Paige Shiver on comedy, legend, and Henry’s second act
There’s a long tradition in British legend of kings who refuse to actually stay gone, and Henry Is Back plays that tradition for laughs with real affection and real precision.
I read most of it walking around Knightsbridge with the book tucked under my arm between other things, which felt fitting given how much of the novel is about a man trying to reclaim relevance in a city that has quietly moved on without him. Henry VIII, reincarnated as a stand-up comedian, is furious about this, constantly, and the comedy comes from watching modern London politely, then not so politely, disagree with his sense of his own importance.
The chapter set at a comedy club near enough to where I was reading it that I actually looked up mid-page is a particular highlight, sharp, well observed, genuinely funny.
There’s real craft under the jokes here, a patience with the material that lets it build properly across the whole book.
The ongoing bit that grew into this novel is still running at Henry VIII’s comeback diary, and the book itself is well worth your time.
