Are You Dave Gorman?

by Dave Gorman, Danny Wallace

After a heavy night of tequila, flatmates Dave and Danny set off on what turns out to be a 24,000-mile journey to meet all the other Dave Gormans in the world. They visit Scotland, Israel, America, France and Ireland. They even hold a party in London where 50 Dave Gormans attend, including two women who have kindly changed their name via deed-poll. Silly, but engrossing, fascinating and addictive - and a touching, funny story of two friends who grow to share a mutual obsession.

Genres: Nonfiction, Humor, Comedy, Travel, Biography, Memoir, Autobiography

374 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

David James Gorman is an English author, stand-up comedian and presenter. He has performed comedy shows on stage in which he tells stories of extreme adventures and presents the evidence to the audience in order to prove to them that they are true stories. He was a stand-up comedian before he became famous for Are You Dave Gorman?, then took a break from normal stand-up. He returned to stand-up in 2009 with a show called 'Sit Down, Pedal, Pedal, Stop and Stand Up' whose unique feature was that he cycled 1,563 miles from the southernmost point of Great Britain to the easternmost to the westernmost and then to the northernmost with a gig following each night.

He studied mathematics at the University of Manchester (but never graduated) and before his solo successes was in demand as a writer, having co-written three series of The Mrs Merton Show, as well as writing for many other TV series in the UK, including The Fast Show. His other writing credits include Jenny Eclair, Harry Hill and Steve Coogan.In 2003, he was listed in The Observer as one of the 50 funniest acts in British comedy.

Dave also regularly appeared on the BBC Three show, Rob Brydon's Annually Retentive, a comedy show about the making of a celebrity panel show hosted by Rob Brydon. Dave Gorman is one of the show's team captains. In 2006 he became an occasional contributor on Comedy Central's The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. He also hosts his own radio series, Genius, and his documentary feature, America Unchained, was shown on More4 in February 2008. The book of the series was published in April 2008.

Reviews

[Snakes · Rating 2 out of 5]

Danny Wallace’s Yes Man is one of my 5 star reads, so going into this one (a collaboration with his friend Dave Gorman) I was expecting exceptional. And I think the start was leaning that direction. A pub bet ends up with the two men scouring the world for people who share the name of Dave Gorman; however, the gag got stale pretty quickly and the book was just too long for the topic. This one was 2 stars and just average.

[Tricia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ever made a bet while drinking? Well these boys made a bet that there were lots of Dave Gormans in the world. What followed was an adventure where they travelled all over the world - potentially losing their minds (and Danny’s girlfriend) in the process. Their aim? To find 54 Dave Gormans (one for each card in a pack of cards, including jokers.

I have a fairly common name and I have been reminded countless times by banks, tax and other national institutions that there are lots of other women with the same name as me (including an aunt). Despite this I have never thought to go hunting them down. The madness of it is what makes it a good story.

There were some really funny stories in here. It is told from both men’s point of view which I liked. I also loved the epilogue which gave a nice ending to the story.

[Paul Abram · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like DG. He's an inspiration for anyone who likes stats and powerpoints as a form of entertainment. Book was a bit slow earlier on, not as good as the show version, but the last third sped along nicely

[Owen Townend · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hooray for boyish bets and the baffling quests they inspire!

I have read and enjoyed most of Danny Wallace's solo adventures and loved all four series of Dave Gorman's Modern Life is Goodish. At the time I knew of Are You Dave Gorman? but chose to delay the gratification.

Now I can say that I have read the full daft journey to find 54 Dave Gormen (other than the co-author) and found it very endearing.

If I'm honest I found the early developments a little frustrating and came to loathe Dave for his complete disregard for Danny's personal life. However, the further along I read the more I appreciated the depth of their friendship and Danny's almost saintly patience.

Also, when I saw the full photo collection of all 54 Dave Gormen, I couldn't deny Dave and Danny's accomplishment. Also they managed to turn it into a comedy lecture tour, a book and even a TV show so at least they made back what they lost with Dave's thoughtless spending spree.

Are You Dave Gorman? is a comedy nonfiction book, the likes of which I don't think we often see anymore. It is on the better side of unabashed 90s fun and, most impressively, features a successful dual narrator format which doesn't feel at all gratuitous.

