Yardsticks for Failure cover art

Yardsticks for Failure

Adventures in Friendship and Fluster

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Yardsticks for Failure

By: Ivo Graham
Narrated by: Ivo Graham
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About this listen

 'A hilarious and original voice' Josh Widdicombe

'Delightfully smart and impossibly charming' Dolly Alderton

'His writing is as unpredictable and brilliant as he is' Sophie Duker

'I've got nothing but love for Mr Ivo Graham' Frankie Boyle

Yardsticks For Failure is the story of the most frantic two years of Ivo Graham's already quite frantic life, 2022-2024, two years of tasks and tears and everything in between.

The amount of stuff Ivo packs into these two years will excite you and exhaust you, enthral you and appal you, and many more carefully choreographed pairs of verbs if you'd like this sentence to be even longer. There are some short sentences in this book, such as this one. And this one. But there are some long old sentences too, sentences that take you on whole thrilling adventures all by themselves, sentences that are rich in music and memory, mischief and mourning, sentences that bring you right alongside Ivo in his train-chasing, gamefacing,
name-dropping, heart-stopping chaos of an existence. No one lives like Ivo does, and no one writes like him either. There are failures in his life but this book is not one of them. Come on in.

'Not a complete waste of his school fees' Jenny Eclair

'A trash man from a trash family' James Acaster©2024 Ivo Graham (P)2024 Headline Publishing Group Limited Career Success Performing Arts Time Management & Productivity Funny Witty Heartfelt Inspiring Thought-Provoking

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All stars
Most relevant  
Highly recommend, a very moving story full of love and laughter, listened to it all in 2 days

Wonderful moving and funny

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Such an interesting book from one of my favourites. Did not disappoint and highly recommend!

Wonderfully written

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A very moving and heartening listen, we all know Ivo is a comedy great and hearing that bit more about his experience of loss alongside his work shows the juxtaposition of the light and shade Ivo had contended with over the last few years

Such A Good Egg

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I absolutely loved this audiobook. Ivo Graham’s narration is so natural and engaging — I was hooked and listened to it all in one day. The way he talks about friends, family, and co-parenting is both funny and deeply moving. You really feel his honesty and his desire to be a good dad. Thoughtful, heartfelt, and full of wit — highly recommend!

I could listen to Ivo all day and today I did

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I don’t know what I really expected. I heard Ivo talk on a podcast, very openly about his difficulties in life. I bought this on a whim. It is funny, eloquent, and all the things you’d expect if you’ve ever heard Ivo speak about anything. Unexpectedly, it’s also so honest, heartfelt, and had me crying along in places. It’s so well structured, the story unfolds in such a beautiful way. Highly recommend, and highly recommend getting this on audiobook to hear in his own voice. I’ll be listening again soon.

Heartfelt, funny, left me bowled over

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A wonderful story full of genuine heart and daubs emotion that you live through Ivo. Some of the stories you’ll know if you’re a fan of his, others you will hear and feel the genuine emotion that Ivo is feeling as he writes them. Best listened to via the media system in your Jaguar XJ8 as you drive across the Pennines for a crucial Division 1 Friday night game.

Emotional, despairing and hilarious

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A marvellous book I greedily consumed over two days on the road. The Taskmaster chapter is arguably a bland amuse-bouche to what is otherwise a poignant, funny and beautifully written exploration of life, death, friendship and interval based shop-pops. Would heartily recommend.

A treat

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For a book full of failure and loss, this was really enjoyable. I was captivated by Graham’s turn of phrase, detail and self-deprecation. His emotion and love for friends and family feels genuine and heart-felt. And the scatter-gun nature of the story-telling is engrossing. Really, a fab book.

A really enjoyable book

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I have loved Ivo’s comedy for many years and did not hesitate to go straight and download the audio book as soon as it was available. Absolutely littered with hilarious tales, he so articulate and entertaining. I want another one already!

Utterly brilliant

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Punchy, tender and wallops with joke after joke. A book with unrelenting pace whilst also being tender and insightful. Read or listen.

The best comedian memoir yet

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