Not Always Clowning Around

One of the most intelligent and likeable comics in the land, Paul Merton has had his fair share of darkness and tragedy. The ‘sad clown’ might be verging on a journalistic cliché but with Merton, the death of his second wife and his own manic episode which resulted in him being hospitalised make it all too real. His memoir Only When I Laugh details those unforgettable highs and lows and in this event, recorded live at Edinburgh International Book Festival, he talks to journalist Ruth Wishart about it.