Sick in the Head: Conversations About Life and Comedy

I am a White Jewish Male that loves making f****ed up jokes and is addicted to all comedy, now it all makes sense to why I grew up on Judd's ingenious entertainment. I did not know who he was until I read this book that has brought me so much clarity to life and happiness. I remember while I was reading this book over this Winter Break I would snort and cry and even let silence muffle my head when the book would take a very personal turn and I loved all those feelings that took over. I love learning about people I don't know very well; however, this particular person, Judd Apatow, happen to be very immersed in my circle of life. Some of my favorite movies such as Funny People was written by Judd and I got to learn the movie was loosely based on his own experience! I went to Jerry Seinfeld's "Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee" and there was only three or four episodes I did not watch, cause I didn't know the guest, and what do you know, I see an episode with Judd Apatow. I was so surprised so watch the way Judd spoke in the episode cause he does not act in any way I imagined. He is a little goofy and still very shy, but isn't afraid to show is personality. This surprised me cause I read him as this super confident person, however he still seemed like his 15-year-old kid talking to his hero. And I find this inspirational cause it shows all us other nerds of comedy that you don't need to be Brad Pitt to survive in Hollywood and there are more Michael Cera's out there ;) My favorite thing about the book was that I found more interest in the interviews about people I didn't know or even didn't particularly like. It gave Amy Schumer a chance to reboot her career, cause I too was deceived by the media, that she was this "gross comedian who only talked about her sex life" creating this stereotype amongst female comedians. It sucks cause I was probably only 13 or 14 at the time when I was given this false image of her when, in fact, she is hilarious and ingenious. I also got to learn about Michael Che who is so well spoken and funny! I see him all the time on SNl but I have never learned anything about him outside of his sketch "Update" and I am so glad that I did. Highly recommend reading this interview!

A series of interviews with standups, comedy writers, and comedy directors. Apatow was a kid comedy nerd who began interviewing comedians in high school in the hope that they could tell him how to become a comedian, but the interviews are way too short for that, and it was probably not a very smart wish. Apatow *was* funny but more importantly had drive and stamina. The interviews are more a flyover than an excavation, but still interesting. What engaged me most were the variety of sensibilities and approaches to comedy and of psyches. Some are damaged, some not. What remains constant is a capacity for disciplined hard work.

While I'm not the biggest fan of Judd Apatow's movies -- my style of humor is a bit more retro than his cutting-edge raunchy comedies -- I think we can all agree that this book is a must-read. In a surprisingly personal introduction, Apatow describes growing up on Long Island, in the New York City suburbs, as a small kid and somewhat of an outsider, who finds his place in the world as a student of comedy, and as a teenage radio host at his low-wattage high school radio station, whose signal, he tells us, barely reached the school parking lot. He embarks on a quest to interview his favorite comedians, both old and new, and thus was born his career as a comedy writer and A-list (or at least high B-list) movie director. "Sick in the Head" is a self-described labor of love, the result of 30 years' worth of Apatow interviewing, or being interviewed alongside, the great comics from across all eras. He starts off with a transcript of his 1983 interview with a ridiculously young Jerry Seinfeld, who even back then is musing about what a transition from stand-up comedy to sitcom acting might do to his career. Seinfeld also describes routines of his own favorite comics of that generation, including Letterman and Leno in the infancy of their careers. Speaking to a 15-year-old nobody from a high school radio station, Seinfeld provides unusually long, candid, thoughtful -- and shockingly prescient -- answers. Which sets the tone for the rest of the book, a series of interview transcripts from the mid-1980's to the present day, seemingly arranged in alphabetical order only so that Apatow's old roommate, a guy named Adam Sandler, can serve as chapter 1. From Albert Brooks to Lena Dunham, from young Garry Shandling to old Garry Shandling, from Jon Stewart to Jimmy Fallon, from Mel Brooks to Sarah Silverman... and also Apatow's wife. this book is basically a who's who of the comedy world for the past two or three generations. Each interview is prefaced with an erudite but warm introduction explaining that particular comedian's place in Apatow's world, and how the interview came to be. Get the book, even if you're not Apatow's biggest fan yourself. This book is by no means a vanity project; it's a love letter to the world of comedy and will almost definitely serve as an important primary-source reference work in the years to come.

