Thanks to the 90s TV show, it feels as if Seinfeld has been part of the backdrop of popular culture for most of my life. I wasn’t an early devotee to Seinfeld – I saw the odd episode here and there, I knew who Kramer and George Costanza were, but I didn’t go out of my way to watch it. Of the episodes I had seen, some had been a bit funny, most had a type of humour I tended to find a bit over the top. I can appreciate sitcom humour well enough, but the type of funny that really makes me laugh is usually darker and drier. More sarcastic. So this was never really my jam. Except.
In the early 2000s I started to experience severe pain radiating all the way down my leg. I had to sit half off my chair so I didn’t bend my right hip for long. I took a worrying amount of over-the-counter painkillers just to be able to make it through work and my university classes. Of course I went to the doctor (actually, several and some physiotherapists as well), but was told over and over that I was “too young” for it to be a serious issue, and that I should try gentle exercises and pilates and that it would likely go away on its own. Spoiler: It didn’t. Four years later I got up one morning and passed out twice. Luckily my now-husband was there to catch me or this story would likely have a very different ending (as in I wouldn’t be here to tell it) as I passed out in a small bathroom with lots of hard surfaces and sharp edges. But he got an ambulance and, long story short, I ended up in hospital where it was determined that I was not, in fact, too young to have a serious back issue – in fact I required urgent surgery. So I had to stay in hospital for a while. The first few days I didn’t know what was wrong with me. They put me on the heavily controlled painkillers (shots of morphine did not even touch the pain) so I was pretty out of it, and every few hours the pain would come back and I’d be unable to get comfortable or sleep.
What, I hear you asking, does any of this have to do with Seinfeld? Well, this was before Netflix, so all I had to watch was the hospital television. And I discovered that at the times when I was likely to be most uncomfortably tossing and turning and trying not to lose my mind worrying about whether I’d ever walk again, there weren’t many options of things to watch. There were infomercials (remember those?), random cartoons if it was late/early enough and endless re-runs of Seinfeld. So I watched Seinfeld. And because it took my mind off of my agony and fear, I began to like it. Call it Stockholm syndrome if you like, but whatever it was, I’ve had a soft spot for the brash humour and exaggerated characters of this show ever since. Is it the best show ever? No. Do I have a sudden appreciation for this type of stand-up comedy? Also no. But I am grateful to it for getting me through one of the hardest times of my life, and that creates an unlikely and slightly odd loyalty.
I didn’t really plan to read this book. I was mildly interested, but only mildly. But I’m participating in an audiobook reading challenge, and this was one of the books I had as an option. I’d just finished a few somewhat intense memoir situations, and it felt like the perfect moment for some comic relief. After all, if Seinfeld can get me through my first surgery, he can definitely help me take a mental break after reading about the challenges of motherhood, right?
I enjoyed this book for exactly what it is. It’s like an audiobook version of Seinfeld’s stand-up routine. It’s a collection of short bits, some of which were not anything (sorry, had to), others had me give a wry chuckle or two. I liked that it’s wide-ranging and somewhat autobiographical. I liked that he touches on a lot of the important moments in his life and career, that he brings in his family, his origins and the comedy industry as a whole. He pokes fun at some easy targets (men, notably) and one of the bits that stuck with me was his acronym for golf (“get out leave family”) that takes golf about as seriously as I do. (I do not like golf.)
Will this book change your life? Oh, absolutely not. But if you’re a fan of this genre of comedy or of Seinfeld, this will be full of the type of humour you enjoy. And even if you’re not, there’s still enough here that some of it will land. If all else fails, have a life-and-death bonding experience with Seinfeld and I’m sure it’ll be worth reading.
The first book in twenty-five years from Jerry Seinfeld features his 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 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 page after hilarious page, one brilliantly crafted observation after another, readers 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. – Goodreads
Book Title: Is This Anything?
Author: Jerry Seinfeld
Series: No
Edition: Audiobook
Published By: Simon & Schuster
Released: October 6, 2020
Genre: Non-Fiction, Comedy, Cultural Criticism
Pages: 480
Date Read: July 18, 2024
Rating: 6/10
Average Goodreads Rating: 3.72/5 (23,286 ratings)