Title Sick in the Head
Author Judd Apatow
Year Published 2016
Kind of Book interviews with comedians
How strongly I recommend it 6/10
My Impressions
There were a few interesting interviews in here, but it got quite repetitive hearing Apatow's same anecdotes over and over by the end. Also with the advent of podcasts and youtube written interviews just can't compete. You miss so much in terms of delivery, tone of voice, facial expression etc.
Date Read February 2021
Practical Takeaways
Ad lib whenever you are working on new material-Jerry Seinfeld (Sick in the Head)
Don't blame the crowd if you bomb A: Are you going to give them credit if you kill?-Chris Rock (Sick in the Head)
Make yourself scared-Chris Rock (Sick in the Head)
Give yourself time to be bored-Eddie Vedder (Sick in the Head)
When working an older audience be broader and more commercial and take out most of your hip material and singles material-Gary Shandling (Sick in the Head)
Write from personal experience-Gary Shandling (Sick in the Head)
When you're starting out just get onstage a bunch. It doesn't matter if people respond. Just get over stage freight //sim cold approach-Gary Shandling (Sick in the Head)
Start each day with a note in each pocket. One note says "The world was created for you today" and the other note says, "I'm a speck of dust in a meaningless universe." The goal is to balance both of those things-Rabbinical motto
200-400 seats is ideal for comedy-Jay Leno (Sick in the Head)
Listen to your set and throw out everything that's not funny-Jay Leno (Sick in the Head)
Tape your sets-Jay Leno (Sick in the Head)
Better to do 8minutes of really funny stuff than 16minutes of hit-and-miss-Jay Leno (Sick in the Head)
As a comedian, make fun of things you like not things you don't like A: if you go after things you don't like it can come off as vicious-Jay Leno (Sick in the Head)
Joke about things people can connect with eg. Everyone has a TV set. If everyone had elephants you’d talk about elephants-Jay Leno (Sick in the Head)
Don't go into an animal cage shaking A: they will rip you apart-Jay Leno (Sick in the Head)
Don't go on stake shaking A: they will rip you apart //sim cold approach-Jay Leno (Sick in the Head)
(Hecklers) give them enough rope to hang themselves-Jay Leno (Sick in the Head)
Make it shorter, make it funnier-Groucho Marx (after seeing The Second City)
Always want less, in words as well as things-Jerry Seinfeld (Sick in the Head)
Write with a pen and a big yellow legal pad. Not a screen-Jerry Seinfeld (Sick in the Head)
Think of it like free-diving for an hour or two. Then come up for air and collapse on the couch-Jerry Seinfeld (Sick in the Head)
When you're done with a bit either put it in the garbage or the accordion folder-Jerry Seinfeld (Sick in the Head)
Write about anything you think is funny or will get a laugh A: "if I could get a laugh with politics, I'd be doing politics."-Jerry Seinfeld (Sick in the Head)
Keep a picture of the Hubble Telescope on the wall and look at it to calm you down when you start thinking what you are doing is important-Jerry Seinfeld (Sick in the Head)
Look at everything as a game-Jerry Seinfeld (Sick in the Head)
Embrace the bomb-Jon Stewart (Sick in the Head)
Write every day for 2hrs-Jerry Seinfeld (Sick in the Head)
Be your own gauge for what is funny and what is not-Larry Gelbart (Sick in the Head)
If its just funny, but not character driven don't put it in the script-Larry Gelbart (Sick in the Head)
Write for yourself with the assumption that a number of other people will have similar sensibilities as you-Larry Gelbart (Sick in the Head)
Think of each year's standup act as a different book you wrote-Louis C.K. (Sick in the Head)
Seek out pressure-Louis C.K. (Sick in the Head)
Carve out time by yourself-Louis C.K. (Sick in the Head)
When in doubt, seduce-Elaine May (Sick in the Head)
Make sure your play is both funny and serious A: "You can't be only funny and God help any play that is never funny.-Mike Nichols (Sick in the Head)
Don't teach children about the holocaust too early A: it ruins their life-Roseanne Barr (Sick in the Head)
Don't trust an audience not to turn on you halfway through a show-Sandra Bernhard (Sick in the Head)
Work on the thing you're always thinking about-Spike Jonze (Sick in the Head)
Make the scene about the first thing you are emotional about and follow the rabbit hole-Stephen Colbert's improv teacher (Sick in the Head)
Put yourself in a state where you see the world differently than your audience does A: you want to surprise them with your choices-Stephen Colbert (Sick in the Head)
Warm the audience up//foreplay, stretching, warm-up-Steve Allen (Sick in the Head)
Don't allow assholes on your team-Mike Nichols (Sick in the Head)
