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Son of a Silverback
'Brilliantly written. Very funny and heartbreaking.' Davina McCall
From one of Britain’s most popular and prolific comedians comes a hilarious and deeply moving memoir of life lived under the rule of a Silverback dad.
The Silverback is considered the undisputed king, a creature whose authority is never challenged and who does not yield to compromise. He walks proudly, feeds greedily, grafts tirelessly, mates voraciously, swears constantly and is threatened all too easily. The Silverback is known to nestle in the misty peaks of central Africa but can also be found in Barking, Essex. Meet Dave Kane, the disappointed, steroid-ingesting, metal-wielding, bouncer father of slight, effete Gamma Male, Russell Kane.
SON OF A SILVERBACK is a story about fathers and sons, class and education and how one scrawny, sensitive, fake-tan-applying 'ponce' stepped out of his father's shadow and became a man - whatever that means.
From one of Britain’s most popular and prolific comedians comes a hilarious and deeply moving memoir of life lived under the rule of a Silverback dad.
The Silverback is considered the undisputed king, a creature whose authority is never challenged and who does not yield to compromise. He walks proudly, feeds greedily, grafts tirelessly, mates voraciously, swears constantly and is threatened all too easily. The Silverback is known to nestle in the misty peaks of central Africa but can also be found in Barking, Essex. Meet Dave Kane, the disappointed, steroid-ingesting, metal-wielding, bouncer father of slight, effete Gamma Male, Russell Kane.
SON OF A SILVERBACK is a story about fathers and sons, class and education and how one scrawny, sensitive, fake-tan-applying 'ponce' stepped out of his father's shadow and became a man - whatever that means.
304 pages, Hardcover
Published October 31, 2019
34 people are currently reading
167 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 60 reviews
November 17, 2020
If you've seen Russell Kane's stand-up, then you've got a pretty good idea of what you are going to get here. He talks a lot about his dad in his act and in Son of a Silverback he tells the story of his formative years by focusing on that very important relationship in much more detail. It's a memoir, not a stand-up routine so as well as being very funny it's also frequently very poignant. Having such a full-on alpha male for a father obviously had a big effect on him growing up, but also provided him endless material for his comedy. Highly entertaining.
March 15, 2021
Russell Kane's look at life growing up under the eye of an alpha male - a book about his relationship with his father and his view of his father as a whole. An interesting listen, with funny and poignant moments
January 7, 2022
Anyone who knows me well probably knows how much much I love Russell Kane. Throughout the duration of lockdown especially, I watched his short ‘Kane-ings’ on social media and split my sides laughing more times than I can count!
This book recounts his formative years growing up with his alpha male Dad. It is equal parts hilarious, and an empathetic portrait. It’s also extremely sweary, crude, makes your toes curl, but also inspiring! Particularly loved his chapter on his university days and how he caught up with unread literature and subsequently became addicted to books.
Excellent audiobook!
This book recounts his formative years growing up with his alpha male Dad. It is equal parts hilarious, and an empathetic portrait. It’s also extremely sweary, crude, makes your toes curl, but also inspiring! Particularly loved his chapter on his university days and how he caught up with unread literature and subsequently became addicted to books.
Excellent audiobook!
November 14, 2019
Nice easy listen, but don't think it really made me laugh much. Also at times a bit frustrating having someone make big sweeping gender statements but not bother to back them up with any actual evidence
December 18, 2021
Awesome book I re read it as soon as I finished it
December 9, 2024
I usually like to finish my book on a Sunday and start a fresh one Monday, but we spent a lovely day with my parents instead. This was a mixture for me. Very interesting in one way and learned a lot about RK but also a bit too revealing and will never look at him the same again! At least he was honest, just a bit too honest!
February 25, 2020
This is written with the same frenetic energy that permeates Russell’s stand-up routines. I love it.
He gives a thorough, personal and at times shocking account of growing up with his father. The shocks are sometimes at his father’s behaviours, but just as often at Russell’s unfiltered and very personal comments about his father. He has held nothing back here, and the book is all the better for it.
