
As Good as It Gets
Life Lessons from a Reluctant Adult
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
$0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Buy for $18.88
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Romesh Ranganathan
About this listen
Brought to you by Penguin.
Confronted by the realities of adulthood, Romesh Ranganathan must face an uncomfortable truth: this is not quite how he imagined it.
Watching his friends descend into middle age, his waistline thicken and his finances dwindle to fund his family’s middle class aspirations, Romesh reflects on the demands of daily life and the challenges of adulting in the modern world.
As he reluctantly concludes that he is indeed a grown man, Rom wrestles with the greater questions that threaten his being: could I save my family in a crisis? Do I possess the skills to assemble flatpack furniture? Am I too old for streetwear? Is it alright to parent my kids through the medium of Fortnite? Is celibacy the secret to a passionate marriage?
From one of the country's most beloved comedians and author of the Sunday Times best seller Straight Outta Crawley comes the hilarious and painfully accurate dissection of what it really means to grow up.
©2020 Romesh Ranganathan (P)2020 Penguin AudioListeners also enjoyed...
-
Straight Outta Crawley
- Memoirs of a Distinctly Average Human Being
- By: Romesh Ranganathan
- Narrated by: Romesh Ranganathan
- Length: 5 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At the age of 9, Romesh Ranganathan delivered his first ever stand-up set at a Pontin's Holiday Camp talent competition, smashing the only other competitor, a young girl playing the kazoo. The gig went so well that Romesh retired his comic genius for 22 years, hiding behind the guise of a maths teacher, before finally revealing himself again (no, not like that) at the tender age of 31. In 2010, Ranganathan staged his epic comeback gig to an almost silent room, and has since gone on to earn his place as the most in-demand overweight vegan Sri Lankan comedian in Britain.
-
-
Nice..
- By Amazon Customer on 10-18-18
-
How to Survive Family Holidays
- By: Jack Whitehall, Michael Whitehall, Hilary Whitehall
- Narrated by: Hilary Whitehall, Jack Whitehall, Michael Whitehall
- Length: 7 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
No one family has more experience of travelling together than the Whitehalls. Indeed they've been allowing us a window to their escapades for the past five years in the hit Netflix show Travels with My Father, and in this hilarious book, they have now decided to pool their advice for fellow travellers. To lay out the pitfalls of family holidays. The dos and don'ts, the highs and lows. In doing so, they are sharing some of their best anecdotes.
-
-
Funny and entertaining
- By Miranda on 11-28-21
By: Jack Whitehall, and others
-
A Class Act
- Life as a working-class man in a middle-class world
- By: Rob Beckett
- Narrated by: Rob Beckett
- Length: 4 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Rob Beckett never seems to fit in. At work, in the middle-class world of television and comedy, he’s the laddie, cockney geezer, but to his mates down the pub in south-east London, he’s the theatrical one, a media luvvie. Even at home, his wife and kids are posher than him. In this hilarious exploration of class, Rob compares his life growing up as a working-class kid to the life he lives now, trying to understand where he truly belongs.
-
-
funny and interesting
- By Steve on 08-22-23
By: Rob Beckett
-
James Acaster's Guide to Quitting Social Media
- By: James Acaster
- Narrated by: James Acaster
- Length: 6 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This is a self help-book like no other. Because you are not helping yourself, James Acaster is helping you. When James quit all forms of social media in 2019 he felt like he'd been born anew, but he was worried he'd suffer withdrawal and get lured back online to compete in a never ending popularity contest with only one possible winner (f--king Zuckerberg). He knew that in order to stay clean he'd have to replace everything social media used to give him with three-dimensional real-life activities.
-
-
Trouble with tar.
- By Anonymous User on 08-20-22
By: James Acaster
-
Before & Laughter
- By: Jimmy Carr
- Narrated by: Jimmy Carr
- Length: 6 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In his mid-20s, Jimmy was bored, boring, unfulfilled and underachieving. He wasn't exactly depressed, but he was very sad. Think of a baby owl whose mum has recently died in a windmill accident. He was that sad. This audiobook tells the story of how Jimmy turned it around and got happy, through the redemptive power of dick jokes.
