It’s a bold move to begin your autobiography, My Lady Parts, by listing all the juicy anecdotes and celebrity gossip that you aren’t going to include, but Doon Mackichan has never been afraid of taking risks. The wonderful physical comedian of Smack The Pony and Toast Of London has led such a fierce, fascinating life that for every story she leaves out, there are three guaranteed to leave you crying with laughter or punching the air with pride. 

Comedy entered Mackichan’s life at an early age, her mimicry skills proving a successful deterrent to the bullying she experienced at school. Graduating from a bolshy, impassioned standup to a stalwart of sitcoms and sketch shows, the road to success was sometimes giddy, sometimes painful, but always entertaining. 

Along the way she encounters entitlement (David Baddiel), narcissism (Ricky Gervais), and misogyny (Jim Davidson, Grayson Perry and almost every director she works with), but refuses to be cowed by any of it. An admirably brave, principled woman, if she’s not swimming the channel to fund an Edinburgh show then she’s graffitiing a London theatre to protest the theft of a female artist’s work. A rip-roaring, brutally honest, brilliantly funny read, My Lady Parts is a triumph.