SICK IN THE HEAD

I read a lot of books.

Recently I read this one because,

well...

JOHN SCALZI!!!

After that I read this series,

which was fun:

But while 

space colonization

and

sadistically evil fallen angels

are awesome,

I'm currently 

obsessed with 

THIS BOOK:

Now I always knew I kinda liked 

writer/director/producer Judd Apatow.

Of the eleventy billion films he's 

written and/or produced 

I've seen:

Bridesmaids

Superbad

Anchorman

The Forty Year Old Virgin

and

Knocked up.

And I absolutely 

LOVED

Trainwreck.

I also watched a couple episodes of

Freaks and Geeks,

which I loved.

I'm not sure why I never 

got around to finishing it.

So yeah,

 I like Mr. Apatow for the funny.

But this book has made me like him

for his unrelenting love of what he does.

Judd always had a passion for comedy.

So a long time ago he decided 

to interview his favorite comedians

 for the radio station he worked at.

Never mind that he was only 15 years old.

Ignore that the radio station

was in his high school.

And forget that most of the interviews 

never went on the radio anyway.

All these funny people expected 

someone from a real radio station.

But instead a kid from Long Island 

shows up with an enormous tape recorder.

To their credit,

everyone was awesome

and indulged young Judd:

Jerry Seinfeld

Garry Shandling

Martin Short

Sandra Bernhard

Steve Allen

Harry Anderson

Jay Leno

and more!

Judd did these interviews to meet his heroes

and find out what made them tick.

To get advice about comedy.

And just to bask in their funny.

And he was 15 years old.

As Mr. Apatow grew to become

a sizable figure in Hollywood comedy,

he continued to interview 

his equally sizable peers, 

his stars and his heroes:

Harold Ramis

Chris Rock

James L. Brooks

Key and Peele

Louis C.K.

Lena Dunham

Jon Stewart

Mel Brooks

Sarah Silverman

Stephen Colbert

Steve Martin

and lots more.

The book is a fascinating look into what drives people to comedy:

Broken families.

Trying to get girls.

Feeling like an outsider.

The ability to control what people are laughing at you about.

It's also a view into Mr. Apatow's thought process.

The best creative-types 

are those that have a pure passion for what they want to do

and they'll do anything to get it.

I mean, this was a guy that audio taped

Saturday Night Live and then transcribed it on paper afterwards

 to study how the whole show worked.

One of the reasons I love this book is because

I did a similar thing:

When I came to NYC in 1990,

I started an interview series for the

ASIFA-EAST newsletter about

animators and animation studios.

Just like Judd,

I wanted to meet the people that did

the stuff I wanted to do.

It was also a great way to get my foot in the door

and get to know people at the studios around town.

I actually ended up getting some jobs out of those contacts.

Anyway,

if you're looking for a wonderful

(and sometimes dark) 

look into the mind of great comedians,

go get

SICK IN THE HEAD.