-
-
didn't realize what I was getting into
- By Doug Scheiber on 10-16-21
By: Jimmy Carr
-
And Away...
- By: Bob Mortimer
- Narrated by: Bob Mortimer
- Length: 7 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Bob Mortimer’s life was trundling along happily until suddenly in 2015 he was diagnosed with a heart condition that required immediate surgery and forced him to cancel an upcoming tour. The episode unnerved him but forced him to reflect on his life so far. This is the framework for his hilarious and moving memoir, And Away....
-
-
Why censor an autobiography? Please don’t do that.
- By Paul B on 02-07-22
By: Bob Mortimer
-
Straight Outta Crawley
- Memoirs of a Distinctly Average Human Being
- By: Romesh Ranganathan
- Narrated by: Romesh Ranganathan
- Length: 5 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At the age of 9, Romesh Ranganathan delivered his first ever stand-up set at a Pontin's Holiday Camp talent competition, smashing the only other competitor, a young girl playing the kazoo. The gig went so well that Romesh retired his comic genius for 22 years, hiding behind the guise of a maths teacher, before finally revealing himself again (no, not like that) at the tender age of 31. In 2010, Ranganathan staged his epic comeback gig to an almost silent room, and has since gone on to earn his place as the most in-demand overweight vegan Sri Lankan comedian in Britain.
-
-
Nice..
- By Amazon Customer on 10-18-18
-
How to Survive Family Holidays
- By: Jack Whitehall, Michael Whitehall, Hilary Whitehall
- Narrated by: Hilary Whitehall, Jack Whitehall, Michael Whitehall
- Length: 7 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
No one family has more experience of travelling together than the Whitehalls. Indeed they've been allowing us a window to their escapades for the past five years in the hit Netflix show Travels with My Father, and in this hilarious book, they have now decided to pool their advice for fellow travellers. To lay out the pitfalls of family holidays. The dos and don'ts, the highs and lows. In doing so, they are sharing some of their best anecdotes.
-
-
Funny and entertaining
- By Miranda on 11-28-21
By: Jack Whitehall, and others
-
A Class Act
- Life as a working-class man in a middle-class world
- By: Rob Beckett
- Narrated by: Rob Beckett
- Length: 4 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Rob Beckett never seems to fit in. At work, in the middle-class world of television and comedy, he’s the laddie, cockney geezer, but to his mates down the pub in south-east London, he’s the theatrical one, a media luvvie. Even at home, his wife and kids are posher than him. In this hilarious exploration of class, Rob compares his life growing up as a working-class kid to the life he lives now, trying to understand where he truly belongs.
-
-
funny and interesting
- By Steve on 08-22-23
By: Rob Beckett
-
James Acaster's Guide to Quitting Social Media
- By: James Acaster
- Narrated by: James Acaster
- Length: 6 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This is a self help-book like no other. Because you are not helping yourself, James Acaster is helping you. When James quit all forms of social media in 2019 he felt like he'd been born anew, but he was worried he'd suffer withdrawal and get lured back online to compete in a never ending popularity contest with only one possible winner (f--king Zuckerberg). He knew that in order to stay clean he'd have to replace everything social media used to give him with three-dimensional real-life activities.
-
-
Trouble with tar.
- By Anonymous User on 08-20-22
By: James Acaster
-
Before & Laughter
- By: Jimmy Carr
- Narrated by: Jimmy Carr
- Length: 6 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In his mid-20s, Jimmy was bored, boring, unfulfilled and underachieving. He wasn't exactly depressed, but he was very sad. Think of a baby owl whose mum has recently died in a windmill accident. He was that sad. This audiobook tells the story of how Jimmy turned it around and got happy, through the redemptive power of dick jokes.
-
-
didn't realize what I was getting into
- By Doug Scheiber on 10-16-21
By: Jimmy Carr
-
And Away...
