Judith Lucy

Judith Lucy is a popular Australian stand up comedienne who starred in the comedy sketch television show The Late Show and The Mick Mollow Show, hosted breakfast and drive time radio and has had small roles in Australian produced movies like Crackerjack and The Sapphires. She often makes guest appearances on shows such as Good News Week and The Project and tours the country with her own woman stage shows. Judiths first book, a memoir titled The Lucy Family Alphabet, is an irreverent show more examination of her dysfunctional upbringing and has been reprinted several times.

Judith's wry, dark sense of humour and her distinct voice is the antithesis of the pretentious earnestness of Gilbert's bestseller, Eat Pray Love. In Drink Smoke Pass Out Judith recounts her journey from hard drinking youth to a more moderate middle age as her rekindled interest in spirituality vies with her deeply ingrained cynicism.

Raised a practicing Catholic, Judith abandoned the church when she grew old enough to question the religion's hypocrisies placing her faith in comedy, red wine, marijuana and sex. With disarming honesty and self deprecating wit, Judith reviews the hedonism of her twenties and her mantra of 'here for a good time, not a long time' that excused daily drinking binges and awkward one night stands. Her addictions took a grimmer turn after discovering, during a family fight when she was 25, that she was adopted, and again after the deaths of her parents and a close friend in her early thirties. As her lifestyle began to affect her health she was introduced to Yoga and despite her skepticism found that it helped her feel better. Initially only interested in the physical relief Yoga offered her, Judith eventually began to read some of the philosophy underpinning the movement and found the combination was slowly effecting change as she began to consider the larger questions of existence.

Judith's growing interest in spirituality led to the development of a 6 part TV show for the ABC - the idea to trace her steps from Catholicism to atheism, to her new enthusiasm for yoga and beyond. The precis of the series 'Judith Lucy's Spiritual Journey', which aired in 2011, takes up the last quarter or so of the book. Judith speaks with an eclectic group of people including nuns, an ex-priest, psychics, Aboriginal elders, Buddhists and a handful of Australian celebrities flavoured with her own brand of irreverent humour.

I am not religious nor particularly spiritual and I have to admit I am fairly dismissive of both for various reasons, however I do not begrudge those whose chosen faith helps them make positive changes in their lives or the lives of others. I found Judith's journey interesting because she approaches it without the evangelical fervour, obsessive self interest or smug condescension common to such tracts. Drink Smoke Pass Out made me laugh and made me think and I'm even considering attending a Yoga session. show less

I first encountered Judith Lucy on The Late Show, and was instantly drawn to her tinder-dry wit and nasal drawl. I've since followed her across many years and several media formats, and count this book among her best comedic efforts.

Lucy has made no secret of her admiration for David Sedaris, and The Lucy Family Alphabet shows she has a similar eye for the absurdities of family life. It also quickly becomes obvious that the feminist bent of her humour is a reaction against her father, an show more old-school misogynist who believed that women were weak, stupid and vastly inferior to men (and seemingly never missed an opportunity to remind Lucy and her rather eccentric mother of these "facts"). She makes a lot of laugh-aloud funny observations at her parents' expense, but there is a distinct thread of affection, respect and sadness woven into many of her tales, too. The bottom line is that you don't have to have any history with Judith Lucy's work to get pleasure out of her book. The Lucy Family Alphabet is full of stories everyone can relate to. show less

I really enjoyed [b:The Lucy Family Alphabet|3313289|The Lucy Family Alphabet|Judith Lucy|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1210910010l/3313289._SX50_.jpg|3350904] but I am a bit ambivalent about this one. There were parts of this book I really liked - Judith’s involvements with nature and her explorations of spirituality and death were interesting and I did feel empowered by her self-love explanations. There were also parts that really annoyed me. I show more feel like Judith going over her love life and sex life have been done to death and I wasn’t sympathetic. Judith, it is ok to be single and more importantly it is ok to be single in your 50s and dote on a cat! show less

Hilarious - I laughed til I cried - but maybe that was because I could identify some of my own family members in the descriptions. Judith Lucy shows a depth of understanding of her parents actions and foibles even while describing their worst moments.