Andy Riley

"...There's so many ways for a rabbit to go..."

He has created a series of best-selling cartoon books: The Book of Bunny Suicides, Return Of The Bunny Suicides, Great Lies To Tell Small Kids, Loads More Lies To Tell Small Kids, D.I.Y. Dentistry, Selfish Pigs, and Dawn of the Bunny Suicides. He drew a weekly strip cartoon for The Observer Magazine called Roasted, which is also collected in hardback edition. So far his books have sold around one and a half million copies and have been published in eighteen countries, producing calendar, greetings card and poster spin-offs. Lucky Heather is his self-published mini-comic.

His comedy scriptwriting is done in partnership with Kevin Cecil. They have won two BAFTAS, for the sitcom Black Books in 2005 and the animated special Robbie The Reindeer in 2000. They created and wrote the sitcoms The Great Outdoors and Hyperdrive for the BBC, and Slacker Cats for the ABC Family Channel. Other television writing credits include Little Britain, The Armando Iannucci Shows, Come Fly With Me, Trigger Happy TV, So Graham Norton, Smack The Pony, The Armstrong and Miller Show, Bob and Margaret, Spitting Image, Harry and Paul, Katy Brand’s Big Ass Show, Alexei Sayle’s Merry Go Round, Man Stroke Woman and Big Train. Their Radio 4 panel game, The 99p Challenge, won a Sony silver award.

As well as writing comedy, they are experienced writers of feature-length animation: their credits include Gnomeo and Juliet (released February 2011) and The Pirates! (in production at Aardman). They did an uncredited rewrite of Tim Burton’s The Corpse Bride.

Andy is originally from Aylesbury but now lives in London. He used to be the stage dancer for The Pod, Julian Barratt’s comedy techno band which was the forerunner of The Mighty Boosh. His hobbies include urban canoeing.

Despite rival claims on the internet, Andy Riley is the true originator of the tradition of cross-dressing at the Towersey folk festival.

What genres and styles does Andy Riley write in?

Andy Riley is best known for cartoon and comic books featuring dark, visual humour (notably the Bunny Suicides books), plus children’s chapter books (the King Flashypants series) and humorous picture books (e.g., Great Lies To Tell Small Kids). He also writes comedy for TV and feature animation.

Which of his books are best to start with?

For his signature dark cartoons start with The Book of Bunny Suicides. If you prefer children’s fiction try the King Flashypants series (start at book 1), and for cheeky humour aimed at families try Great Lies To Tell Small Kids or Puppy Versus Kitten.

Is there a recommended reading order for his series?

The Bunny Suicides cartoons appear across several volumes—The Book of Bunny Suicides, Return of the Bunny Suicides, Dawn of the Bunny Suicides and related collections—so read the original Book of Bunny Suicides first, then the subsequent collections. For King Flashypants read the series in numeric order (Book 1, then Book 2: King Flashypants and the Creature From Crong, then Book 3: King Flashypants and the Toys of Terror).

Has Andy Riley won any awards for his work?

Yes. In partnership with Kevin Cecil he has won two BAFTAs (Robbie The Reindeer in 2000 and Black Books in 2005) and their Radio 4 panel show The 99p Challenge won a Sony silver award. His books have sold around 1.5 million copies and been published in 18 countries.

Does he work in television and film as well as books?

Yes. Riley co-writes comedy with Kevin Cecil and has TV credits including Black Books, The Great Outdoors, Hyperdrive, Slacker Cats and episodes for shows like Little Britain. He has feature animation credits such as Gnomeo and Juliet and work on The Pirates!, and did an uncredited rewrite on Tim Burton’s The Corpse Bride.