Overview
National Bestseller
An Amazon Best of Biography/MemoirComedian and severe dyslexic Phil Hanley reveals his unlikely path to success in a story that is equal parts hilarious and heartbreaking. When Phil Hanley was in first grade, he realized something that would forever set him apart from his peers: he couldn't read. His teachers were ill-equipped to assist him, and he slipped through the school's cracks, year by year falling further and further behind his friends. Finally, he was diagnosed with dyslexia, a learning disability that would shape the rest of his life. Unable to pursue college or a traditional job, Phil was thrust into a life defined by unconventional twists, including a stint as a runway model in Europe. Eventually, he found himself on a stage with a microphone, a spotlight, and five minutes of jokes. Unlike so many previous pursuits, stand-up felt right to Phil, and he soon discovered that the more he worked at it, the more he got out of it--a realization that, he compellingly argues, saved his life. Spellbound is a story of humor and also of struggle and heartbreak, of constantly living in a world that sees things differently than you do, and of triumph over adversity. Phil shows us that dyslexia can be a huge challenge, but it doesn't spell certain condemnation (and neither can he). Just the opposite: dyslexia has been more than a blessing in his life--it's been his North Star.
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Details
- ISBN-13: 9781250860156
- ISBN-10: 1250860156
- Publisher: Henry Holt & Company
- Publish Date: March 2025
- Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.3 x 1.1 inches
- Shipping Weight: 0.8 pounds
- Page Count: 272
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Canadian comedian and former model Phil Hanley’s debut memoir, Spellbound: My Life as a Dyslexic Wordsmith, is refreshingly frank, disarmingly vulnerable and, yes, frequently hilarious. Thanks to appearances on late-night talk shows, two comedy specials and regular gigs at Manhattan’s Comedy Cellar, Hanley’s known for his sharp wit and masterful crowd work. But he wasn’t always at ease in the spotlight. Years of frustrating, humiliating struggle in a school system not equipped nor inclined to support students like Hanley—diagnosed with severe dyslexia—ensured he shrank away. Reading aloud was excruciating: “Looking at a block of text was like trying to memorize an abstract painting,” he writes. After his hard-won high school graduation, Hanley wondered, “What do you do when you’re eighteen years old and out of school and have no plans for the future?” Well, you say yes when your friend Shalom (Harlow, the 1990s supermodel) asks if you want to try modeling. Hanley posed for Armani and Dolce & Gabbana, but his heart wasn’t in it. No matter: “Modeling wasn’t my goal, but it was leading me somewhere,” he writes. “Being directionless is only a bad thing if you let it prevent you from moving.” And move Hanley did, to the U.K. and Vancouver and New York City, his life populated with generous friends, devotion to the Grateful Dead and a burning desire to become a comedian. Self-doubt lingered: “How could I be a comedy writer when I struggled to read a takeout menu?” But Hanley developed his own systems. Most comics jot ideas in a tiny notebook; he uses giant canvases. Some comics meander to the punchline; a shorter attention span yielded “concise jokes that were precisely worded.” And all comedians rehearse until their jokes are second nature and the stage feels like home. Readers will cheer for Hanley as he achieves that comfort level with his comedy craft and learning disability alike: “I now wear my dyslexia as a badge of honor.” Spellbound will resonate with fans of Simu Liu’s We Were Dreamers, James Tate Hill’s Blind Man’s Bluff and Amy Schumer’s The Girl With the Lower Back Tattoo: It’s an inspiring, well-written tale of overcoming adversity and self-doubt that’s plenty funny, too.
Canadian comedian and former model Phil Hanley’s debut memoir, Spellbound: My Life as a Dyslexic Wordsmith, is refreshingly frank, disarmingly vulnerable and, yes, frequently hilarious. Thanks to appearances on late-night talk shows, two comedy specials and regular gigs at Manhattan’s Comedy Cellar, Hanley’s known for his sharp wit and masterful crowd work. But he wasn’t always at ease in the spotlight. Years of frustrating, humiliating struggle in a school system not equipped nor inclined to support students like Hanley—diagnosed with severe dyslexia—ensured he shrank away. Reading aloud was excruciating: “Looking at a block of text was like trying to memorize an abstract painting,” he writes. After his hard-won high school graduation, Hanley wondered, “What do you do when you’re eighteen years old and out of school and have no plans for the future?” Well, you say yes when your friend Shalom (Harlow, the 1990s supermodel) asks if you want to try modeling. Hanley posed for Armani and Dolce & Gabbana, but his heart wasn’t in it. No matter: “Modeling wasn’t my goal, but it was leading me somewhere,” he writes. “Being directionless is only a bad thing if you let it prevent you from moving.” And move Hanley did, to the U.K. and Vancouver and New York City, his life populated with generous friends, devotion to the Grateful Dead and a burning desire to become a comedian. Self-doubt lingered: “How could I be a comedy writer when I struggled to read a takeout menu?” But Hanley developed his own systems. Most comics jot ideas in a tiny notebook; he uses giant canvases. Some comics meander to the punchline; a shorter attention span yielded “concise jokes that were precisely worded.” And all comedians rehearse until their jokes are second nature and the stage feels like home. Readers will cheer for Hanley as he achieves that comfort level with his comedy craft and learning disability alike: “I now wear my dyslexia as a badge of honor.” Spellbound will resonate with fans of Simu Liu’s We Were Dreamers, James Tate Hill’s Blind Man’s Bluff and Amy Schumer’s The Girl With the Lower Back Tattoo: It’s an inspiring, well-written tale of overcoming adversity and self-doubt that’s plenty funny, too.