Some of his shocking accounts, though, will not be unfamiliar if you were born in the seventies, son to a manual labouring baby-boomer. Also, his later chapters (from going to university onwards) are a little self-indulgent - but we can forgive him that for the sheer unedited bliss of his telling of the story of his very inappropriate, individual and hilariously offensive father.
He gives a thorough, personal and at times shocking account of growing up with his father. The shocks are sometimes at his father’s behaviours, but just as often at Russell’s unfiltered and very personal comments about his father. He has held nothing back here, and the book is all the better for it.
Some of his shocking accounts, though, will not be unfamiliar if you were born in the seventies, son to a manual labouring baby-boomer. Also, his later chapters (from going to university onwards) are a little self-indulgent - but we can forgive him that for the sheer unedited bliss of his telling of the story of his very inappropriate, individual and hilariously offensive father.
January 26, 2020
Good book, entertainingly earnest, invective strewn...would have appreciated a bit more time at the end for the implications of the death of his massive, hulking father to set in. He was so omnipresent throughout, and I would have enjoyed more time for the impact of his death to breathe, and be discussed.
Aside from the abrupt ending, good.
Aside from the abrupt ending, good.
October 28, 2021
I find it hard to categorise Russell Kane as a comedian, whose guest spots on radio and podcasts tend give the impression of an amusing observational comic, especially about class, but whose stage presence is camp and littered with wordy flourishes which sound as though they should be clever. Such flourishes are present in this book and it is definitely Kane's voice, but the sociologist comes through too.
The comedian childhood memoir is a hit-and-miss genre but this one had a theme - his dad was a caricature of an alpha male and he was a weedy boy who liked Dungeons and Dragons. One reservation I had was that there is a lot of room for artistic license, as he admits to most of one side of his family being dead, so it is hard to know how many of the one-liners and remarkable stories are based in reality. If they were, his dad had great comic delivery as well as prejudice, and had the whiff of 'racist character as vehicle for otherwise offensive jokes', and the 'Kane' stage name also makes for much better phrases such as the 'Kane Curse' compared with the Grineau equivalent. The stories were more amusing than Kane's own gags however (see my opening paragraph) and I didn't feel like the book needed or was improved by his dick jokes.
By chance this was the second book in recent succession that covered growing up in a working class area, and this one did a better job of revealing the motivations of the narrators' neighbours, rather than merely treating them as downtrodden victims as in Lynsey Hanley's Estates. Kane's experience in school seemed to be largely about avoiding bullying, and by extension any sense of academic achievement, and he doesn't pin the blame on anyone else. Like in his media appearances, I found myself admiring his work ethic and candid fondness for highbrow art but also thinking he's a self-indulgent prat, the raves and backpacking to Botswana replacing the bleach-streaked quiff of his early TV styling.
Some of the broader social commentary was too casual and unsubstantiated and I can only assume he didn't like one of his exes much based on the blase way he mentions their relationship before buying a house with her, but in the main this was a witty book about his upbringing with his "Alf Garnett" dad ripe for comedy material. He kept the samey friend stories to a minimum and avoided the usual trap of detailing adventures that meant much more to him than a reader, to produce a good-humoured and open book. But I still find him annoying at times.
The comedian childhood memoir is a hit-and-miss genre but this one had a theme - his dad was a caricature of an alpha male and he was a weedy boy who liked Dungeons and Dragons. One reservation I had was that there is a lot of room for artistic license, as he admits to most of one side of his family being dead, so it is hard to know how many of the one-liners and remarkable stories are based in reality. If they were, his dad had great comic delivery as well as prejudice, and had the whiff of 'racist character as vehicle for otherwise offensive jokes', and the 'Kane' stage name also makes for much better phrases such as the 'Kane Curse' compared with the Grineau equivalent. The stories were more amusing than Kane's own gags however (see my opening paragraph) and I didn't feel like the book needed or was improved by his dick jokes.
