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Drawn Out: A Seriously Funny Memoir
Drawn Out is a hilarious, heartbreaking, heart-warming account of Tom Scott's tragicomic childhood, his manic student-newspaper days, his turbulent years stumbling through the corridors of power, his fallings out with prime ministers, his collaborations with comic legends John Clarke, A.K. Grant and Murray Ball, his travels to the ends of the earth with his close friend Ed Hillary, and more...
427 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 1, 2017
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39 people want to read
About the author
Tom Scott
14 books2 followersScott was born in London in 1947 and emigrated to New Zealand with his family as an 18-month-old. He was raised at Rongotea in rural Manawatu and studied at Massey University, graduating with a Bachelor of Science in physiology in 1972.
Tom Scott is an award-winning journalist, cartoonist, columnist, documentary film-maker, screenwriter, and playwright.
added additional information from Wikipedia
Tom Scott is an award-winning journalist, cartoonist, columnist, documentary film-maker, screenwriter, and playwright.
added additional information from Wikipedia
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
January 22, 2018
If you were in New Zealand any time after the early seventies, you couldn’t fail to have known Tom Scott, political cartoonist and satirical columnist without equal. This is his autobiography, and though it is witty, entertaining and a great read, it is perhaps of limited interest to anyone who hasn’t followed NZ politics, because his personal life (somewhat chaotic though always moving and honest) takes a back seat to his professional life.
In here are perceptive portraits of the two great Labour prime ministers Kirk and Lange, and a very revealing one of Muldoon, NZ’s own authoritarian one-man government:
Scott was famously banned from interviewing Muldoon after some pointed satirical comments, and right to the end of his regime he would not even permit Scott to remain in the room with other journalists. (And to their collective shame, they never stood up to him over that - but then few dared challenge Muldoon over anything.)
(Though Scott does mention that Muldoon was not above purloining his own memorable comment that “when New Zealanders moved to Australia it raised the IQ of both countries”.)
You’ll also find moving accounts of his friendship with Edmund Hillary as well as with John Clark, A.K. Grant and many other colleagues, where Scott is uncommonly generous with praise for those who helped his development.
He was also a very accomplished playwright and director; here is his documentary– the Reluctant Revolutionary about the Lange years.
Drawn Out is more or less chronological (it’s especially painful to read about his early years and his relationship with a truly awful father who seemed to actively hate him), but the timeline is a bit disjointed in places, with extended asides about his friends appearing out of sequence. It concludes in about 2003.
I’ve always thought it must be very difficult to write an autobiography without excessively praising one’s own accomplishments, but I think Scott does a pretty balanced job here and his book is very entertaining and readable. This is a guy I would have enjoyed knowing.
In here are perceptive portraits of the two great Labour prime ministers Kirk and Lange, and a very revealing one of Muldoon, NZ’s own authoritarian one-man government:
Scott was famously banned from interviewing Muldoon after some pointed satirical comments, and right to the end of his regime he would not even permit Scott to remain in the room with other journalists. (And to their collective shame, they never stood up to him over that - but then few dared challenge Muldoon over anything.)
(Though Scott does mention that Muldoon was not above purloining his own memorable comment that “when New Zealanders moved to Australia it raised the IQ of both countries”.)
You’ll also find moving accounts of his friendship with Edmund Hillary as well as with John Clark, A.K. Grant and many other colleagues, where Scott is uncommonly generous with praise for those who helped his development.
He was also a very accomplished playwright and director; here is his documentary– the Reluctant Revolutionary about the Lange years.
Drawn Out is more or less chronological (it’s especially painful to read about his early years and his relationship with a truly awful father who seemed to actively hate him), but the timeline is a bit disjointed in places, with extended asides about his friends appearing out of sequence. It concludes in about 2003.
I’ve always thought it must be very difficult to write an autobiography without excessively praising one’s own accomplishments, but I think Scott does a pretty balanced job here and his book is very entertaining and readable. This is a guy I would have enjoyed knowing.
January 6, 2018
More of a candid than a “seriously funny” read, as described on the front cover, but anything Tom Scott writes I enjoy and this book did not leave me disappointed.