I recommend this book to virtually anyone, for a true belly laugh that doesn't feel at all boorish.

[Joe Stephenson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This should be called are you neurodivergent, and the answer should be a resounding yes

[Tony Lawrence]

Well, I have read this honest, but I can't find my journal entry and review ... my team are looking through the records as we speak ;)

[Aaron · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a little slow to start for me, but once it got going it was really enjoyable and remarkable. I found myself saying OMG! Out loud rather frequently.
Well worth a read.

[George Ruddick · Rating 5 out of 5]

maybe i am dave gorman

[Michael King · Rating 4 out of 5]

Firstly I would like to say how nice it was to read such a bizarrely written piece of work, not only are you getting two authors for the price of one (I got mine from the library), it is a really nice piece of documented work, I really liked the pictures of the 54 Gormen. That being said I enjoyed the writing style bouncing between Danny Wallace and Dave Gorman and to be honest I was not even put off by the change in fonts one that is ‘bold, rather confident’ type face and the other ‘relaxed, more elegant font’.

Unfortunately I read Danny Wallace’s “Yes Man” first, which was written and printed at a later date (AYDG - 2001 and YesMan - 2005) I was expecting Hanne (pronounced Hannah) to have broken up with Danny during this book… which she doesn’t and I can say I really felt sorry for her.

Over all this book tickled me in all the right places, I couldn’t help laugh at shoe tossing, lobbers, Dave Gorman talking to Dave Gorman, random flights to halfway round the world, stuffing letters into cutlery drawers and even the plural of Dave Gorman… Gormen, which is bloody brilliant.

I would recommend this book to anyone who feels like they want to travel, have loads of spare time, an unlimited reservoir of cash, a stomach for foreign food and someone looking for a reason to do it… although I doubt I will be flying willy nilly round the world looking for 54 of my namesakes.

I can tell you how ever that the author who shares my name wrote a book about New Zealand which I would have never have found out if I didn’t read this book.

[Vasilia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Notes to self and other goodreaders:

Dave Gorman's writing, oddly enough seeing as he's a comedian, isn't as funny as Danny Wallace's. This may be because his quest has no real 'evolution' - he decides to find other Dave Gormans and he does so. When it comes to Gormans, he has a rather blinkered world view.
Danny Wallace, on the other hand, goes through an awful lot during his flatmate's quest, and I enjoyed his version of events more consistently. I guess the thing with Dave is, he explains why he's doing what he's doing, but you don't really understand the explanation. Why is a bet so important? No idea.

There is one spot near the end where Danny cracks up a bit and starts making statistics of Dave Gorman attire which I couldn't stop laughing at, even though I was in a doctor's waiting room at the time and had to giggle as softly as possible with my hand over my mouth so that the other patients wouldn't think I was a nutcase.

Loved it. I may even re-read it ... maybe.

[Rob S · Rating 4 out of 5]

4/5

Loved the start – the drunken bet that gets everything going. Thought the middle was alright but a bit ‘is this it then for 300 pages?’. And then by the end I’d realised I read it in a week and was looking forward to every train journey doing so.

Life should be silly.

[Maciej · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is about a lot of people named Dave Gorman. And it's very, very funny.

Wallace's writing is better than Gorman's, even though it is a book about "him", however both of them definitely know what they're doing.

Their journey is very entertaining. It does slow down a bit towards the end but overall it was a very enjoyable read.

[Carys · Rating 5 out of 5]

Funniest book I've ever read. Follows Dave Gorman, noted comic, travelling round the world maxing out his credit cards for the sake of a drunken bet that he can't meet 50 people called Dave Gorman. Funny as hell.

[Lee Savery · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favourite moment has to be when Dave apologised profusely and wonderfully to Danny's girlfriend, Hanne, for his ridiculous obsession and taking her boyfriend away... before accidentally revealing Danny had been chatting up Miss Georgia while in New York. Awkward.

[Don Jimmy · Rating 4 out of 5]

1) I was working with a guy called Dave Gorman while this was on TV. 2) I never told Dave Gorman
because I assumed he wouldn't care, and that they had probably found enough Daves if it was already on telly.
First time reading the book, it was brilliant.

