Writer/Director/Actor/Producer Judd Apatow is an established name in Hollywood today, but he grew up as a comedy nerd. Sick In The Head: Conversations About Life and Comedy is a collection of interviews and reminiscences with the biggest names in comedy over the past 30 years.
Working as a dishwasher in a local comedy club when he was fifteen not only gave him free stand-up shows every night, but a chance to hang out with up and coming comedians. At sixteen, he hosted a local radio show, mainly interviewing his comedy heroes about things like the structure of a joke, their careers, and future goals. We are talking about Garry Shandling, Jerry Seinfeld, Mel Brooks, Roseanne Barr, Lena Dunham, Amy Schumer, Chris Rock, Louis C.K., Jim Carrey, Ben Stiller, Sarah Silverman, Seth Rogan, Mike Nichols, Jimmy Fallon, Sandra Bernhard, and many others. These conversations are candid and relaxed, with lots of backstage stories. Many of the stars were unknowns at the time, and some like Shandling he talks to a few times over his career.
If you like stand-up and the interesting/gruelling life of comedians, the is the book to choose over their individual memoirs - there is no image polishing, just friends talking. I really enjoyed the relaxed way (like Seinfeld's Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee) they wander through subjects, going off topic but always of interest. To have these recorded over all these years is a real treat, for me to read and for future comedians to look back on. This reminded me of Joan Rivers great autobiography Enter Talking, where she lifts the veil and states no matter how glamourous the venue: the entertainment always enters through the kitchen.
Hilarious and informative.
2015 / Hardcover / 496 pages
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