Write for 20mins every day and toss it in the garbage A: to get past resistance and get past the surface level stuff to the deep stuff-David Milch (Sick in the Head)
(Public speaking) Have an image in mind that you can focus on when you're reading so that you don't get emotional -David Sedaris (Sick in the Head)
Walk 20 miles a day-David Sedaris (Sick in the Head)
Walk around an pick up garbage A: help the community, get exercise, observe the world-David Sedaris (Sick in the Head)
Write on airplanes-David Sedaris (Sick in the Head)
Sometimes give up on the piece, put it in a drawer and pick it back up in a couple of years-David Sedaris (Sick in the Head)
Keep doing the same thing every day for 15 years-David Sedaris (Sick in the Head)
Big Ideas
Comedy is a democratic system
Because
If a joke is funny it gets a laugh and if its not funny it doesn't
Therefore
The audience ultimately decides which comedians succeed and fail
Every man is a child
When men act grown up, it is just a cover
When you write jokes in movies it is like telling a joke and then waiting 7 months to see if it gets a laugh
When you say you did something on stage, people assume you do that thing all the time
Real comedy is connected to the deep pain and anguish we all feel
Deep down Bill Murray is raging, angry, and full of grief and unresolved emotions
Most book, movies, and TV shows are created for stupid people
Smart people are likely to be miserable
Being happy and at peace is good for you mental health, but bad for your career if you're a comedian in the Entertainment Industry
John Cleese says he is not as funny as he used to be because he is happier now
Pain and humor go together
[Comedians] are always damaged people. And comedy's a good way of dealing with it.
The same thing that ruined you life (eg. Childhood trauma) makes you great at your work
When the audience knows and likes you it buys you about 90 seconds of bad material
Sometimes when you get real big, they laugh at stuff that's really not that funny and you don't know anymore
Being a stand-up comedian makes you walk through life as an observer
Rich kids coopt poor kids cultures because they are bored
It's easier to make people sad than it is to make them laugh
There are only 3 types of Scenes
fights
Seductions
negotiations
Comedy is corrupting to the spirt. It does terrible things to people
Writing a movie can be a way of working out your own personal issues
Being unemployed/retired causing low self-esteem
When an audience is touched by a story they let out a wistful sigh
Having Two discouraging parents is bad.
Having Two encouraging parents is bad.
Having One discouraging parent and one encouraging parent is good
Surprising Facts
John Lennon was a frustrated comedian
Andy Kaufman was in character the whole time he was on set of Taxi
There used to be a belief in Hollywood that people don't like to see two black people kiss
There used to be a belief in Hollywood that you get 5 bombs before you go out of business
Robbin Williams would do these ridiculous improvisations on set and then not be able to remember them the next day when someone asked him about it. It was all unconscious according to Mike Nichols
One of the three stooges is making fun of Hitler, one is making fun of Einstein according to Roseanne Barr
Roseanne Barr had 3 kids when she started doing stand-up (for those with the limiting belief that you can't pursue your dreams after you have kids)
Sarah Silverman hates writing and says its torture even though she thinks she should love it
Unknown Terms
Conscious uncoupling: a neologism used in the 21st century to refer to a relatively amicable marital divorce. The term was created by Katherine Woodward Thomas in 2009 as a five-step process to support the conscious completion of an intimate relationship and popularized by Gwyneth Paltrow in 2014, who used the phrase to describe her then-recent divorce.
An Artist: a person who rides way out ahead of the herd and is on the lookout- Harry Nilsson
Lampoon: 1)satire" or, specifically, "a harsh satire usually directed against an individual 2)A written attack ridiculing a person, group, or institution.
Flooding (vivo exposure therapy): a form of behavior therapy and desensitization—or exposure therapy—based on the principles of respondent conditioning. As a psychotheraputic technique, it is used to treat phobia and anxiety disorders including PTSD. It works by exposing the patient to their painful memories, with the goal of reintegrating their repressed emotions with their current awareness. It was invented by psychologist Thomas Stampfl in 1967. (eg. Sitting in a trash can to quit your obsessive thoughts that you will die if you touched trash)