Interview: Toby Young, Author of The Sound of No Hands Clapping: A Memoir

Toby Young is not a positive role model. And in this interview he essentially agrees with that assessment. Instead, reading his memoir is a bit like watching a show like Jackass – you get to live vicariously through him as he performs antics that you may secretly want to do, but avoid because of your inhibitions.

Young is not stopped by any inhibitions, though. He is shameless in his attempts to get media coverage. If that means he is photographed in the nude, so be it. If that means he is interviewed about his interest in porn videos, so be it.

This reader found himself cheering Young on, hoping he will continue to try new things, but at the same time cringing, knowing his projects will again go down in flames. But it’s a beautiful thing to watch.

In a recent email interview Young was as forthcoming and open as you would expect. Put another way, I think his real persona is the same as the one in the book, which is bloody terrifying yet fascinating.

In his first book, How to Lose Friends & Alienate People, he describes his failed attempts to schmooze with celebrities and work at Vanity Fair, among other adventures. In his new memoir, The Sound of No Hands Clapping, his adventures include making the first book into a play, acting and being hired by a famous Hollywood producer – who he dubs Mr. Hollywood – to write a biographical movie about a famous music producer, also unnamed, who has no redeeming qualities. 

Young also describes becomng a father and says all the terrible things a father and new husband thinks but knows better than to actually say about the situation. 

SB: You seem to have made a success out of failing. Your first book detailed your failed attempts to succeed in magazines and schmooze with celebrities. I had some trepidation with your new book, wondering what drama you can mine next. I am happy to see you have had many new failures. What’s it like to have people reading about your failures and saying how happy they are to read about that? 

TY: I guess it depends why they’re happy. If they’re happy because it means I have more material to entertain them with, then that’s fine. But if they’re happy because they just enjoy the spectacle of me failing, that’s not so good. The truth is, it’s probably a bit of both. However well disposed people are towards me, they’ll always take a certain amount of pleasure in reading about my suffering. This is particularly true of my best friends. It’s human nature. 

Article Author: Scott Butki

Scott Butki was a newspaper reporter for more than 10 years before making a career change into education... then into special education.

He reads at least 50 books a year and has about the same number of author interviews each year and, …

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