Comic Classic

If you've not read it before, George Grossmith's The Diary of a Nobody is a hoot that will reveal the source of much modern comedy. City clerk Charles Pooter decides to reveal his life in the form of a published diary, because he thinks people might find it interesting. It turns out to be a catalogue of the most stupefying banmality, with Pooter himself the primary figure of fun. He is terminally naive, beset by slapstick accidents, surrounded by people who take advantage of him, and he turns out to be the man for whom everything goes wrong. You'll recognise elements of everything from Adrian Mole and Dad's Army, to Rising Damp and The Good Life.