Andy Zaltzman was born in obscurity in 1974. He began his stand-up comedy career in 1997, and, three gigs later, retired due to popular demand. He came out of retirement in 1999, since when he has performed all over the British Isles, as well as in America and Australia.

Co-founder, -writer and -star of the sporadically-acclaimed Radio 4 microsmashes 'The Department' and 'Political Animal', he has also appeared on 'The Now Show', 'The News Quiz' and 'Armando Iannucci's Charm Offensive'. He has written for several series of 'Bremner, Bird & Fortune' on Channel 4. He is currently one half of TimesOnline's hit satirical podcast 'The Bugle', alongside John Oliver ('The Daily Show with Jon Stewart'). One of iTunes' Podcasts Of The Year in 2007, 'The Bugle' features Oliver and Zaltzman's trademark comedic Molotov cocktail of incisive political comedy and outright bullshit. He also writes for The Times newspaper. Zaltzman's previous books include no previous books.

He lives somewhere in the United Kingdom, is currently married to his first wife, and, at time of going to press, has very nearly two children. He is completely unqualified to write a book on economics. He prefers sport.