Judd Apatow is an American screenwriter, producer, director, and comedian.
Judd Apatow
Apatow embarked on a project to interview great comics of the age, explaining "I have always seen comedy as a lifeline.....Without comedy, I don't know how I would survive." Apatow's first book 'Sick in the Head' includes conversations with a variety of humorists and the sequel, 'Sicker in the Head', continues the interviews with comics and other people in the entertainment industry.
The talks in 'Sicker in the Head' cover a variety of topics, such as choosing entertainment as a career; failures and successes along the way; types of comedy (political, observational, etc.); being influenced by family and friends; mental health problems; diversity in the entertainment industry; and much more. The conversations are candid and informative, and Apatow reveals a good deal about himself along the way.
To provide a feel for the book, I'll include snippets from interviews with some of the subjects.
⦿ Amber Ruffin - an American comedian who hosts the late-night talk show, The Amber Ruffin Show.
Amber Ruffin
When Apatow observes that, historically, talk shows almost never had female writers, Ruffin replies: "Yes it's true that I was the first Black woman writer with a show.....and the word is out about how good Black women are at the job, no matter what that job is....And I think people are slowly realizing that.....This shift in representation, this shift in hiring practices, might just stick around, because once you create a safe space for Black people at your job, which a lot of television shows are capable of doing now, then you see Black people excel."
⦿ Bowen Yang - an Australian-born American actor, comedian, writer, and podcaster who's on Saturday Night Live (SNL).
Bowen Yang on SNL
When Bowen came to America as a child he couldn't speak English very well, but he had a sense of humor. Yang observes that he realized "Humor can be my thing." As a kid Bowen was funny and goofy and "nerded out on comedy, which at that age meant watching SNL every week." Yang eventually made it onto the show as a writer and performer.
⦿ David Letterman - an American television host, comedian, writer and producer.
David Letterman
When Apatow asks about depression Letterman - talking about his history - observes, "I knew something had gone haywire. I always thought depression was 'Oh jeez, the Reds got beat last night. My day is ruined'....But you don't know it's a real sinkhole.....it's not just 'Go out and run around the block, you'll feel better."
⦿ Gary Gulman - an American stand-up comedian.
Gary Gulman
Gulman did a comedy special about depression and Apatow asks "What else is [depression] telling you other than that you're talentless?" Gulman responds, "[It's telling me] you're a bad person and if anybody knew who you really were, they would be horrified and you wouldn't have a friend in the world." On the upside Gary notes, "One of the magical things about being a comedian is when bad things happen you think, I can use this in an act, and it's not purely bad....There's revenge and redemption over these tragedies if you can get a joke out of it."
⦿ George Shapiro - Shapiro was an American talent manager and television producer.
George Shapiro
Apatow asks Shapiro why he went from being a talent agent to a manager, and Shapiro states, "When you're an agent, you're handling two hundred fifty to three hundred people, so there's a good percentage of assholes within that group, and that was also part of the reason why I left." When Apatow asks Shapiro about someone he likes, such as Jerry Seinfeld, George says, "He's just a joy to be with. He knows how to have fun. I have this part of my brain that, even though I'm quite old, has sort of stuck from when I was eight, nine, ten years old, and he has that too."
⦿ Hannah Gadsby - an Australian comedian, writer, and actress.
Hannah Gadsby
In a discussion about the nasty comments that haters post on social media, Gadsby notes, "Their anger is fascinating. And I think most women who have a public-facing persona understand hatred. People just hate you; it's kind of incredible. It's not always so clear-cut or obvious, but there is an element that, as a woman or anyone who's different, really - it just makes people angry."
⦿ Hasan Minhaj - an American comedian and actor of Indian descent.
Hasan Minhaj
Talking about diversity, Apatow observes that people need to "fall in love with the gay couple on Modern Family in order to realize that they're okay with gay marriage.....to fall in love with Michael Jackson and Michael Jordan, or to idolize Beyoncé, in order to see through all that racist bullshit." And Hasan says, "This is the thing where I feel a deep sense of sadness....I've been able to accomplish a lot, and very powerful people have been able to see my humanity despite my [Muslim] religion, but can my son or daughter also carry that? If they walk into a room and people don't know they're my son or daughter, will people be like, Hey, are you a terrorist?"
⦿ Jimmy Kimmel - an American comedian and talk show host.
Jimmy Kimmel
When Apatow asks Kimmel why he connected with comedy as a child, Jimmy responds, "For me, my house was very loud, and there was a lot of yelling, so comedy was an escape from that.....I would just sit with my twelve-inch black and white TV in my bedroom. I had it on a desk, and I would sit there and draw, and I would watch or listen to the TV [comedy shows] late into the night, every night.
