Name: Mack The Life by Lee Mack (2013-04-11)
Rating: 3.57 (7 reviews)

133 reviews3 followers

March 14, 2026

Let me start by saying something important before the pitchforks come out: I actually like Lee Mack. I enjoy his quick wit, his chaotic energy on panel shows, and the way he can fire off a joke faster than most people can remember their own postcode. So when I picked up Mack the Life, I was expecting a book that would feel a bit like spending an evening in a pub with Lee Mack—lots of laughs, plenty of ridiculous stories, and maybe the occasional insight into how he became one of the quickest comedians in the UK.

Instead, I finished the book feeling a bit like I’d turned up to the pub, ordered a drink, and then Lee Mack kept getting distracted halfway through every story.

The biggest issue for me is that I never quite worked out what this book was trying to be. Is it a comedy book? Is it an autobiography? Is it a collection of random thoughts that escaped Lee Mack’s brain while he was waiting for the kettle to boil? The answer seems to be: a bit of everything, but not quite enough of any one thing.

If you’re expecting a traditional autobiography, you might struggle. The book does introduce characters from Lee Mack’s life—family members, people from his childhood, figures from his early career, and the occasional celebrity encounter. But just as you start to settle into a story about someone interesting, the narrative often swerves off somewhere else entirely. It’s a bit like watching someone channel surf with the remote stuck on fast-forward.

For example, we get glimpses of his upbringing, bits about his early jobs, and moments from his rise in comedy. These sections are actually some of the most enjoyable parts of the book because they hint at stories that could have been really entertaining if they were explored a bit more. You start thinking, “Oh, this sounds like it’s going somewhere,” and then suddenly—bang—we’re off on a tangent about something else entirely.

It’s a strange experience because Lee Mack is clearly capable of telling a good story. On television he’s brilliant at it. But here it sometimes feels like the stories are introduced, waved at politely, and then abandoned halfway through like someone who popped into the shop for milk and came back with twelve biscuits and no milk.

If the book is supposed to be more of a comedy book than an autobiography, that also feels slightly unclear. There are jokes scattered throughout, and some of them land well enough. But considering Lee Mack’s reputation for lightning-fast humour, the book surprisingly doesn’t feel as funny as you might expect. It’s not that there are no jokes—it’s more that they arrive in little bursts rather than building into anything particularly memorable.

Reading it sometimes feels like watching someone warm up before a comedy show. You can see the comedian, you can see the potential, but you’re still waiting for the moment where the room really erupts with laughter.

Another thing that adds to the slightly confusing structure is the way the book jumps around between topics. One minute we’re hearing about people in Lee Mack’s life, the next minute there’s a philosophical aside, and then suddenly we’re somewhere completely different. It’s energetic, certainly—but occasionally it feels less like a carefully crafted narrative and more like a comedy brain doing cartwheels.

The characters that do appear—family members, friends, and figures from his career—are interesting in brief flashes. You get the sense that many of them could anchor genuinely funny or heartfelt stories. But again, the book rarely stays with them long enough for those stories to fully develop. It’s like meeting someone fascinating at a party and then immediately being pulled away to talk about something unrelated.

That said, the book isn’t completely without charm. Lee Mack’s voice definitely comes through on the page, and fans will recognize the slightly chaotic, self-aware humour that he’s known for. There’s a certain silliness to the whole thing that feels very on-brand for him. At times it reads like the written version of someone pacing around a stage thinking out loud, which can be amusing in small doses.

But the problem is that over the course of an entire book, that style starts to feel a bit unfocused. I kept hoping it would eventually settle into either a proper memoir or a consistently funny comedy book. Instead, it stays somewhere in the middle the whole time.

By the end, I found myself feeling a little disappointed—not because the book is terrible, but because it feels like it could have been much better. With his career, his quick wit, and the number of people he’s worked with over the years, Lee Mack surely has plenty of fantastic stories to tell. This book just never quite digs into them in a satisfying way.

So overall, I’m giving Mack the Life two out of five stars. I still like Lee Mack. I still think he’s very funny. But this book left me feeling a bit like someone who ordered a full comedy show and got a slightly confused warm-up act instead.

In short: I came for the laughs, stayed for the stories, and left wondering where both of them had wandered off to.

Mack The Life by Lee Mack

Lee Mack

About the author

Lee Mack

Ratings & Reviews

Friends & Following

Community Reviews

Join the discussion