It is a truth universally acknowledged that any mildly successful film must be accompanied by an obligatory novelisation of the story. These are, almost always a trashy waste of time made purely for the sake of a quick buck (the obvious exception being I, Partridge) and sadly, Ron Burgundy’s Let Me Off At The Top is no different.

Since Anchorman was released in 2004 Will Ferrell’s portrayal of the San Diego news anchor has been one of modern comedy’s favourite characters. There was so much hype around the sequel, Anchorman 2, that we waited nine years and, to an extent, it lived up to it. However the real difficulty involved in writing a 220-page autobiography for the character is the need for his development throughout. A good autobiography will show how Burgundy became the man we see on the news, how he got his love of scotch and who told him where to buy those snappy suits. But this is not what they went with, instead Ron Burgundy has always liked scotch, and why? Because Ron Burgundy likes scotch. No further explanation required, apparently.

Most of the jokes fall flat in the transition from screen to page. While reading the book I often found myself trying to mirror Ron’s speaking style to see if it brought any of the humour back to pages but it never really fitted. The jokes were obvious and missing Ferrell’s delivery, almost insulting the clever and ground- breaking comedy of the first film.

In reality this book was probably never meant to be great, it was released in the run up to Christmas and was most likely bought exclusively as a stocking filler for a poorly behaved sibling. Most people would look at it and think “an autobiography of Ron Burgundy, that could be interesting” and then never open it, saving themselves from a few days of very below average reading. Waiting to be let off at the top is definitely an exercise in patience.

Nick Gandy