The early description of Tom Scott's life at the hands of his father leaves me wondering again just how many baby boomers suffered a similar fate and just exactly what were the reasons. I have concluded in part that it had something to do with the "GI" generation having little to celebrate having firstly loss in many cases their own fathers in the Great War, then endured the Great Depression, and then lost many of their friends and family members in WW2. The last thing they could cope with was their own children enjoying a supposedly carefree existence with our ridiculously long hair, new-age attitudes, and rock n roll from the late 50s - early 1960s.
But here is yet another example confirming Fulbright scholar David Ausubel's comment in 1957 that in New Zealand "... one gets the impression that young people as a group are not only less accepted and admired than in the United States, but that they are also actively disliked by many adults". Did the esteemed scholar hit the nail right on the head and, perhaps worse still, in the modern age has it really changed. Frighteningly, maybe not.
Nevertheless Tom Scott does, perhaps too reasonably in my opinion, qualify his recollection of his father by commenting that his younger brother’s father “.. was quite different from mine”, but it remains unanswered as to why this may have been the case. Reading much of Tom Scott from and since his early days with the Listener I would like to believe that his spark and intelligence would have been all too obvious to anyone who had met him which can bring various reactions from different people, even from those who should be our closest and dearest, human nature being the irrational and all too often callous creature it is.
I was just somewhat surprised, especially against this background, with one comment in the book recounting his brother Michael's public humiliation of Sir Howard Morrison for the simple fact (it is mentioned) of being famous because Tom Scott, regardless of what his father or some of his dissenters may have believed or said throughout the course of his career, is the equivalent of Sir Howard in his special field. Does Tom believe that? Maybe he doesn’t, but he should. However, I concede that maybe I have picked up Tom’s raison d’être for this depiction of his brother, whom he loved, incorrectly. It is a warts and all book after all.
The book covers many other compelling topics, especially for the purist, and for those around and witnessing many of the events at the time, a fascinating insight from someone who was experiencing these not only first-hand but also on many occasions directly involved. Having worked with or alongside some of the characters in Tom Scott’s world and others to boot I can say that his descriptions are truly credible although his experiences go well beyond those of most and his unique ability to recount these, as only Tom Scott can, is nothing short of brilliant.
Thanks Tom – I knew I wanted this book as soon as I heard it had been published and like a Goon Show script I will be reading it again at least once. Your cartoons in the Dominion Post continue also to be brilliant – although as you say a little less contentious I thought Eric Heath was also at times exceptional - and may we all hear a lot more from you.
The early description of Tom Scott's life at the hands of his father leaves me wondering again just how many baby boomers suffered a similar fate and just exactly what were the reasons. I have concluded in part that it had something to do with the "GI" generation having little to celebrate having firstly loss in many cases their own fathers in the Great War, then endured the Great Depression, and then lost many of their friends and family members in WW2. The last thing they could cope with was their own children enjoying a supposedly carefree existence with our ridiculously long hair, new-age attitudes, and rock n roll from the late 50s - early 1960s.
But here is yet another example confirming Fulbright scholar David Ausubel's comment in 1957 that in New Zealand "... one gets the impression that young people as a group are not only less accepted and admired than in the United States, but that they are also actively disliked by many adults". Did the esteemed scholar hit the nail right on the head and, perhaps worse still, in the modern age has it really changed. Frighteningly, maybe not.
Nevertheless Tom Scott does, perhaps too reasonably in my opinion, qualify his recollection of his father by commenting that his younger brother’s father “.. was quite different from mine”, but it remains unanswered as to why this may have been the case. Reading much of Tom Scott from and since his early days with the Listener I would like to believe that his spark and intelligence would have been all too obvious to anyone who had met him which can bring various reactions from different people, even from those who should be our closest and dearest, human nature being the irrational and all too often callous creature it is.
I was just somewhat surprised, especially against this background, with one comment in the book recounting his brother Michael's public humiliation of Sir Howard Morrison for the simple fact (it is mentioned) of being famous because Tom Scott, regardless of what his father or some of his dissenters may have believed or said throughout the course of his career, is the equivalent of Sir Howard in his special field. Does Tom believe that? Maybe he doesn’t, but he should. However, I concede that maybe I have picked up Tom’s raison d’être for this depiction of his brother, whom he loved, incorrectly. It is a warts and all book after all.
