https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/dec/04/top-10-books-about-comedy-louis-barfe-ken-dodd

Ken Dodd’s biographer picks his zingers from the literature of laughter-giving

We have an insatiable appetite for reading about comedy and comedians. Comedy lives long in the memory, and comedy books allow the reader to revisit the lines that made them laugh. We also read out of love for the practitioners. When Les Dawson and Ronnie Corbett died, they were celebrated in memorial services at Westminster Abbey. There is a genuine interest in the people behind the jokes and what made them tick.

I was lucky enough to see the master of marathon standup shows Ken Dodd on stage and to talk comedy with him in the dressing room afterwards. When he died in March 2018, I thought a serious comedy nerd’s book about him should be written, then filed the idea away as “too soon”. But when my publisher called suggesting just such an account, I took it as a sign and set to work.