By chance this was the second book in recent succession that covered growing up in a working class area, and this one did a better job of revealing the motivations of the narrators' neighbours, rather than merely treating them as downtrodden victims as in Lynsey Hanley's Estates. Kane's experience in school seemed to be largely about avoiding bullying, and by extension any sense of academic achievement, and he doesn't pin the blame on anyone else. Like in his media appearances, I found myself admiring his work ethic and candid fondness for highbrow art but also thinking he's a self-indulgent prat, the raves and backpacking to Botswana replacing the bleach-streaked quiff of his early TV styling.
Some of the broader social commentary was too casual and unsubstantiated and I can only assume he didn't like one of his exes much based on the blase way he mentions their relationship before buying a house with her, but in the main this was a witty book about his upbringing with his "Alf Garnett" dad ripe for comedy material. He kept the samey friend stories to a minimum and avoided the usual trap of detailing adventures that meant much more to him than a reader, to produce a good-humoured and open book. But I still find him annoying at times.
November 6, 2024
Anyone who has seen Russell Kane’s stand-up, listened to his podcasts, or caught his appearances on chat shows will know that he is a witty speaker, and his comedy comes with a strong moral stance, filled with passionate arguments on tolerance, keeping an open mind and the benefits of education.
But is this book about his life funny? Absolutely not.
The opening chapters are gruelling, as we meet his terrifying Dad Dave… and his wicked Grandmother Eva. Her poisonous behaviour in the early days of the relationship between Russell’s parents sets the tone for the stories that follow - a tone that is unrelentingly grim and genuinely disturbing.
As later chapters unfold, Dave’s temper farts and bizarre home improvements add small amusements to Russell’s narrative - but a dangerous and unsettled atmosphere lingers behind every tale…
As a reader we are never more than a few lines away from another “verbal hairdryering” from Dave that will chill your bones.
Make no mistake, this book is a horror story.
Oddly, some self-loathing anecdotes from Russell (as he reveals some of his own bad behaviour) land as light relief… I found myself laughing at his disastrous spray tan and hiding his own stripper… although I’m uncertain if that is what Russell intended.
Ultimately it’s a tale of child abuse, with a misogynistic, homophobic and racist father that dominates the family and stunts Russell’s own development and growth.
It’s a story of bullying in city schools, with dangerous school mates he had to hide his true self around, and a teacher who turned out to be a paedophile. The neighbours are cruel and spiteful and die lonely deaths.
Frankly, it’s a disturbing read.
But - Russell has a lot to say about male body dismorphia, toxic masculinity, and as the book develops, some of his personal demons are laid to rest.
His love of language is playful and helps pull back the darkness - his quest as a teenager for a “punani tsunami” being one of my favourites.
His love of a simile also - “packing more sausage than the Walls factory”
It’s honest and unflinching - just don’t charge in expecting a fun read… the cost that comes of achieving silverback status and having the last laugh is high indeed.
But is this book about his life funny? Absolutely not.
The opening chapters are gruelling, as we meet his terrifying Dad Dave… and his wicked Grandmother Eva. Her poisonous behaviour in the early days of the relationship between Russell’s parents sets the tone for the stories that follow - a tone that is unrelentingly grim and genuinely disturbing.
As later chapters unfold, Dave’s temper farts and bizarre home improvements add small amusements to Russell’s narrative - but a dangerous and unsettled atmosphere lingers behind every tale…
As a reader we are never more than a few lines away from another “verbal hairdryering” from Dave that will chill your bones.
Make no mistake, this book is a horror story.
Oddly, some self-loathing anecdotes from Russell (as he reveals some of his own bad behaviour) land as light relief… I found myself laughing at his disastrous spray tan and hiding his own stripper… although I’m uncertain if that is what Russell intended.
Ultimately it’s a tale of child abuse, with a misogynistic, homophobic and racist father that dominates the family and stunts Russell’s own development and growth.
It’s a story of bullying in city schools, with dangerous school mates he had to hide his true self around, and a teacher who turned out to be a paedophile. The neighbours are cruel and spiteful and die lonely deaths.
Frankly, it’s a disturbing read.
But - Russell has a lot to say about male body dismorphia, toxic masculinity, and as the book develops, some of his personal demons are laid to rest.
