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As a professor at a local university, I am often asked to read new texts or journals. However, this book was a delightful change! Mike Sacks has a knack of capturing the comedians' inner most thoughts. He excels at using his own humor to add interest to each interview. I loved the book!
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I loved this book, especially the interview with the older guy who wrote for the Marx Brothers, Irving Brecher. Thanks for finding him.
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As an aspiring comedy writer, this book could not have been any more informative. I couldn't put it down. Writers divuldge tidbids about process and what it is like to be in the writer's room. They talk about how they got their first gig and most importantly what it means to write great comedy. There are many pieces of advice in the book, which should inspire writers confident in their craft and deter those that may be better suited for other careers. If you want to see if you are heading the the right direction as a humor writer, I would highly recommend this book. While you do get some differing opinions, there is a sense of cohesion that makes this more than just a collection of interviews.
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After devouring this book, I realized that it's not just for people who like comedy or writing or even show business, but it's great for anyone interested in being interested. What Mike Sacks has been able to do by inviting us as flies-on-the-wall to his conversations with these creative people, is give us some incredible insights into the creative process, but in a fun and lively way. You can tell that because he knows his subject so well, they seem to appreciate that they're not just being interviewed, but engaged, and Mike ends up getting them to talk about their lives in ways I bet they haven't before. Lots of people above me have written great and wonderful reviews about how great and wonderful the book is and I couldn't agree more (but I won't babble on repeating too much). If you're the type of person who reads these reviews in order to figure out what books to spend your hard-earned tip money on, then I'm guessing you're also the kind of person who is interested in being interested. This book is for you. I couldn't put it down. I physically couldn't put it down.
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In these 21 interviews, Mike Sacks has compiled an authoritative collection of advice, opinions, and anecdotes that should be seized upon by anyone who loves comedy, and particularly those with a yearning to write. I was browsing [...] early last week when I happened on three of the interviews that didn't make the final cut for this book. They were so engrossing that I bought the real thing from Amazon. Sacks is a skilled interviewer who asserts himself when necessary (as in his dogged pursuit of the exact nature of David Sedaris' autobiographical 'exaggerations'), but otherwise is content to prompt a succession of recollections and revelations that never fail to disappoint. It gave me particular pleasure, for example, to read Mitch Hurwitz's exhortation for every writer to care for their characters, and never treat them with dismissal, cruelty, or cynicism.
Not surprisingly, the interviews themselves are often very funny, and this combines with the wealth of material at hand to provide a terrific reading experience. The joy of the comedy witness is the final product, but for those of us with professional comedic aspirations of our own, getting inside the mind of the men and women who create that product is a priceless journey. Sacks provides that opportunity with this book, and I can't recommend it highly enough.
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