| Title | : | Sick in the Head: Conversations About Life and Comedy by Judd Apatow (2016-03-10) |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | - |
| Format Type | : | Hardcover |
| Number of Pages | : | - |
Sick in the Head: Conversations About Life and Comedy by Judd Apatow (2016-03-10) Reviews
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Judd Apatow wasn't always a famous director, producer, and actor, known for raunchy comedies like "Knocked Up" and "The 40-year-old Virgin," as well as touching (but still funny) portraits of young people like "Freaks and Geeks" and "Undeclared."
Once upon a time, this comedy addict was contacting the publicists for Jerry Seinfeld and Steve Allen, scheduling interviews without hinting that he was actually a 15-year-old kid, and his New York radio station barely reached past the parking lot of the high school from which its signal originated.
In 2015, Apatow released the first volume of interviews he conducted (and gave) over the years with some of the best-known comedians in the world. This book includes conversations with, in addition to the above, people including Steve Martin, Chris Rock, Jon Stewart, the Brookses (I'm referring to Mel Brooks, James Brooks, and Albert Brooks, who apparently are completely unrelated to one another), Seth Rogen, Adam Sandler, Apatow's own wife Leslie Mann, and many others. I will admit that I was not 100 percent familiar with every one of his subjects (Michael Che, for example, because I haven't really watched "Saturday Night Live" since the 1990s), and I was not 100 percent enamored with everyone in the book. But the interviews were, almost without fail, insightful and honest. Each of them contained stories and nuggets that will appeal to anyone who follows comedy or show business in general.
Something to note -- and perhaps something that would be of interest because it captures moments in time that are lost to us now -- is that this book was published prior to the sex scandals that embroiled Bill Cosby (who is not interviewed but is mentioned a number of times) and Louis C.K. (who is interviewed). Reading thoughts and opinions related to these two men before the world was aware what was going on could be of value to anyone who's interesting in measuring how attitudes change over time.
I know there's at least one other book of this type by Apatow, and it's on my mental list of things to check out somewhere down the line.
