Madhouse
  • Published: 2 June 2024
  • ISBN: 9780241995327
  • Imprint: Penguin General UK
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 320
  • RRP: $26.99

Madhouse

The naked truth about my chaotic childhood, losing my mind and finding a place to call home

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The hilarious, quirky and moving life story of a beloved comic, actor and broadcaster

I grew up in a psychiatric experiment crossed with an alcoholic experiment. . . . a place run by two people who were extraordinarily drunk and guarded by a potentially vicious dog with a brain tumour.

PJ Gallagher spent much of his childhood knocking back Lucozade with the local alcoholics in his parents' northside pub. But the chaos that reigned for his first ten years was nothing compared to what happened when - having lost the pub - his mum took in psychiatric patients from the local hospital to give them 'care in the community'. Now it was a household of ten - PJ, his sister, his parents and six lost souls. Worst. Idea. Ever.
Madhouse is PJ's riotous life story. Being a kid while the adults around you are usually drunk, throwing house Masses or taking you to Camp Jesus instead of Trabolgan. Struggling at school, leaving early and discovering a talent for comedy. Making iconic TV shows like Naked Camera and The Young Offenders. Finally, finding a home in radio.

Covering everything from dogs, motorbikes and the art of small talk, to the lessons of mental breakdown and finally figuring out love, this is PJ unbound. Most surprising - to PJ more than anyone - is the prospect of becoming a dad in his late forties, when he always thought of 'family' as a trap.

Madhouse is the funny, insightful and moving story of someone just trying to keep his head above water - and how he is making sense of it all at last!
  • Published: 2 June 2024
  • ISBN: 9780241995327
  • Imprint: Penguin General UK
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 320
  • RRP: $26.99
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Praise for Madhouse

Blisteringly honest . . . hilarious, traumatic, joyful and terrifying. One cannot help cheering from the side-lines for a man who has overcome so much. Fasten your seatbelts, it’s going to be a bumpy read!

Liz Nugent

Gloriously unabashed . . . vibrant, poignant and surprisingly hopeful

Irish Times

Tells his story with humour and insight making it feel as though you are chatting with an old friend

Irish Examiner

Bold, anarchic . . . relates wild antics and traumas from his tumultuous life with both humour and perceptive clarity

Business Post

Terrifically honest, as well as a being funny and sad

Matt Cooper, The Last Word, Today FM

So open . . . amazing for understanding and trying to destroy the stigma [of mental health struggles] . . . a great read

Elaine Crowley, Ireland AM, Virgin Media

Delivered in Gallagher’s brilliantly blunt northside brogue, evoking a shade of Roddy Doyle

Irish Independent
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