His love of language is playful and helps pull back the darkness - his quest as a teenager for a “punani tsunami” being one of my favourites.
His love of a simile also - “packing more sausage than the Walls factory”
It’s honest and unflinching - just don’t charge in expecting a fun read… the cost that comes of achieving silverback status and having the last laugh is high indeed.
November 10, 2025
Russell Kane’s Son of a Silverback is a memoir that is told through the lens of his relationship with his father - a man who could hardly be more different from him. Where Kane is flamboyant, artistic, and intellectually curious, his dad is the archetypal working-class alpha male: a bodybuilder who values grit, physical strength, and practical utility above all else. This clash of personalities and worldviews forms the backbone of the book, and it’s in this tension that the memoir finds its heart.
The narrative doesn’t shy away from the difficulties of their relationship. There are moments of real conflict, of misunderstanding and emotional distance, but Kane also allows space for tenderness and nuance. What’s striking is how, despite their opposing outlooks, there’s a shared core of values - resilience, loyalty, and a kind of fierce integrity - that binds them more than either might admit. Kane’s ability to tease out these subtleties while keeping the tone sharp and funny is a testament to his skill as a writer and performer.
As you’d expect from a seasoned stand-up comedian, the book is well written and often very funny, but it’s also deeply personal and reflective. Kane charts his journey from a childhood shaped by his father’s narrow expectations to a life in the arts - studying English and creative writing at university, embracing a career that his dad certainly wouldn’t understand, never-mind encourage. It’s a story of breaking through the walls of small-mindedness and forging a path that honours both self-expression and inherited grit.
For anyone who’s had a turbulent relationship with a parent, especially one marked by generational or ideological divides, Son of a Silverback will resonate. It’s not just a memoir - it’s a celebration of the messy, complicated love that can exist between two very different people.
The narrative doesn’t shy away from the difficulties of their relationship. There are moments of real conflict, of misunderstanding and emotional distance, but Kane also allows space for tenderness and nuance. What’s striking is how, despite their opposing outlooks, there’s a shared core of values - resilience, loyalty, and a kind of fierce integrity - that binds them more than either might admit. Kane’s ability to tease out these subtleties while keeping the tone sharp and funny is a testament to his skill as a writer and performer.
As you’d expect from a seasoned stand-up comedian, the book is well written and often very funny, but it’s also deeply personal and reflective. Kane charts his journey from a childhood shaped by his father’s narrow expectations to a life in the arts - studying English and creative writing at university, embracing a career that his dad certainly wouldn’t understand, never-mind encourage. It’s a story of breaking through the walls of small-mindedness and forging a path that honours both self-expression and inherited grit.
For anyone who’s had a turbulent relationship with a parent, especially one marked by generational or ideological divides, Son of a Silverback will resonate. It’s not just a memoir - it’s a celebration of the messy, complicated love that can exist between two very different people.
February 8, 2021
A surprise and if Russell Kate reads his own reviews I would say well written too. And not the usual celebrity self-serving ego trip either. Reminds me of John Cleese's Families And How To Survive Them.
A real look at dysfunction parenting and how to get through it and come out the otherside in, more or less, one piece. Both funny and emotional at the same time. Kane's father is monster and saint; racked with his own self doubt and depression, which he is more than keen to pass onto his son.
What could easily have been a one dimensional trot through Kane's interactions and daily dealings with his father, is lifted by excellent writing and care and attention to the art that is unexpected but very welcome. Explains the education Kane sorted out for himself and the mark.
I am 58 and I recognise my own parents here too, not quite as large and imposing as Kane's but there are traces here. Which makes me feel you will see some of your parents behaviour here too.
A real look at dysfunction parenting and how to get through it and come out the otherside in, more or less, one piece. Both funny and emotional at the same time. Kane's father is monster and saint; racked with his own self doubt and depression, which he is more than keen to pass onto his son.
What could easily have been a one dimensional trot through Kane's interactions and daily dealings with his father, is lifted by excellent writing and care and attention to the art that is unexpected but very welcome. Explains the education Kane sorted out for himself and the mark.
