Author:P.G. Wodehouse
'A lifelong treat' Simon Garfield, Esquire
A P.G. Wodehouse novel
Joey Cooley is a golden-curled child film star, the idol of American motherhood. Reginald, Third Earl of Havershot, is a boxing blue on a mission to save his wayward cousin from the fleshpots of Hollywood. Both are under anaesthetic at the dentists when something strange happens - and their identities are swapped in the ether.
Suddenly Joey can use his six-foot frame to get his own back on his Hollywood persecutors. But Reggie has to endure everything Joey had to put up with in the horrible life of a child star - including kidnap.
Laughing Gas is Wodehouse's brilliantly funny take on the 'If I were you' theme - a wry look at the dangers of getting what you wish for in the movie business and beyond.
It's dangerous to use the word genius to describe a writer, but I'll risk it with him
—— John HumphrysFor as long as I'm immersed in a P.G. Wodehouse book, it's possible to keep the real world at bay and live in a far, far nicer, funnier one where happy endings are the order of the day
—— Marian KeyesWodehouse always lifts your spirits, no matter how high they happen to be already
—— Lynne TrussThe incomparable and timeless genius - perfect for readers of all ages, shapes and sizes!
—— Kate MosseNot only the funniest English novelist who ever wrote but one of our finest stylists
—— Susan HillP.G. Wodehouse remains the greatest chronicler of a certain kind of Englishness, that no one else has ever captured quite so sharply, or with quite as much wit and affection
—— Julian FellowesA genius ... Elusive, delicate but lasting
—— Alan AyckbournP.G. Wodehouse is the gold standard of English wit
—— Christopher HitchensTo dive into a Wodehouse novel is to swim in some of the most elegantly turned phrases in the English language
—— Ben SchottWodehouse is so utterly, properly, simply funny
—— Adele ParksI've recorded all the Jeeves books, and I can tell you this: it's like singing Mozart. The perfection of the phrasing is a physical pleasure. I doubt if any writer in the English language has more perfect music
—— Simon CallowWodehouse was quite simply the Bee's Knees. And then some
—— Joseph ConnollyI constantly find myself drooling with admiration at the sublime way Wodehouse plays with the English language
—— Simon BrettQuite simply, the master of comic writing at work
—— Jane MooreTo pick up a Wodehouse novel is to find oneself in the presence of genius - no writer has ever given me so much pure enjoyment
—— John Julius NorwichCompulsory reading for anyone who has a pig, an aunt - or a sense of humour!
—— Lindsey DavisThe Wodehouse wit should be registered at Police HQ as a chemical weapon
—— Kathy LetteWitty and effortlessly fluid. His books are laugh-out-loud funny
—— Arabella WeirThe funniest writer ever to put words to paper
—— Hugh LaurieThe greatest comic writer ever
—— Douglas AdamsP.G. Wodehouse wrote the best English comic novels of the century
—— Sebastian FaulksSublime comic genius
—— Ben EltonYou don't analyse such sunlit perfection, you just bask in its warmth and splendour
—— Stephen Fry