Sicker in the Head: More Conversations about Life and Comedy by Judd Apatow

Sicker in the Head: More Conversations about Life and Comedy Reviews

• 
  Armand Rosamilia

  There are some great, insightful interviews in this book. More regular conversations between two people, which is great. Some of the people interviewed I had to look up to see who they were, which is good. It gives me a new person to follow after their perspective. Never read the first book but will have to soon.
• 
  Richard L.

  2.5 stars, rounded down.
  * At least the subtitle is accurate in the sense that this book is comprised of conversations and most definitely not interviews.
  * Even for devoted followers of pop culture, the book would have benefited from the simplest of introductions to each conversation. Instead, readers are expected to be familiar with every individual with whom Mr. Apatow conversed, and their cultural contributions/significance. In this way, some conversations are very "inside baseball" but not necessarily in a good way.
  * Also, while Mr. Apatow has been scrupulous in representing a diversity of voices, too often he steers the conversations in comfortable and thus predictable directions. Consequently, rather than coming across as organic and natural, some exchanges feel contrived, and they tend to cover exactly and only the territory which one might expect, given the person on the other end of the line.
  * As well, in these conversations, the author seldom seems to pass up an opportunity to talk about himself. Perhaps understandably, given his CV, but inevitably this grows tiresome.
  * Overall, this book (and its predecessor) come across as the product of privileged access, but without any particularly interesting insights or unique revelations which might be expected or hoped for.
• 
  Brynn | readyourworriesaway

  SICKER IN THE HEAD is an all-new collection of interviews from the king of comedy — Judd Apatow. He sat down with comedy legends such as Pete Davidson, Mindy Kaling, David Letterman, Will Ferrell and more, to discuss how they got started in the comedy world and where their career has taken them.
  
  Judd Apatow’s comedic mind is behind some of my all-time favorite films. I loved reading these interviews because I am always fascinated with where celebrities started and their career arc. I ate up the interviews with some of my favorite comedians, but I was just as interested in the interviews of comics that I didn’t know as well. Apatow interviewed each person in a unique way with different questions, touching on both hard/vulnerable topics as well as lighthearted topics. If you are a fan of comedy and enjoy reading non-fiction, I highly recommend picking this one up!
• 
  Margot Correa

  (4.5 stars) even better than the first!!!! So honored to have received an ARC and I can’t wait for it to be published so everyone can read these special conversations that Judd is known for!
• 
  Dan Connors

  More great interviews from Mr. Apatow. He should have a talk show.
• 
  Katherine Bowe

  I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I have always been a fan of Apatow’s movies and discovering his book when I listened to his interview on a movie review podcast. I found all of the interviews very interesting and loved discovering new information/perspectives from various people in the entertainment industry. I never read the first one but it’s on the To Buy list!
• 
  Danielle H

  I read the interviews I was going to read. It made me watch Funny People again. What more do we need to say?
• 
  Barbara

  
  
  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.
  
  You can follow my reviews at
  https://reviewsbybarbsaffer.blogspot.com
• 
  Rock Cousteau

  Great book. Nice to learn about how comics develop their styles.
• 
  Boni

  So… Judd Apatow started interviewing comedians since he was a teen (Paul Reiser, John Candy) because he was fascinated with comedy. This compendium is overflowing with so many stars. So many surprises. This was like watching a talk show (which I haven’t done in years). Loved the Letterman piece, didn’t have a clue who Ed Templeton was… and that’s generally how my read went. (Skimmed Templeton, Fiedler, and others, but ate up the Letterman piece, with a lot of Cameron Crowe in that land of in-between). I felt like starting with the chapters of my favorites (at least those celebs that I recognized) and then finishing with the no-names (I might feel guilty calling these important (?) people no-names, when it’s my ignorance being exposed here.) That being said, I was glad to have discovered entertainers like Gary Gilman, whose comedy is nearly as valuable as his frank discussion of depression. I learned sadly that mental health challenges haunt many comedians (re: the genius of Robin Williams). Then I finally figured the connection of all these interviews and the title “Sicker in the Head”, insensitively called from the warped world of comedic sensibility, right?
  