I am 58 and I recognise my own parents here too, not quite as large and imposing as Kane's but there are traces here. Which makes me feel you will see some of your parents behaviour here too.
October 16, 2020
I'm not really sure what this book was trying to be. Is it an autobiography? Is it an analysis of his relationship with his Dad? Is it a wider generalisation about the complexities of masculinity? It was individually all of these things at points throughout the book but I don't feel that it hit any depth on any of the three things it was trying to be and that is why I have given it 3 stars.
I also felt his dad's death needed addressing a bit more, Russell had spent the entire book talking about the impact his Dad had on his life but his Dad's death and the impact on Russell were covered in 2 pages and it made the ending feel a little abrupt.
I enjoyed the chapters about Russell's journey to university, his work ethic and methods and found them motivating. It was an easy read, funny in parts but with an underlying serious theme.
I also felt his dad's death needed addressing a bit more, Russell had spent the entire book talking about the impact his Dad had on his life but his Dad's death and the impact on Russell were covered in 2 pages and it made the ending feel a little abrupt.
I enjoyed the chapters about Russell's journey to university, his work ethic and methods and found them motivating. It was an easy read, funny in parts but with an underlying serious theme.
September 6, 2020
Clever and funny
I really enjoyed every aspect of this book from start to finish.
My sisters and myself were raised by amazing Northern/Scouse Silverback and I went onto marry one.
Despite the chest pounding and the loud grunting, all silverbacks have a heart of gold and a desire to protect.
I wouldn't swap my SB husband for the world, he's adorable and so capable. Whilst I recognise some of Russell's dad's SB traits, in my experience we definitely got the protective, grumpy, adorable ones. Well worth a read
I really enjoyed every aspect of this book from start to finish.
My sisters and myself were raised by amazing Northern/Scouse Silverback and I went onto marry one.
Despite the chest pounding and the loud grunting, all silverbacks have a heart of gold and a desire to protect.
I wouldn't swap my SB husband for the world, he's adorable and so capable. Whilst I recognise some of Russell's dad's SB traits, in my experience we definitely got the protective, grumpy, adorable ones. Well worth a read
September 14, 2021
Much of this book is resonant of the recollections that Russell Kane shares during his stand up. It is entertaining and makes you laugh and your toes curl in equal measure. However, other than a cast of characters, mainly family members, there really is no story here. There are a collection of unconnected vignettes, with very little carrying you from one scene to its adjacent, but not linked, successor.
There is definitely talent here, but Russell is so keen to get the laughs that the story suffers.
There is definitely talent here, but Russell is so keen to get the laughs that the story suffers.
March 30, 2020
A brilliant audiobook. If you enjoy Russell Kane’s stand-up then this is an eight hour treat for you. Kane’s dad features a lot in his comedy, and this book is an attempt to understand his values (‘I’m paying, I’m saying’) and the relationship with his son up to his early death. Russell Kane comes across as very likeable and very driven: the stories of how he belatedly got into university and then got a first are very inspiring. Very funny, very inspiring, and very, very sweary.
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December 18, 2020Definitely entertaining and a quick easy read but I did wonder what the point was. Would have benefitted from the addition of some psychoanalysis or a clearer conclusion of how this all affected Russell. For someone who seemingly possesses literary depth from all his reading he boasts about, this didn't quite come across and the book lacks depth.
Bit underwhelmed but still a pleasant light read.
Bit underwhelmed but still a pleasant light read.
July 19, 2022
Slightly repetitive else a good trip through his childhood adolescence.
The dominant theme is his father's mindset and personality and much as this makes life difficult for everyone in his orbit I sense a love for his father.
I read the book because he speaks with such intelligence in his stand up. This comes through strongly. eg. on schools, having to hide his enjoyment of reading, the lack of equality in our society
The dominant theme is his father's mindset and personality and much as this makes life difficult for everyone in his orbit I sense a love for his father.
I read the book because he speaks with such intelligence in his stand up. This comes through strongly. eg. on schools, having to hide his enjoyment of reading, the lack of equality in our society
December 28, 2022
3.5 ⭐️s rounded up.
