfound independence was rocked by a fresh set of challenges, and he began to find solace in the past (and his new vegetable patch). He reflects that no longer having his father around has made him grow up, accepting who he is and what he wants in life. In the past, I’d go to that party, meet those friends for drinks, and never really check in with myself to find out if that’s what I wanted to do. But then again his father – Paul, a working class coach driver from Bromley, Kent – was very practical compared with his “creative, flouncy, oversensitive” son, he adds.

One night, I started my set and I was talking about the experience of being gay and living with my parents.

I had run away but here in the garden he’d found me, and found me no longer a boy but now a grown up man, myself. Chapter 10 - “The things I did say, and more painfully the things I was unable to say, play over and over again on the movie projector in my head, tinged at times with terrible regret. In his new book Too Much, the comedian joked that he always gets confused by Northern Ireland’s two main airports. The award-winning comedian – whose TV shows include The Apprentice: You’re Fired, The Great British Bake Off: An Extra Slice and Celebrity Gogglebox – has now written his second memoir Too Much, essentially a homage to his late father, who died aged 80 from a heart attack on his way to a London show. Not all parts were riveting, but there were some really gut-wrenching parts scattered throughout, and I found that each time I picked it up, I'd end up really engaged until I had to put it down again.Living with his father, learning from his father, still hearing the echo of his voice laid down some of the core foundations that made Tom the man that he is today. I feel passionate about making people laugh and giving them a chance to smile and laugh at the world.

I don’t normally do extravagant things like going on that sort of holiday and part of me thought, ‘That’ll teach you! I recognised the parallels and found myself laughing at Tom's descriptions, the weird and the wonderful, the happy and sad, a recollection of moments; some far from perfect but always bound by love.When I saw this book on the shelves of Gay's the Word, I immediately picked it up just due to his name being on the spine. The Sun", "Sun", "Sun Online" are registered trademarks or trade names of News Group Newspapers Limited. I said, trying to seem like I might be a sex worker on the side and also trying to pretend that I was still fun and confident. The woman looked out at the rest of the room with her arms folded, then she turned around to face me, looking furious (and said), ‘My son is worth 10 of you’. Biography: Tom Allen's unique style of sharp, acerbic wit and camp, riotous storytelling has seen him become a household name in the UK.

Told through snapshots from Tom's busy life - whether reflecting on the campness of funeral customs, muddy lockdown walks in unsuitable footwear or just reminiscing on his childhood obsession with Patricia Routledge - Too Much is a hilarious joyride of stories as well as an emotional ode to Tom's beloved dad, and a touching manifesto on how to navigate the complexities of grief. Told through snapshots from Tom’s busy life – whether reflecting on the campness of funeral customs, muddy lockdown walks in unsuitable footwear or just reminiscing on his childhood obsession with Patricia Routledge – Too Much is a hilarious joyride of stories as well as an emotional ode to Tom’s beloved dad, and a touching manifesto on how to navigate the complexities of grief.He has toured Australia which saw him nominated for Most Outstanding Show at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. When Tom Allen’s first memoir, No Shame, was published in 2020, he was 37, permanently single and living at home with his parents in Bromley.