James Acaster on his Guide to Quitting Social Media - 'I'm a self-help guru now!'

Virgin Radio

19 Aug 2022, 12:33

The acclaimed comedian joined the Chris Evans Breakfast Show with Sky to talk about his new book, James Acaster’s Guide to Quitting Social Media.

In the book - which was released yesterday (18th August) - James explains how he ditched social media in 2019 by covering his phone in tar and driving it to a lock-up in Rhyl, before setting up home in a castle he'd built himself called Castle Anti-Net. He told Tom Allen, who is in for Chris: “I’m a self-help guru now, Tom. That is what I’ve decided to be. I want to help everyone, I’m curing everyone of their social media addiction. Everyone listening to this knows they’ve got a problem and I’m here to help them address that problem!”

As you may have guessed, the book gives a fictitious account of James giving up social media, but it is also based on truth. “In real-life, I have quit social media. That is real,” he confirmed. “People would ask me about it in interviews, and say, like, ‘So, why did you quit? How did you quit? What advice would you give other people? What’s your life like now?’. All my answers would be so dull, so I started making up answers instead. I started making up stupid things that I’d done, stupid reasons why I’d quit. 

“And I enjoyed all of that, and building that fake world, and I thought, ‘Do you know what, let’s put all of this into a book, and really go all in on it.’”

James told Tom, however, that some people don’t seem to have grasped the fact that it’s a fictitious version of his life. “Even though there are bits in it where I get my tie caught in a candy floss machine, and I get a job in a primary school so I can bully kids, even though that’s in there, there have been a lot of interviewers who think the book is serious!” he laughed.

James continued: “Really early on in the book… I’m the first person outside of Tom to ever join Myspace. For months, it’s just me and Tom, being best friends on there. And everyone thinks, ‘Well, this is a real scoop, I can’t believe James Acaster was the first civilian to ever join Myspace!’”

This is James’ third book, following on from 2017's Classic Scrapes and 2019's Perfect Sound Whatever. When speaking about writing it, he told Tom (Allen - not Tom from Myspace!): “I loved it. Just getting completely lost in a ridiculous world, where the character all the way through the book is trying to find replacements in the real world for what social media used to give him. So, a lot of silly capers. Making my own memes, making my own gifs, with a full film crew, and forming a whole cult by the end as well, so I got to really let my imagination run wild.”

Despite being a fictitious account, James said: “There is a little bit of truth that shines through there, and you do have a little reflection on how you feel about social media, or just society in general, in a nice way, in an affectionate way.”

As a stand-up, James’ shows have drawn heaps of critical acclaim, and he and Tom reminisced about sharing a flat at the Edinburgh Fringe for four years. “We had a lovely flat, even though once a man got angry with one of the people who lived in our flat and tried to kick our door in, and sprayed a rude word across our door. It was very scary!” he recalled.

The comedian also hosts the massively-popular Off Menu podcast with Ed Gamble, and during the interview, he gave his thoughts on newsreader Sinead putting coleslaw on her roast dinner. “I wouldn’t do that, personally!” he stated.

Back on the subject of James Acaster’s Guide to Quitting Social Media, the comedian joked: “People have said, they’ve read the book and, yeah, it’s a laugh, but they’ve gone, ‘You really made me think’, and, do you know what… I didn’t intend to!” 

James Acaster’s Guide To Quitting Social Media is available now.

For more great interviews listen to  The Chris Evans Breakfast Show with Sky, weekdays from 6:30am on Virgin Radio, or  catch up on-demand here.