- By: Bob Mortimer
- Narrated by: Bob Mortimer
- Length: 7 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Bob Mortimer’s life was trundling along happily until suddenly in 2015 he was diagnosed with a heart condition that required immediate surgery and forced him to cancel an upcoming tour. The episode unnerved him but forced him to reflect on his life so far. This is the framework for his hilarious and moving memoir, And Away....
-
-
Why censor an autobiography? Please don’t do that.
- By Paul B on 02-07-22
By: Bob Mortimer
-
James Acaster's Classic Scrapes
- By: James Acaster
- Narrated by: James Acaster
- Length: 6 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
James Acaster has been nominated for the Edinburgh Comedy Award five times and has appeared on prime-time TV shows like Mock the Week, Live at the Apollo and Russell Howard's Stand Up Central. But behind the fame and critical acclaim is a man perpetually getting into trouble. Whether it's disappointing a skydiving instructor midflight or hiding from thugs in a bush wearing a bright red dress, James is always finding new ways to embarrass himself.
-
-
Tales worth listening to.
- By Brendan S. on 01-31-18
By: James Acaster
-
Watching Neighbours Twice a Day...
- How ’90s TV (Almost) Prepared Me for Life
- By: Josh Widdicombe
- Narrated by: James Acaster, Josh Widdicombe
- Length: 9 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In his first memoir, Josh Widdicombe tells the story of a strange rural childhood, the kind of childhood he only realised was weird when he left home and started telling people about it. From only having four people in his year at school, to living in a family home where they didn't just not bother to lock the front door, they didn't even have a key. Using a different television show of the time as its starting point for each chapter, Watching Neighbours Twice a Day... is part-childhood memoir, part-comic history of '90s television and culture.
-
-
Loved learning about the shows in the UK
- By ASHLEY on 09-25-21
By: Josh Widdicombe
-
Parsnips, Buttered
- Bamboozle and Boycott Modern Life, One Email at a Time
- By: Joe Lycett
- Narrated by: Joe Lycett
- Length: 3 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this book I have attempted to solve each and every one of life's problems. And I have succeeded. Dear Listener, Using letters, emails, tweets and telegrams I will show you how the things in your life that make you sad, low or anxious can soon appear trivial, insignificant and like a fish. In short, I will butter your parsnips.
-
-
Love Joe Lycett
- By Sarah Jane Walton on 07-15-21
By: Joe Lycett
-
The Pleasure of My Company
- By: Steve Martin
- Narrated by: Steve Martin
- Length: 4 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Daniel Pecan Cambridge, 30, 35, 38 or 27, depending on how he feels that day, is a young man whose life is rich and full, provided he never leaves his Santa Monica apartment. After all, outside there are 8-inch-high curbs and there's always the horrible chance he might see a gas station attendant wearing a blue hat. So, except for the occasional trip to the Rite Aid to admire the California girl Zandy and to buy earplugs because they're on sale, he stays home a lot. And good thing, too.
-
-
An Odd, Compelling Story
- By John Fladd on 11-22-03
By: Steve Martin
-
The Purge of Babylon Series Box Set: Books 1-3
- By: Sam Sisavath
- Narrated by: Adam Danoff
- Length: 41 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Creatures that once lived in the shadows, hidden from humankind, have risen, spreading like a plague across the globe over the course of a single night. Their numbers growing exponentially through infection, these seemingly unkillable creatures have swallowed up whole cities and collapsed unprepared governments. Survivors call it The Purge.
-
-
excellent
- By Nick on 08-03-17
By: Sam Sisavath
-
Ayoade on Top
- By: Richard Ayoade
- Narrated by: Richard Ayoade
- Length: 4 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At last, the definitive audiobook about perhaps the best cabin crew dramedy ever filmed: View from the Top starring Gwyneth Paltrow. In Ayoade on Top, Richard Ayoade, perhaps one of the most 'insubstantial' people of our age, takes us on a journey from Peckham to Paris by way of Nevada and other places we don't care about. It's a journey deep within, in a way that's respectful and non-invasive; a journey for which we will all pay a heavy price, even if you've waited for the smaller paperback edition. Ayoade argues for the canonisation of this brutal masterpiece.
