Peter Holmes, Ben Caudell and Saul Wordsworth, with interjections from Rob Brydon, Lee Mack and David Mitchell (Faber) 2015, 339pp, $27.99
Although not quite in the spirit of the TV show (which is huge in the UK but never caught on here in the same way), this amusing enough offering from series creator and executive producer Holmes and his pals assembles and discusses the 100-or-thereabouts most familiar lies ever, and there are some classics here that we’ve probably all used, possibly in the last 24 hours.
Notable highlights include: #1, “I am away for two weeks with NO access to email’ (translated: “…and I therefore refuse to read work emails”); #5, “We really must go for a drink sometime” (in this case “sometime” means “never”); #16, “I’m not being…” (whatever comes next you are being); #40, “It wasn’t me” (you know what I mean); #43, “I think Citizen Kane is the greatest movie ever made” (even if you do, which you don’t, you sound like a tosser); #52, “I was going to say that” (yeah, right); #67, “Excuse me, I need the loo” (to be said at parties when cornered by loonies); and the all-purpose #87, “I don’t know”.
However, these are lies that you say, but there are also notable lies here that are often said to you, such as: #29, “You have won the Nigerian lottery!”; #3, “I’ll need to get a part” (a favourite one for plumbers); and #77, “I haven’t prepared a speech because I really didn’t think I was going to win” (one for the theatrical luvvies out there). And then there’s #68, which is, of course, “Would I lie to you?”, one which also gets you out of myriad sticky situations (no really, and no word of a lie).
I Wake Up Screening 