TedFest: Nothing but the Truth

What begins with a hangover, a warm beer problem, and the small matter of a civil war somehow ends with feral dogs, Elvis impersonators, Father Ted obsessives, and the accidental invention of a festival that really shouldn’t work – but spectacularly does. TedFest: Nothing but the Truth is the wildly entertaining true story behind TedFest, the much-loved festival celebrating Channel 4’s iconic sitcom Father Ted. Written by Peter Philips, one of the festival’s co-founders, the book charts how a Welsh writer, an Irish filmmaker, and a succession of terrible ideas collided across Sri Lanka, Wales, Fargo, and the west coast of Ireland to create a cultural phenomenon. Along the way, readers encounter real and faked tsunamis, exploding generators, aggrieved Amtrak guards, political spats, pub arguments, and a truly ridiculous plan to push a decrepit milk float around Ireland for forty days and forty nights. Against all logic, it works. Told with razor-sharp humour, unexpected tenderness, and a deep affection for glorious failure, TedFest: Nothing but the Truth is a celebration of friendship, chaos, civic stubbornness, and the strange magic that happens when people commit wholeheartedly to something utterly daft. Part memoir, part travelogue, and part love letter to Father Ted, festivals, pubs, and joyful resistance, this is a book for comedy fans, festival-goers, and anyone who believes that sometimes the silliest ideas are the most important ones.