-
-
Listened for an hour and a half, didn't laugh once
- By Wesley on 12-13-19
By: Richard Ayoade
-
Perfect Sound Whatever
- By: James Acaster
- Narrated by: James Acaster
- Length: 6 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
James Acaster wakes up heartbroken and alone in New York, his relationship over, a day of disastrous meetings leading him to wonder if comedy is really what he wants to be doing anymore. A constant comfort in James' life has been music, but he's not listened to anything new for a very long time. Idly browsing 'best of the year' lists, it dawns on him that 2016 may have been a grim year for a lot of reasons, but that it seemed to be an iconic year for music. And so begins a life-changing musical odyssey, as James finds himself desperately seeking solace in the music of 2016....
-
-
BEST BOOK ABOUT 2016 IN 2019
- By sophie on 08-29-19
By: James Acaster
-
How to be Champion
- An Autobiography
- By: Sarah Millican
- Narrated by: Sarah Millican
- Length: 6 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Part autobiography, part self-help, part confession, part celebration of being a common-or-garden woman, part collection of synonyms for nunny, Sarah Millican's debut audiobook delves into her super normal life with daft stories, funny tales and proper advice on how to get past life's blips - like being good at school but not good at friends, the excitement of IBS and how to blossom postdivorce.
-
-
Disappointing but probably my fault
- By David on 03-02-18
By: Sarah Millican
-
David Mitchell: Back Story
- By: David Mitchell
- Narrated by: David Mitchell
- Length: 9 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
David Mitchell, who you may know for his inappropriate anger on every TV panel show except Never Mind the Buzzcocks, his look of permanent discomfort on C4 sex comedy Peep Show, his online commenter-baiting in The Observer or just for wearing a stick-on moustache in That Mitchell and Webb Look, has written a book about his life.
-
-
One of the Funniest, Clever Brits around
- By Delia on 08-30-13
By: David Mitchell
-
Everybody Fights
- So Why Not Get Better at It?
- By: Kim Holderness, Penn Holderness
- Narrated by: Kim Holderness, Penn Holderness
- Length: 6 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For the last several years, Penn and Kim Holderness of The Holderness Family have done the hard maintenance and the research to learn how to fight better. With the help of their marriage coach Dr. Christopher Edmonston, they break down their biggest (and in some cases, funniest) fights. How did a question about chicken wings turn into a bra fight (no, not a bar fight; a bra fight)? How did a roll of toilet paper lead to tears, resentment, and a stint in the guest bedroom?
-
-
if I had known...
- By Corrales Reader on 04-09-21
By: Kim Holderness, and others
-
Mack the Life
- By: Lee Mack
- Narrated by: Lee Mack
- Length: 8 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Where do comedians come from? Why is it that one person is a funny bloke down the pub while another actually makes a living by standing up in front of an audience telling jokes? And where does all that material come from? Well, young Lee McKillop used to wonder that too. Growing up in his parents’ pub, small and wiry in a world of bigger and chunkier specimens, Lee quickly learned that cracking jokes was a way to get attention.
-
-
Enjoyable memoir
- By Susannah on 03-22-25
By: Lee Mack
-
This Much Is True
- By: Miriam Margolyes
- Narrated by: Miriam Margolyes
- Length: 15 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Award-winning actor, creator of a myriad of memorable characters from Lady Whiteadder to Professor Sprout, Miriam Margolyes is a national treasure. Now, at last, at the age of 80, she has finally decided to tell her extraordinary life story. And it's far richer and stranger than any part she's played.
-
-
Simply Brilliant
- By Stuart Huddart on 09-21-21
By: Miriam Margolyes
What listeners say about As Good as It Gets
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Mark
- 10-13-23
Great listen
Funny down to earth family man who’s mum makes him even funnier two books down looking forward to number 3 and can you do the just for laughs comedy show in Bermuda next year think you you are very funny
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- The PI
- 06-26-22
Mild Ignorance
Not sure if it’s general ignorance, or willful ignorance, but it’s ignorance of some sort when it comes to comments about BLM as an organization. Your views, and opinions are easier to contemplate when they’re even vaguely informed before presenting them.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!