  And the shock of discovering Hannah Gadsby! Again Worthwhile! Liked Jimmy Kimmel’s chapter to see the mind of talk show hosts. Lots of cool trivia. Buck Henry wrote ‘The Graduate’!?! Bill Hader is a nice guy. Kevin Hart’s mind (comedy, writing, business) ends him up worth $450, and a seat on Shark Tank! Lin Manuel-Miranda’s part in The Sopranos… and on a related note in the chapter…“[Hamilton’s] son died in a duel, and then he died in a duel in the same place three years later.” 😳
  
  Ultimately, even halfway through, it felt like I was reading 20 cool biographies in a single book! What great insights into so many varied careers, so many paths to celebrity success. So many different personalities, struggles, resilience, endurance, and belief fueled by fiery ambition buttressed by damn hard work.
  
  So this multi-dimensional compilation of interviews is more entertaining than first blush. And side benefits were introductions to artistic gems that I’d yet to be exposed to. Like Lulu Wang’s “The Farewell” or the podcast ‘This American Life.’.. all in one fell swoop). Like the first political comedian, Mort Sahl, whose downfall was the JFK assassination (He wrote jokes for Kennedy!). Like Ramy Youssef, who has a prejudiced take on white Uber drivers (😂). And then there’s Roger Daultry and Pete Townsend, making their own guitar and bass since they couldn’t afford to buy. The genius of Keith Moon against the angst of the Who. Daultry getting booted out for flushing their drugs.
• 
  Sammy

  The first one is much better. Reading this outside the quarantine, with such a reflection on the quarantine--and with a roster of interviewees outside of comedy makes it feel unfocused.
  
  That said, Judd is a great interviewer, and it's still enlightening to read some of these people's thoughts.
  
  I love when he talks about what drove him to create Freaks and Geeks and how he reflects on the story he's told throughout his career:
  
  "Then I've noticed something that was at the end of almost every movie and every tv show, almost down to the episode: I tend to write an ending where one character is selflessly present for the other character, who desperately needs it....and then I thought I must try to force everyone I deal with to do that ending. It must be a mantra. Can you be selfless? Can you be giving?"
  
  And it taught me about writing stories with a message, an ending, and a mantra.
  
  I've never been a Monty Python fan, but my favorite interview was with John Cleese.
  
  He talked about finding an answer to an unfinished sketch by letting it go and sitting down peacefully with his cup of coffee in the morning--and allowing his mind to work it out. James L Brooks said something similar while talking about washing the dishes. John Cleese says, "The problem with the unconscious is that it's extraordinary what it can do, but you can't order it about. You Can't hit it with a stick. You have to discover how to coax it."
  
  And that helps me frame how I see a joke or creative issue I'm working on. I'll learn to utilize my subconscious more to process it so it can all come to me. Being Bored is essential to creativity, allowing your mind time to process.
  
  Don't let a star rating deter you. There's a lot here, and there is plenty of wisdom.
  
• 
  Michael Emond

  This was an enjoyable read but I do admit to skipping several chapters of people I had never heard of before. The problem with Judd's interviewing style is he doesn't really let you know who any of these people are with his first questions so if you don't know (as one example) that Roger Daltrey was in The Who you probably won't know by the end of the interview either. And his questions aren't revealing enough that you'll know more about these people after reading their interview.
  
  What you DO get though is some fun interview with some interesting people. The best (for me) was with Gary Gulman who went back and forth with Judd about their experiences with their mental health issues. that one was most interesting because Judd and Gary could share and what they went through and it felt less like an interview and more like a conversation.
  