⦿ John Mulaney - an American comedian and actor.
John Mulaney
Apatow and Mulaney are discussing 'regular' people who are successful, and - referring to himself - Mulaney says, "It wasn't like, Oh, my dad died when I was two, and my mom had a heart condition, and the doctor was like, You better make her laugh.....there was none of that for me.....I definitely had a lot of embarrassment about being from a family that was well-off, and nothing other than personal problems that I had to deal with. My drug problems were basically fun until they weren't, and I took care of them rather quickly."
⦿ Kevin Hart - an American comedian and actor.
Kevin Hart
When Apatow asks Hart about Jay-Z being a mentor to him, Kevin observes, "Hova, he's my guy. He's who I go to when I have real questions, or when I've got an idea and I'm having trouble figuring out how to make it a reality.....When you've got a good mentor or advisor, you're able to dissect and process their wisdom, and use it how you feel best fits or suits you."
⦿ Margaret Cho - an American comedian and actress.
Margaret Cho
When Apatow asks Cho what club she got her start in, Margaret replies, "Probably the Holy City Zoo in San Francisco. I lived across the street from it so I could emcee there. I would go there every night after I would do shows everywhere else, and just watch everyone. It was really fun, too, because that was the one club that when we were all young, everybody lived close by." Cho mentions seeing Patton Oswalt, Blaine Capatch, Jeff Garlin, Robin Williams, Ron Lynch, Dana Gould, and others.
⦿ Mindy Kaling - an American actress, comedian, screenwriter and producer.
Mindy Kaling on 'The Office'
Talking about her early career, Kaling says, "I thought I was funny, and I did have a good sense of humor, but it wasn't until I was on The Office, when I was around all these other funny people in a writers' room, where I realized, [My] kind of jokes are kind of hacky, and these observations have already been made. I was already twenty-four when I felt like I was starting to become more sophisticated."
⦿ Ramy Youssef - an American comedian, actor, writer, and director of Egyptian descent.
Ramy Youssef
Speaking about diversity in the industry, Youssef says, "Overall, the demand for more diversity changes what people are looking for, and I think it can be really positive....The thing that I'm afraid of is that we hire people BECAUSE they're minorities, because if someone doesn't get the opportunity to get rejected for a job, they don't get the opportunity to grow.....I think there needs to be this healthy balance of just making sure that we're really doing due diligence in meeting the right people and making sure that they're getting a chance to audition....And then you really do have to make the hiring choice that you feel will inform your storytelling most accurately."
⦿ Samantha Bee - a Canadian-American comedian, writer, producer, political commentator, actress, and television host.
Samantha Bee on her TV show 'Full Frontal.'
When Apatow asks Bee about making a living while getting started in her comedy career, Samantha says, "I had other jobs. I worked in restaurants; I waitered a lot.....Toward the end, right around the time I auditioned for The Daily Show, I was working at an ad agency. [When] I got hired for The Daily Show I just walked away from the job. For sure, there was a cascading series of ad-related problems all over western Ontario because I didn't follow up on so many different projects."
⦿ Tig Notaro - an American comedian, writer, and actress.
Tig Notaro
Apatow asks Notaro about her parents' divorce, and Tig observes, "My parents hated each other so much. They didn't stop fighting in court until they both literally filed bankruptcy. So it made me think, Oh I gotta get a job. And I got to take care of myself. I don't think they can take care of me. It made me very hypervigilant to pay my bills and have the right job while I pursued comedy. I got hyperorganized from their madness."
Will Ferrell - an American comedian, actor, and producer.
Will Ferrell
Apatow asks Ferrell about his time on SNL, and Will responds, "I just remember thinking to myself, This will be the hardest and yet most fun job you'll ever have. Because you basically live there, and these dumb little ideas you may have on a Tuesday actually have a chance to be on national television by Saturday. I was always amazed at the fact that it's a live show, where you have a hundred people running around, changing sets and wardrobe. It never grew old to me."
Other people interviewed in the book are: Cameron Crowe, Ed Templeton, Gayle King, Jeff Tweedy, John Cleese, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Roger Daltrey, Sacha Baron Cohen, Whitney Cummings, and Whoopi Goldberg.
All the conversations are interesting and informative, and would probably be helpful to aspiring comedians. The book also has photographs, most of them related to Judd Apatow, his family, and his career.
The book is especially suitable for dipping into between other tasks or books.
Rating: 4 stars
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