The first book in twenty-five years from “one of our great comic minds” (The Washington Post) features Seinfeld’s best work across five decades in comedy. Since his first performance at the legendary New York nightclub “Catch a Rising Star” as a twenty-one-year-old college student in fall of 1975, Jerry Seinfeld has written his own material and saved everything. “Whenever I came up with a funny … “Whenever I came up with a funny bit, whether it happened on a stage, in a conversation, or working it out on my preferred canvas, the big yellow legal pad, I kept it in one of those old school accordion folders,” Seinfeld writes. “So I have everything I thought was worth saving from forty-five years of hacking away at this for all I was worth.”
For this book, Jerry Seinfeld has selected his favorite material, organized decade by decade. In this “trove of laugh-out-loud one-liners” (Associated Press), you will witness the evolution of one of the great comedians of our time and gain new insights into the thrilling but unforgiving art of writing stand-up comedy.
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If there is one thing I love it is stand-up comedy, and ever since watching Seinfeld I have been a huge fan of Jerry’s and I’ve been to a fair amount of his shows as well. So, when I saw he had a new book out with an audiobook that he narrates, I had to listen to it, and I was NOT disappointed. Is This Anything? is basically a compilation of his best bits across the decades and they are broken into sections accordingly. We go from the 70s through ‘the teens’ and while he does talk a bit about himself at the beginning of each part, he does not specifically tell you where the ideas for the bits came from. This is quite literally, just a book of bits for the most part so don’t go into it expecting a biography or a ton of insight or you will be disappointed.
I really liked the way the audiobook was done, and Jerry reads all of the book minus the titles of his bits which are read by a female narrator. I thought this was such a great way to do it, and I would highly recommend listening to the audio if you want to get that stand-up feel. Nothing can beat a live show, but listening to this was a close second, and Jerry delivers his bits the way he would on a stage. I really appreciated this as opposed to if he would have just read the bits without any feeling, but of course, he wouldn’t do that since he’s JERRY! If you can’t go to a live show and you love Jerry Seinfeld’s comedy, I highly recommend listening to Is This Anything?
Jerry Seinfeld gives us a glimpse into the world of stand-up comedy .The author writes comedians seem to hurtle through space and time untethered to anything but the sound of a laugh.The author tells us I was more than happy to accept not being that funny comedian over any other option without realizing it of course ,this attitude is the exact right way to start out.Expect nothing Except anything The writer continues to share with us I think it’s from some emotional cocktail of boredom ,aggression,intense visual acuity and a kind of silly putty of the mind that enables you to re-form what you see into what you want it to be .We are told you need to be smart and dumb to create comedy When one reads through the authors treasure trove of jokes one finds themselves laughing hysterically!One of my favorite are children of the 60’swhich is right up my alley!The author writes You didn’t even have a childhood compared to what we had in the 60’sOur parents didn’t even know our names ,They were ignorant Negligent Completely checked out.On nutrition,safety education Can you even imagine the world I’m describing ?We were like wild dogs in the 60’s.It was magnificent .No seatbelts ,No helmets .No restraints of any kind . Anything came to a stop ,we just flew through the air.I was either consuming 100%sugar or airborne That was my childhood . It was fantastic !The author brilliantly captures the comedy and truth in this glorious time of discovery and freedom .The writer tells us of this fleeting moment of human connection and after we read his jokes we know Laughter is the best medicine !Thank -you Jerry !