About his life in politics - 'like Engels but funnier'

Alexei Sayle is to publish a memoir tracing his lifelong involvement in left-wing politics.

How I’ve Tried to Change the World (By Walking Down The Middle Of The Street Shouting) will be published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson in September. 

The publisher will also release a new novel by Sayle – his first in almost 20 years – as part of the same deal.

Born in Liverpool in 1952 to working-class Jewish parents who were both members of the Communist Party, Sayle has spent decades on marches and at rallies. 

The book covers seven decades of social history, moving from demonstrations against the Vietnam War in 1969 and the miners’ strike of 1974 through to the Iraq war protests of 2003 and recent marches in support of Gaza.

Sayle said the book was an attempt to take left-wing ideas seriously and to explain why they still matter. ‘Marx, Engels, Rosa Luxemburg, Antonio Gramsci and other great thinkers have exposed the strategies via which powerful elites retain the mass of humanity in a constant state of wage slavery, oppression and dispossession. I do that too but I’m a lot funnier.’

‘Alongside the headlong tilt towards fascism in our western societies there exists a commensurate desire amongst ordinary people to explore alternatives to the approaching darkness. 

‘I hope this book can help in that search  and, in addition, provide an insight into what it’s like to live a life constantly at odds with the lies we are fed: shouting the truth in the middle of the street while holding a cardboard sign on a stick.’

Alexa von Hirschberg, publishing director at Weidenfeld & Nicolson, who acquired world rights from agent Peter Straus, described the book: ‘Political anger, social history, Marxist theory but eye-wateringly funny. 

She added: ‘This is a book we all need right now and a book only the great Alexei Sayle could write. It is unashamedly polemical, surprisingly moving and hugely entertaining – a beacon of hope in dark times.’

Sayle first came to prominence in 1979 as the original MC of the Comedy Store in London, and went on to be a central figure in the alternative comedy movement of the early 1980s. He starred in and wrote for television series including The Young Ones and Alexei Sayle’s Stuff, and his Radio 4 programme Alexei Sayle’s Imaginary Sandwich Bar is approaching its sixth series.

He has previously published two volumes of memoir: Stalin Ate My Homework in 2010 and Thatcher Stole My Trousers in 2015.

He wrote the graphic novel Train To Hell and Geoffrey The Tube Train And The Fat Comedian in the1990s and a number of collected columns, short stories, and a volume based on Imaginary Sandwich Bar.

Sayle’s first text novel, Overtaken was published in 2003, followed by The Weeping Women Hotel  in 2007 and Mister Roberts in 2008.

Last year, his TikTok videos, which combine interpretive dance with Marxist theory, attracted around 13 million views worldwide.

How I’ve Tried To Change The World will be published on September 3 in hardback, ebook and audio. It is available from Amazon priced £20 in hardback &ndash.

• Click here to make Chortle a 'preferred source' on Google, which means results from this site will appear higher in your search results.

Published: 31 Mar 2026