Sick in the head : conversations about life and comedy / Judd Apatow.
Material type:
TextPublisher: New York : Random House, 2016Edition: Random House trade paperback editionDescription: xvi, 556 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates illustrations (chiefly color) ; 20 cmContent type: - text
- unmediated
- volume
- 0812987284
- 9780812987287
| Item type | Home library | Collection | Call number | Materials specified | Status | Date due | Barcode | Item holds | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Adult Book
|
Main Library | NonFiction | 792.76 A639 | Available | 33111008863082 |
Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE A.V. CLUB * Includes new interviews!
From the writer and director of Knocked Up and the producer of Freaks and Geeks comes a collection of intimate, hilarious conversations with the biggest names in comedy from the past thirty years--including Mel Brooks, Jerry Seinfeld, Jon Stewart, Sarah Silverman, Harold Ramis, Seth Rogen, Chris Rock, and Lena Dunham.
Before becoming one of the most successful filmmakers in Hollywood, Judd Apatow was the original comedy nerd. At fifteen, he took a job washing dishes in a local comedy club--just so he could watch endless stand-up for free. At sixteen, he was hosting a show for his local high school radio station in Syosset, Long Island--a show that consisted of Q&As with his comedy heroes, from Garry Shandling to Jerry Seinfeld. They talked about their careers, the science of a good joke, and their dreams of future glory (turns out, Shandling was interested in having his own TV show one day and Steve Allen had already invented everything).
Thirty years later, Apatow is still that same comedy nerd--and he's still interviewing funny people about why they do what they do.
Sick in the Head gathers Apatow's most memorable and revealing conversations into one hilarious, wide-ranging, and incredibly candid collection that spans not only his career but his entire adult life. Here are the comedy legends who inspired and shaped him, from Mel Brooks to Steve Martin. Here are the contemporaries he grew up with in Hollywood, from Spike Jonze to Sarah Silverman. And here, finally, are the brightest stars in comedy today, many of whom Apatow has been fortunate to work with, from Seth Rogen to Amy Schumer. And along the way, something kind of magical happens: What started as a lifetime's worth of conversations about comedy becomes something else entirely. It becomes an exploration of creativity, ambition, neediness, generosity, spirituality, and the joy that comes from making people laugh.
Loaded with the kind of back-of-the-club stories that comics tell one another when no one else is watching, this fascinating, personal (and borderline-obsessive) book is Judd Apatow's gift to comedy nerds everywhere.
Praise for Sick in the Head
"I can't stop reading it. . . . I don't want this book to end." --Jimmy Fallon
"An essential for any comedy geek." -- Entertainment Weekly
"Fascinating . . . a collection of interviews with many of the great figures of comedy in the latter half of the twentieth century." --The Washington Post
"Open this book anywhere, and you're bound to find some interesting nugget from someone who has had you in stitches many, many times." --Janet Maslin, The New York Times
"An amazing read, full of insights and connections both creative and interpersonal." -- The New Yorker
"Fascinating and revelatory." --Chicago Tribune
"Anyone even remotely interested in comedy or humanity should own this book." --Will Ferrell
"Before his name became synonymous with a new style of comedy; before he had written, directed, or produced his first movie or TV show; before he and his roommate Adam Sandler were performing stand up at dive bars in LA; before all that, Judd Apatow was a kid in Syosett, Long Island who was utterly obsessed with comedy. At 16, he started hosting a radio show for his local high school station, and he would call up the biggest comics of the day - comics like Jerry Seinfeld, Jay Leno, Steve Allen, Sandra Bernhard; none of whom, by the way, had any idea they were talking to a kid in his parents' garage -- and talk to them about what got them into comedy, and what made them stay in. Thirty years later, Apatow is still that comedy nerd, and still interviewing comics about what drives them and why they do what they do. That obsession has made him one of the most recognizable and influential comedic filmmakers working today. This book is a collection of 30 years worth of conversations -- always funny, often poignant, and incredibly intimate -- that not only span Apatow's career, but his adult life. Featuring interviews with luminaries like Mel Brooks and Chris Rock and modern icons like Louis CK and Amy Schumer, this is a book for fans of comedy, from the nerdiest fan of all"--Provided by publisher.