The book covers many other compelling topics, especially for the purist, and for those around and witnessing many of the events at the time, a fascinating insight from someone who was experiencing these not only first-hand but also on many occasions directly involved. Having worked with or alongside some of the characters in Tom Scott’s world and others to boot I can say that his descriptions are truly credible although his experiences go well beyond those of most and his unique ability to recount these, as only Tom Scott can, is nothing short of brilliant.
Thanks Tom – I knew I wanted this book as soon as I heard it had been published and like a Goon Show script I will be reading it again at least once. Your cartoons in the Dominion Post continue also to be brilliant – although as you say a little less contentious I thought Eric Heath was also at times exceptional - and may we all hear a lot more from you.
March 10, 2018
An outstanding read and highly recommended. In fact I am going to buy myself a copy on the way to return the libraries copy. Which for me is very high praise. And hopefully I can get Mr Scott to sign it at the Book Festival in July.
January 27, 2018
Loved this memoir. Honest laugh out loud account of Tom’s interesting and often turbulent encounters. A great social history as many of us will remember the many political events portrayed. Love his humour.
September 23, 2019
There's usually one or two reasons why you finish a book in under 24 hours. One of those is if it is very short. The other is if in its 416 pages it keeps you captive and you find yourself grieving the end of it in some sort of Stockholm syndrome.
So anyway, Tom Scott's memoir is 416 pages long...
Tom Scott, can I call you Tom, Tom? Tom covered parliamentary politics before their staff found their voices and started complaining how they were treated. A menagerie of reptiles, shell-less molluscs and mere protozoa pockmarked the debating chamber while he watched from the gallery from the early seventies when NZ was closed on weekends to the early nineties when the family pewter had to be sold to stave off destitution.
Jack Marshall was PM at the start, Bolger at the end. In between was Muldoon and Lange and for about 35 seconds Palmer and Moore. Lange liked Tom, Muldoon, famously, didn't and tells you why. This book offers a first hand microscope into the parliamentary petrie dish. It also talks lovingly about the other projects he would prefer to be known for; plays, screenplays and his children. Because while, like many tortured artists, particularly funny people, Tom Scott had a bit of bastard of a childhood and hoped to spare his kids from his own grinding ordeal of being dragged up in the rural Manawatū. A drunk, angry, abusive father who eventually cut Tom's face out of his photo album and a quixotic mother who nursed her 6 children through and kept telling her talented son to stop showing off even when he eventually was awarded an honorary doctorate and a gong in the honours list. Tom mentions Tolstoy's adage that all miserable families are peculiarly miserable. His family were peculiarly miserable.
Now, my mother is constantly telling me to stop showing off, but if my childhood was like his then I would be going to work in a hand-painted Rolls Royce with flashing lights and a grand piano on its ute deck being played by a passing Ukrainian who intersperses passages of Offenbach' can-can with drunken gunfire. That he has achieved what he has is... well it's a story that is 416 pages long and trapped me in it for under 24 hours.
9 out of 10 for its humour, its pathos and its fascinating depiction of New Zealand political history. An extra half-mark was given because John Clarke was also in it.
So anyway, Tom Scott's memoir is 416 pages long...
Tom Scott, can I call you Tom, Tom? Tom covered parliamentary politics before their staff found their voices and started complaining how they were treated. A menagerie of reptiles, shell-less molluscs and mere protozoa pockmarked the debating chamber while he watched from the gallery from the early seventies when NZ was closed on weekends to the early nineties when the family pewter had to be sold to stave off destitution.
Jack Marshall was PM at the start, Bolger at the end. In between was Muldoon and Lange and for about 35 seconds Palmer and Moore. Lange liked Tom, Muldoon, famously, didn't and tells you why. This book offers a first hand microscope into the parliamentary petrie dish. It also talks lovingly about the other projects he would prefer to be known for; plays, screenplays and his children. Because while, like many tortured artists, particularly funny people, Tom Scott had a bit of bastard of a childhood and hoped to spare his kids from his own grinding ordeal of being dragged up in the rural Manawatū. A drunk, angry, abusive father who eventually cut Tom's face out of his photo album and a quixotic mother who nursed her 6 children through and kept telling her talented son to stop showing off even when he eventually was awarded an honorary doctorate and a gong in the honours list. Tom mentions Tolstoy's adage that all miserable families are peculiarly miserable. His family were peculiarly miserable.