[Colin Twemlow · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nothing quite as British as a man in a foreign country with only one purpose.

[Martin Golder · Rating 5 out of 5]

Completely forgot I'd read this years ago. Read it after seeing the TV show of it when it was on BBC2. Funny, entertaining and all the other words in that area. Simple really.

[Jake Bennett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hilarious, a lot more tense than it should've been! A fun read!

[Adam · Rating 5 out of 5]

A little nonsense now and then is relished by the wisest men.

[Kristian · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book in 3 sentences
Danny Wallace thinks Dave Gorman isn't a very popular name, therefore drunkenly bets his flatmate, named Dave Gorman he can't find one for each card in a deck of playing cards, 54 including the jokers. The book is very funny, Dave's pursues the goal often with very little preparation or rigour leading to some of the funniest moments in the book. The childlike enthusiasm Dave approaches makes for a delightful read.

Impressions
If you ask me what my favour book is, I would say this, no other book in my lifetime has resonated with me in such a way. So after years of pronouncing it my favourite books in polite conversation I decided to revisit it more than 15 years later. I can say with out reservation this is still my favourite book of all time. I don't think I have laugh so much reading a book. I love Dave Gorman's optimism, and wish to emulate it in my own life.

This would be a very boring book, if the protagonists where deliberate, and methodical. If you read this book too, you can't help but cheer them along on their mission pointless mission. Reading Dave and Danny go back and forth, is hilarious as you view the world from their differing perspective. This is an amazing account of friendship on the road, as two men grow very close. The friendships sounds romantic and amazing something I have never managed to replicate, and I don't think many do.

Who should read it
I think it would lazy for me to say everyone should read this book, if forced to be specific I would say anyone that takes life too seriously and anyone who wants to laugh. There were so many laugh out loud moments in this book, I would read in bed while my girlfriend slept and it was difficult to restrain my laughter without shaking the bed.

How the book changed me
It amazes me this adventure had no purpose at the start, there so no desire to write a book, tour the show world wide or record a 6 part television show, it was just a drunken bet between mate. This book reminded me to be silly, to do things that bring me joy. The book is a reminder that strangers are probably nicer than you think, and are willing to help.

[Garrett Zecker · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was one of the funniest books I have read this year, recommended by Goodreads’ algorithm of my tastes. I don’t often make blind purchases like this, but the premise really seemed to grab me. I ordered it, it traveled thousands of miles to me (since it wasn’t published in the US – or, at least, I got a British version), and I consumed it in a couple days. What a fun ride. It was completely unsurprising that Gorman went on to get a successful career in literature, television, and radio. It starts with a drunken bet in the late-nineties, and goes on to explore how two men, aided only by their own ambition, bet, and dwindling savings, went on to make that bet come to fruition. It was a great deal of fun to go on their road trip with them. The premise, aside from the possibility that it might not be completed or might be derailed by the friend’s girlfriend, is simply as the book copy suggests. A guy bets he can’t find the same number of Dave Gormans as in a deck of cards, and they set out to do it. The writing is hilarious, the execution is perfection in writing, comedy, and editing that leads to many, many laugh-out-loud lines, and it is a joy to read. My next adventure is to watch his series before attempting the novels or other books – mainly because this is a perfect buddy comedy from beginning to end and was likely hard to top for the remainder of his career that is already over twenty years in at this point. But I LOVED this book for its theater, literature, and pop culture references, as well as its one-liners that made me constantly laughing out loud and reciting it to whomever was in earshot. A brilliant book that is fun, bizarre, and a truly beautiful portrait of the human condition. Cheers.

[Plum-crazy · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's took me 6 weeks or so to read this book in & amongst others but like the others before it, it's a book that's easy to pick up & read in short stints. It's told in turn by both Dave & Danny which was a good idea as I think if it had just the one narrator it would have been in danger of becoming tedious....it was quite repetitive as it was - a lot of Dave hatches a plan to find a Dave Gorman, Danny falls out with his girl friend over it, they track a Dave Gorman down, repeat.... with some of the poor Daves warranting no more than a brief sentence regarding their meeting ( DG23 being a prime example -see page 206- hardly worth bothering with!)

