Jokes! Jokes! Jokes!

Joke books abound. So why is this book so different from the pack? Jokes spread like the flu at parties, gatherings of friends, around the water cooler at work. There is always at least one hapless soul compelled by some unknown or even mystical force to tell an anecdote, a story ..... a joke. The fateful event inevitably begins with the universal opening line: "Tell me if you've heard this one before." The listeners' defense mechanisms kick immediately into high gear and no matter how funny you think the joke is, the battle lines have been drawn and your uphill climb has begun. Wouldn't it be wonderful if you could wade into the crowd and launch your assault with the perfectly disarming opener: "Hey, everybody. I just read this really great book; it was full of really clean, suitable for work (or mixed company) jokes. Let me share one with you." The audience expectations have been reduced and defenses lowered. There will even be relaxed smiles on some faces as the listeners anticipate a truly safe joke that will not get them fired (or thrown out of the house party), allowing you to cut into the conversation and satisfy your mystical compulsion. Moreover, the audience may even still be there after you have finished Yes, this book will have performed a true social service. There are not many joke books that can supply really clean, non-sexist, non-racist, non-abusive humor. This book - Jokes Jokes Jokes - is just such a book. It can be read by adults and teenagers and young children without concern.

Joke books abound. So why is this book so different from the pack? Jokes spread like the flu at parties, gatherings of friends, around the water cooler at work. There is always at least one hapless soul compelled by some unknown or even mystical force to tell an anecdote, a story ..... a joke. The fateful event inevitably begins with the universal opening line: "Tell me if you've heard this one before." The listeners' defense mechanisms kick immediately into high gear and no matter how funny you think the joke is, the battle lines have been drawn and your uphill climb has begun. Wouldn't it be wonderful if you could wade into the crowd and launch your assault with the perfectly disarming opener: "Hey, everybody. I just read this really great book; it was full of really clean, suitable for work (or mixed company) jokes. Let me share one with you." The audience expectations have been reduced and defenses lowered. There will even be relaxed smiles on some faces as the listeners anticipate a truly safe joke that will not get them fired (or thrown out of the house party), allowing you to cut into the conversation and satisfy your mystical compulsion. Moreover, the audience may even still be there after you have finished Yes, this book will have performed a true social service. There are not many joke books that can supply really clean, non-sexist, non-racist, non-abusive humor. This book - Jokes Jokes Jokes - is just such a book. It can be read by adults and teenagers and young children without concern.

'JOKES, JOKES, JOKES' is Eclair's account of how she elbowed her way into the male dominated world of 1980's stand-up, via drama school, cider, sausage rolls, sleeping with men who looked like they lived under a carpet, punk poetry, anorexia, bedsit misery, waitressing and not really having a clue about anything. This is about years spent getting changed next to a deep fat fryer in rooms above pubs, and audiences expecting 'a song' or at least 'some impressions'. This is about a world before microphones, before mobile phones, before everyone gave up smoking and before everyone started taking coke. Eclair was on the comedy circuit before there really was a comedy circuit. Still gigging forty years later, this is a snap shot of a 'once upon a time time', from Lancashire by way of Manchester before it became Madchester, when the canals still stank and the entire population was nicotine stained, to London, where Covent Garden was still a market and before then, when little Jenny Hargreaves, daughter of Major Derek Hargreaves (spy) and June Hargreaves (spy's wife) sister of Sara (born to be head girl) and Ben (of very little interest). Jokes, Jokes, jokes, charts the changing face of women in comedy since the very early 80's.

'JOKES, JOKES, JOKES' is Eclair's account of how she elbowed her way into the male dominated world of 1980's stand-up, via drama school, cider, sausage rolls, sleeping with men who looked like they lived under a carpet, punk poetry, anorexia, bedsit misery, waitressing and not really having a clue about anything. This is about years spent getting changed next to a deep fat fryer in rooms above pubs, and audiences expecting 'a song' or at least 'some impressions'. This is about a world before microphones, before mobile phones, before everyone gave up smoking and before everyone started taking coke. Eclair was on the comedy circuit before there really was a comedy circuit. Still gigging forty years later, this is a snap shot of a 'once upon a time time', from Lancashire by way of Manchester before it became Madchester, when the canals still stank and the entire population was nicotine stained, to London, where Covent Garden was still a market and before then, when little Jenny Hargreaves, daughter of Major Derek Hargreaves (spy) and June Hargreaves (spy's wife) sister of Sara (born to be head girl) and Ben (of very little interest). Jokes, Jokes, jokes, charts the changing face of women in comedy since the very early 80's.