The book is almost worth purchasing for the interviews with Garry Shandling alone. The Jerry Seinfeld interviews are also top notch, but readers may want to recuse my review of this interview, based on my freakish, near stalker fandom. The Albert Brooks interviews are some of the more engaging in the series, as is the interview conducted with Larry Gelbart and James L. Brooks. The final interview worthy of note, that should also carry an asterisk based on freakish fandom is the interview with Jim Carrey and Ben Stiller on one of my favorite movies of all time The Cable Guy. The subject matter of some of the other interviews range from promotion of Apatow's latest project, discussion of Apatow's former projects, and some general discussions of Apatow's life, and his foray into standup. I, personally, don't care about Mr. Apatow, and I have always found his movies decent and largely overrated. Apatow does fashion some of his self-indulgence in the form of a question, which is acceptable considering the fact that he's not a professional, but there are other cringe-worthy moments when the author chose to include his subjects' praise of Judd Apatow that left this reader thinking that a more humble author would've deleted those comments. Most of the interviews not mentioned here are not bad, boring, or utterly lacking in merit, but they're almost all uneventful on a level that left this reader feeling disappointed. The very prospect of seeing some of these comedic luminaries interviewed, by an insider, talking craft, had me so anxious that I was skipping all over the place in the book to those conducted by my favorites. After doing this a number of times, I was left with the lamentable conclusion that most of these interviews were kind of boring. Some of the interviews were hyped by the author as consequential, but this reader finished them thinking anything but. Overall, I would say that it's worthy of purchasing for the interviews I've mentioned above, especially the Shandling interviews, and it's long enough to allow for some of the relatively boring interviews to be dismissed, but be prepared to skim some, skip others, and wish the author had shown more discretion in others.

This is probably a really excellent guide or even textbook for young, hungry people about the how to work in entertainment business. Apatow is one of the best, and I began reading this book with an unwavering interest in him. However, his real genius is interviewing all these different comedians/writers/directors/entertainers to understand how the came to the craft, how they work, the big break, and how they keep an interest in working. All the stuff is here to learn and inspire young people to just do the thing. School is a huge distraction for most of these performers, and they learned by doing. So just like Apatow models himself, it doesn’t matter what you start, just start. And don’t quit.

I needed a book to clear my mind after reading some good mysteries. I heard Judd Apatow doing an interview on NPR on the Fresh Air program where he was promoting this book. When Judd was in high school, he had a show on his school radio station and was able to convince some high-powered comedians (Jerry Seinfeld, Jay Leno, Steve Allen, etc.) to give him interviews even though he was s self-described awkward 14 year old. He asked good questions for someone of that age and gained some valuable advice from some yet to be superstar comedians and some already established big names. These early interviews are supplemented with more current interviews with some of the same comedians. This aspect of the book was not as enjoyable as I expected it to be because Apatow has become somewhat self-absorbed at this point in his career and often stepped on the comedians' stories with his own anecdotes from Freaks and Geeks, Knocked Up, the 40 Year-Old Virgin, etc. While Judd's stories were interesting, it would have been better to have him review the advice and insight that they gave him at 14 and see if they still subscribed to the same philosophies. Overall, it was an enjoyable book if you can get past the insecurity and self-absorption of Apatow in the later interviews.

There's a lot to this book. There's the past and the present and the interview subjects and the interviewer. Apatow is at once humble and curious and insightful at every stage of time- whether in an interview from when he was a fan kid in the 1980's or from just a few years ago when he is a formidable peer to his subjects. I really liked it a lot and learned about comedy and craft and the role of vulnerability and drive in crafting one's artistic excellence. Looking forward to part two.

Not only do we get a deep dive into how some of the greatest comedians work and what makes them tick, they often turn the tables and shine the spotlight on the author. Judd Apatow has been responsible for some of the greatest comedy content of the past 30 years, and it’s a joy to read him talking shop with his heroes.

Wooww nice

My husband bought this for himself, and he says, “I can’t wait to finish this book so I can pick it up and start reading it again and highlight and take notes of all the great stories and advice... it’s not just funny, there are a lot of profound things in there, too.”

Excelente libro lleno de anécdotas y experiencias de nuestros comediantes favoritos, toda persona amante de la comedia amará este libro.

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