Let's Tidy Up: The Book

In Let’s Tidy Up: The Book, Josh Thomas, comedian and creator/star of the hit TV series Please Like Me and Everything’s Gonna Be Okay, chronicles the Herculean effort to organize his home and life in intimate, hilarious detail. Recounting the experiences that shaped him through the lens of his many belongings and the struggle to part ways with them, Josh reflects on his ADHD and autism diagnoses, friendship, loss, life in Hollywood, and whatever else happens to enter his mind — including his tumultuous relationship with the boy he’s been “most in love with” (who, by the way, also happens to be named Josh). This is by no means a comprehensive list; after all, he has an awful lot of tidying up to do.

Looking around his home as it’s being “colonized by tote bags,” there are impulse purchases strewn across various rooms, and counters are overcome with face creams and masks. So Josh makes the decision to get organized. For him, it’s a daunting task — one that he takes on with optimism, energy, and “grand delusions of adequacy.” Despite his best efforts, Josh finds himself striving (and failing) to dispose of the items he no longer needs while losing a battle against everyday distractions and his own thoughts. Can he overcome the odds and clear the clutter? You’ll just have to find out….

Based on his successful one-man show co-written with Lally Katz, Let’s Tidy Up: The Book includes added stories from Josh’s quest and features the same comic sensibility with a touch of disarming vulnerability and frankness that defined his stage performance. Part memoir, part comedy, part critique of earwax-cleaning cameras advertised on social media (plus, every other buy-with-one-click item), Let’s Tidy Up is a celebration of — and plea for — self-acceptance, especially the messy parts. Told as only Josh Thomas could, this book is for anyone trying to live in the modern world — particularly those who are terrified of cleaning their homes.