In 1995, the high-flying British journalist Toby Young left London for New York to become a contributing editor at Vanity Fair magazine. Other Brits had taken Manhattan - Alistair Cooke, Tina Brown, Anna Wintour - so why couldn't he? Surely, it would only be a matter of time before the Big Apple was in the palm of his hand.

But things did not go according to plan. Within the space of two years Toby Young was fired from Vanity Fair, was banned from the most fashionable bar in the city and couldn't get a date for love or money. Even the local AA group wanted nothing to do with him!

How to Lose Friends and Alienate People, written by Toby Young, adapted for the stage by Tim Fountain is Toby Young's hilarious bestseller of the five years he spent steadily working his way down the New York food chain - Not since Bonfire of the Vanities has the New York A-list been so mercilessly lampooned - and it all really happened!