Now, my mother is constantly telling me to stop showing off, but if my childhood was like his then I would be going to work in a hand-painted Rolls Royce with flashing lights and a grand piano on its ute deck being played by a passing Ukrainian who intersperses passages of Offenbach' can-can with drunken gunfire. That he has achieved what he has is... well it's a story that is 416 pages long and trapped me in it for under 24 hours.
9 out of 10 for its humour, its pathos and its fascinating depiction of New Zealand political history. An extra half-mark was given because John Clarke was also in it.
July 3, 2024
Excellent memoir from New Zealand cartoonist and writer, Tom Scott.
The best biographies give a candid picture of the subject’s personal life, motivations and attitudes but also place that life within the context of the times they live through.
As a political commentator and journalist, Scott was at the ringside for a lot of New Zealand’s political events through the 70s – early 2000’s and he provides lots of anecdotes and observation of these times. He also, openly and honestly, reviews his personal life, particularly his difficult relationship with his father and various relationship troubles.
All of this is told with a massive dose of laugh-out-loud humour. For example, the opening story is, in many ways, quite harrowing – an incident where his abusive father rips into Scott as a child, and forces his distraught mother to admit to an act of negligence herself; the punchline being that the young Scott isn’t traumatised by the revelation but is pumping the air with “I told you so” ecstasy that his fuzzy memory of the incident had been true all along.
There’s plenty more belly laughs along the way (his Mother’s reaction to seeing a naked man on stage…) along with very shrewd depictions of the times and events. He had a prickly relationship with hardheaded Prime Minister Robert Muldoon and gives plenty of examples of their arguments but he also reflects on where Muldoon was coming from. Scott understands that few issues are black and white (something many journalists could learn from).
The best biographies give a candid picture of the subject’s personal life, motivations and attitudes but also place that life within the context of the times they live through.
As a political commentator and journalist, Scott was at the ringside for a lot of New Zealand’s political events through the 70s – early 2000’s and he provides lots of anecdotes and observation of these times. He also, openly and honestly, reviews his personal life, particularly his difficult relationship with his father and various relationship troubles.
All of this is told with a massive dose of laugh-out-loud humour. For example, the opening story is, in many ways, quite harrowing – an incident where his abusive father rips into Scott as a child, and forces his distraught mother to admit to an act of negligence herself; the punchline being that the young Scott isn’t traumatised by the revelation but is pumping the air with “I told you so” ecstasy that his fuzzy memory of the incident had been true all along.
There’s plenty more belly laughs along the way (his Mother’s reaction to seeing a naked man on stage…) along with very shrewd depictions of the times and events. He had a prickly relationship with hardheaded Prime Minister Robert Muldoon and gives plenty of examples of their arguments but he also reflects on where Muldoon was coming from. Scott understands that few issues are black and white (something many journalists could learn from).
June 24, 2019
For anyone who has lived through the political upheavals of the third Labour government, this is an interesting insider's view of the machinations of the Beehive. Tom Scott's own childhood in Feilding, marred by his alcoholic father whom he characterises as a misanthrope in Daylight Atheist, takes on a vivid quality in the retelling. There is considerable reference to moments of self-pity (when jobs are lost, wives desert him etc.) but it is clear that there is considerable tenacity of character in the writer. Particularly since dyslexia is admitted to, and he has made his living as a writer as well as a cartoonist. His own sense of humour veers toward the scatalogical, but many of the anecdotes are amusing in the retelling. There are some gaffes in the editing, with repetitions, and a certain unevenness in the structure which see-saws about chronologically, but I was compelled to keep reading. Some of the characterisations seem a little caricatured (the Polish girlfriend and her husband, for example) but there is real tenderness and pride in writing about his current partner and children. Tom Scott's ventures into dramaturgy are interesting to read about, even if his tale of the Hollywood producer with fresh hair transplants (and desire to transform Ed Hillary into a Nebraskan) seems a bit farfetched.