I’ve been a Russell Kane fan since about 2009 when he MC’d a humanities quiz for college students at my local university in Essex.
This book has its genuinely laugh-out-loud moments but more than anything, it’s a memoir on how class and being brought up by a misguided and problematic alpha male can impact a young boy. For this reason, I found some of the stories quite difficult to read (or rather, listen to) but really enjoyed Russell’s narration.
I’ve been a Russell Kane fan since about 2009 when he MC’d a humanities quiz for college students at my local university in Essex.
This book has its genuinely laugh-out-loud moments but more than anything, it’s a memoir on how class and being brought up by a misguided and problematic alpha male can impact a young boy. For this reason, I found some of the stories quite difficult to read (or rather, listen to) but really enjoyed Russell’s narration.
April 19, 2020
"Mugs game, boy"
Russell Kane tells of his life and his troubled relationship with his father and how it has affect him as a child and an adult.
I really enjoyed this. I think Russell Kane is a brilliant comic and this book was such an interesting read. Russell does such a great examination of his dad and his outlooks, including the idea of toxic masculinity.
Russell Kane tells of his life and his troubled relationship with his father and how it has affect him as a child and an adult.
I really enjoyed this. I think Russell Kane is a brilliant comic and this book was such an interesting read. Russell does such a great examination of his dad and his outlooks, including the idea of toxic masculinity.
March 1, 2021
Excellent audiobook, well written and so uplifting. I did not want this to end, so I'm hoping Russell will write a sequel. Really hope he will also do the narration as this made a massive difference, it took the stories to another level. He has such an empathetic and honest approach, especially about his relationship with his father. Highly recommended.
October 24, 2022
Russell Kane is not someone I knew an awful lot about. I’d seen him on various panel shows etc but knew nothing about his life. This is a really interesting read and really explored about how it is to be raised by such an alpha male. I actually laughed out loud a few times too as it reminded me very much of an uncle who was very much the alpha in his world!
April 5, 2023
Love Kanes stand up so tried his book, bit slow to get going, made me chuckle a few times nothing laugh out loud, was not the most tightly written book, at the end I felt his dad was a bit of wanker so why write a book about him? Would have liked an actual insight into him instead, maybe he will write one at a later date.
April 9, 2021
Really good
Fascinating story, it is always of interest how we rate our lives, sociological, or maybe just luck. Whatever the reasoning this book was honest, in places funny and mainly poignant. Our heads could be twins. 📚 🚘
Fascinating story, it is always of interest how we rate our lives, sociological, or maybe just luck. Whatever the reasoning this book was honest, in places funny and mainly poignant. Our heads could be twins. 📚 🚘
November 8, 2021
Absolutely excellent. Read on audio by Russell Kane, and beautifully performed. Interesting, amusing, informative. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. NB if your little ears are sensitive to expletives you may want to swerve this book.
April 1, 2023
I was disappointed this book wasn’t more like the how to fail interview I really enjoyed. It was an okay telling of Russell’s story and his dads. There were some you’d bits but nothing laugh out loud.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 12, 2024
At times a moving account of how his childhood was impacted by having an alpha male father. A quick read, and maybe an insight into why Russell has developed the comedic style he has. If you're a fan of Russell, worth a read.
November 5, 2024
I absolutely adored this
Totally gutted I've finished it
The way his dad is hits close to home with how my dad is so I'm probably biased as fuck
Highly highly recommend, enjoyed the audiobook so much!
Totally gutted I've finished it
The way his dad is hits close to home with how my dad is so I'm probably biased as fuck
Highly highly recommend, enjoyed the audiobook so much!
May 24, 2020
Brilliant
So hilarious and somehow very relatable. Love Kanes honest account of a unique but very real relationship with his father.
So hilarious and somehow very relatable. Love Kanes honest account of a unique but very real relationship with his father.
June 12, 2020
As brilliantly witty and beautifully touching as you’d expect. This audiobook has been keeping me smiling this week.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 60 reviews