  Some interviews were painfully short and superficial (an old John Candy one) and others didn't have much to say. But overall I enjoyed it. I recall liking the first book more but that might be because he interviewed some more of his comedian friends in that one and those are the ones I am most drawn to.
• 
  Shelley

  Once again, Judd Apatow serves up a lot of great stuff here for the comedy fan. I enjoyed the insight into a comedian's or writer's process and all that went into becoming who they will be as a performer (or whatever it is they're doing in showbiz, as the book isn't limited to standup).
  
  This collection of interviews follows his first book, Sick in the Head, which held interviews dating back decades when he was a teen comedy nerd clever enough to find a way to interview his heroes. He made good use of people being stuck at home during the early days of covid to schedule more interviews, expanding the list of subjects to include more than comedians.
  
  In addition to comics, he interviewed people like Gayle King, Cameron Crowe and Mindy Kaling (all great reads, btw). I also loved the chapters for Tig Notaro, Pete Davidson, and George Shapiro (that last one was surprising to me, but Jerry Seinfeld's longtime agent had good stories to share).
  
  There's a lot to love here. A nice perk: if you don't have a lot of time to read, you can easily dip into a chapter here and there without losing the plot, 'cause there ain't one. Each chapter stands alone. If you do have time to read through at a faster pace, all the better, it's great either way.
• 
  Alicia

  as seen on @aliciaisreading on instagram:
  I LOVE listening to interviews/podcasts of comedians. and so even though i think i have the backstories of comedians like hasan minhaj, bowen yang, and john mulaney memorized at this point, I still had to read this. I love listening to successful individuals ~talk shop~, because despite the differences in specifics between my passion and theirs, key lessons still come through. Reading these interviews shows me that to have a passion is to have both the ultimate confidence in your success and the work ethic to devote yourself and put the time into understanding your craft— a level of dedication I want to bring to my life.
  
  As a collection of many many interviews, this is a great read for those with short attention spans or a nice beach read for the summer 🤠
• 
  Adam Gerber

  There is something so unbelievably compelling about the ways Judd can relate to different comedians and creatives while simultaneously remaining true to himself. The enthusiasm for expression is infectious start to finish.
  
  Sick in the Head was a bible for me in college and I’d read the whole thing front to back countless times. Sicker in the Head maintains the same sort of momentum with a much more diverse line up of creatives. Felt like conversations were more practical and present as a result, grounded as opposed to waxing poetic.
  
  I love that the same format with different creatives can yield wildly different conversations.
• 
  Steve Portigal

  I really enjoyed this book of (mostly) recent conversations between Judd and all sorts of creative people - mostly but not exclusively comedians. They are interviews, sure, but his style is much more conversational, sharing his own experiences in response to something the other person says. It's very comfortable and very real and you get to know these folks pretty well through their own stories and perspectives.
• 
  Elysa

  "Sicker in the Head" features interviews with a wide variety of people, and they talk about several different topics. I learned new things about several people, and I added tons of stuff to my watch list. I did skip a couple people when I didn't know who they were or their work after googling them just because the book was pretty long. There are both funny and emotional moments.
• 
  Jean

  I read in a review somewhere that you did not need to be familiar with the people Apatow was interviewing to be able to appreciate the book. I did not find this to be true. Without knowing who the different comics are, the interviews get repetitive and are singularly unrevealing. I am moving onto something else without rating this.
• 
  Beverly Aspell Mac Donald

  Sequel to Sick in the Head, which I haven’t read yet. It’s a compilation of interviews with other comedians, many conducted during finding something productive to do during the pandemic. Some were very interesting (Tig Navarro, Cameron Crowe, PeteDavidson, Lin Manuel Miranda) but the best one was with Roger Daltrry!! Some weren’t so interesting but thankfully, they were shorter.
• 
  KB2788

  I loved reading Apatow’s interviews with comedians, musicians, and celebrities from every generation. The people I didn’t know were beyond worth looking up, and the ones I knew had thought provoking questions that provided readers with new insight into their lives. (4.5)