‘A lifelong treat’ Simon Garfield, Esquire A P.G. Wodehouse novel Joey Cooley is a golden-curled child film star, the idol of American motherhood. Reginald, Third Earl of Havershot, is a boxing blue on a mission to save his wayward cousin from the fleshpots of Hollywood. Both are under anaesthetic at the dentists when something strange happens – and their identities are swapped in the ether.Suddenly Joey can use his six-foot frame to get his own back on his Hollywood persecutors. But Reggie has to endure everything Joey had to put up with in the horrible life of a child star – including kidnap.Laughing Gas is Wodehouse’s brilliantly funny take on the ‘If I were you’ theme – a wry look at the dangers of getting what you wish for in the movie business and beyond.