Apparently 5 (mad???) folk even went to the lengths of changing their names by deed poll to help him achieve his goal of shaking the hands of 54 Dave Gormans (two were WOMEN! Were they just desperate to get in the book?!)

Overall, an amusing enough but fairly repetitive read at times...have I said that before? ;o)

[Mariel · Rating 2 out of 5]

A friend at work lent me this book, after I'd told him I'd been to see Dave Gorman do a stand up set live recently. I quite like Dave's humour and his "Modern life is good-ish" show, but the stand up set was more a gift for the other half, so thought I'd give this a try.

It ... was ok. I enjoyed the start of it, but did skip a few bits towards the end as the subject matter was getting rather tiresome, as were some of the antics described. I feel the book would have worked as a show done over two parts, but no more. To me, the best parts of it were already described in the blurb on the back, which kind of spoiled the book really.

Considering some of the places they go into and people they met by just saying "I'm here to see Dave Gorman, and my name is also Dave Gorman", it is an impressive story.

[Lara Vehar · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book had the stupidest premise ever ... but darn it it also made me laugh out loud several times which hardly happens.

The entire premise is that Danny Wallace (who wrote Yes man and apparently learned nothing from it because this book starts in the same way) and Dave Gorman get drunk in a bar, they make a bet- and the entire bet is that there isn't 54 more Dave Gormans (Daves Gormen/Daves Gormans?) all over the world and that they cannot meet them all and cue the fun and adventure.. It's a stupid premise but it's one of the funniest books I read and it really did make me laugh. It's such a simple premise but this book is so full of character- I cannot wait to read the other books written by these two in the future.

[Rosemary · Rating 4 out of 5]

In a London pub in 1999, journalist Danny Wallace bet his friend, comedian Dave Gorman, that Dave couldn't find and meet 54 other people called Dave Gorman. This was much harder in those long-ago pre-Facebook days, but within a few hours, the two of them were on a train to Scotland to track down the only other Dave Gorman that Dave had heard of... so far.

Told from the alternating points of view of the two men, this was much funnier than I expected. It paints an affectionate portrait of their friendship as they rush by train, car and plane from one newly discovered DG to the next and face the ire of Danny's suffering girlfriend back home.

[David Catlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bet that goes a little bit haywire. Surprisingly enthralling considering the whole thing is ridiculous, with laugh-out-loud bits thrown into the bargain.

Also... the only time I’ve ever seen Kenton, the place I grew up, featuring in a book.

The dual dialogue approach of Dave and Danny helped to keep the adventure fresh and fast-moving, creating a read that’s great fun from start to finish. Recommended to anyone, really.

[R Davies · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read this so many times, it is a trusty go to pick me up read for when I want something gloriously silly to read. A diversion into eccentricity and pointless adventure. It is constructed very well in fairness and reads so engagingly between Danny and Dave, as well being full of laughs. I've read it when bored, down in the dumps, post break up, during stressful times, including lock-down just now and it has never failed to make me smile.

[Alice Daniels · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was another second read through for me due to lack of access to physical books and I can't say I loved it. Its an interesting premise but the story does repeat often so I did end up skipping pages here and there. Its also odd reading a story set almost 2 decades ago that is trying to overcome problems that just wouldn't exist now a days. I kept thinking how much easier Facebook would make this whole thing.

All in all, its a light hearted read thats easy to pick up and put down.

[Christopher Prew · Rating 5 out of 5]

This must be about the 5th time I've read this book about was just as entertaining and funny as the first. A tale of what can happen when 2 friends and flatmates get drunk, have a drunken conversation and then decide that what they discussed is a good idea. Very enjoyable story and well worth your time.

[Neil Cake · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kind of annoying. It redeemed itself at the end somewhat, but I was soon past caring following the introduction of the concept. Wallace's girlfriend Hanne kept it kind of interesting but mostly I find people who feel the need to bet on things tiresome. "You wanna bet?" "No. Because I don't care". The end. That's how it should've gone.