August 19, 2018
Tom Scott is probably New Zealand's most well-known political cartoonist and also a journalist, playwright and film-maker. Because of his close involvement in politics over some of the most exciting and pivotal years in 20th century New Zealand history this book is a very entertaining account of behind-the-scenes moments and personalities.
It's also a deeply personal account of Scott's fraught relationship with his very difficult father, and the whole book is a commentary on the social history of New Zealand as well as giving the reader special glimpses into the lives of much-loved Kiwis such as John Clarke and Sir Edmund Hillary.
This was an enjoyable read even though the book is very "boys-own adventure". Women feature very lightly in the pages of this book and really only appear in supporting roles as wives or the butt of dated jokes. It's not really surprising then to learn that Tom Scott has been married three times.
There is also an unexpected supernatural thread that runs through this book that was quite fascinating. Worth the read.
It's also a deeply personal account of Scott's fraught relationship with his very difficult father, and the whole book is a commentary on the social history of New Zealand as well as giving the reader special glimpses into the lives of much-loved Kiwis such as John Clarke and Sir Edmund Hillary.
This was an enjoyable read even though the book is very "boys-own adventure". Women feature very lightly in the pages of this book and really only appear in supporting roles as wives or the butt of dated jokes. It's not really surprising then to learn that Tom Scott has been married three times.
There is also an unexpected supernatural thread that runs through this book that was quite fascinating. Worth the read.
November 15, 2017
When I started this book I thought "I wish I had been a (better) writer" but towards the end was glad I wasn't. I've always enjoyed Tom Scott's work without having any idea where it has come from. This memoir gives many clues. He's been blessed and cursed at the same time as while his family situation and his genes have donated wonderful talent and humour, they have also provided what seems like a very uncomfortable level of disfunction. His desire for his father's approval has driven much of his work as well as his pain and it's hard not to wonder how things would have turned out had his father not been alcoholic and nasty. As it was, Scott has forged interesting relationships with prominent people and if even half of his anecdotes are reasonably true, he's been a lucky man. Nonetheless, he displays great courage in telling us what he does of his personal life though it would be interesting to hear what his siblings have to say.
April 2, 2025
Rated 8/10 An interesting read in many ways as whilst it deals in part with his personal life, it also deals with his interactions with an array of people whom may or may not have borne the brunt of his artistic talents and at times acerbic wit. Reactions varied considerably from detached amusement to open anger depending on which nerve he happened to hit. Obviously with the Muldoon/Moore /Kirk/Bolger politicians of the time there was plenty of scope for poking with the sharp end of a pencil. Forays into writing bought him into contact with Sir Ed and Sir Peter Jackson who influenced his writing and subject matter. All in all an interesting read with an insight as to what might influence or interest a cartoonists somewhat unusual mind.
June 9, 2018
I found the political parts super interesting. But his anecdotes of people that he's annoyed come across as a bit curious. Why did Mike Moore confront him on a bus? Or Rowlings swear at him bitterly after giving him a ride? He hints at it a few times that he didn't like the meanness of his dad but that he acknowledges that he's inherited it. The way he tells it it's a bit like he knows he's been cruel in causing these reactions but needs to tell them as part of the story to say sorry - and hence be cruel all over again. Except with Muldoon - there's no sense of apology there and a lot of detail in the cruelty Muldoon threw his way.
June 3, 2025
Readable, relatable and revealed a lot more to Tom Scott than I realized above his cartoons. A prolific, hard working wordsmith with a typically humble kiwi attitude. Fantastic insight into NZ politicians, journalism and film.
February 21, 2018
A great biography from a New Zealand legend. Well worth the read.
March 4, 2018
Seriously funny? I guess so - serious account of a heartbreaking childhood, hilarious accounts of his rise to fame and the people he met along the way.
Worthwhile read.
Worthwhile read.
February 15, 2019
Fascinating tale that is personal and a wonderful reflection of NZ history. Clever and funny, but I did tire a little of his slightly pervy comments about attractive women.
October 13, 2020
I've viewed many of the political events described in the book as a citizen of Wellington, of a similar age to Tom. A great wordsmith and artist; I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Want to read
October 3, 2018My recommendation
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews