Surprisingly Down to Earth, and Very Funny: My Autobiography

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Auto theft, fanny fright, incompetent but dogged self-harm, raving and tripping as self-medication, dole stupor, bail skipping, the death drive, pretend machismo, pretend homosexuality, alcoholism, Flash animation, BBC showrunner. I've loved everything he's done and thinking back on all those moments made this (audio)book all the more special and enjoyable. There’s a bit where he talks about going off antidepressants cold turkey, but he doesn’t really dwell on why this might not be such a good idea, and how some people end up dying thinking they can suddenly go off their mental health medication.

There was no talk of a counsellor to know whether I was in the right frame of mind to take these things.He stops short of ascribing himself any major psychiatric labels and stresses he’s not ­trivialising people whose ­experience of disturbed thought patterns go well beyond his own.

After continuing his comedy work for several years, Limmy was commissioned by BBC Scotland to create a sketch show, Limmy's Show.It reads like a chronological collection of anecdotes surrounding the theme of being a bit of a weirdo, and sometimes that’s just what we need: a reminder that other people are as wonky as we are. Limond describes the teenage years he spent drinking and getting into trouble, on one occasion stealing a car, with disarming honesty in his autobiography, Surprisingly Down to Earth and Very Funny. If I had to go back to a real job, and deal with normal people as a normal person, remembering things, then I would be reminded of how much of an oddity I am. And it is the most brilliant piece of unintentional comedy, a complete parody of the intelligentsia class.

It’s one example of his talent for meshing the frequently absurd world created by digital media with age-old insecurities like social anxiety. Maybe it's because he is used to writing up his thoughts, as he details in the various segments about his time on Twitter and away from the sitcom circle.

By speaking on social media about his mental health issues, ­principally depression and anxiety, Limmy has become an unlikely poster boy for tackling the stigma around the issue.