Installment #7 in Monolisticle's Ongoing Campaign Against the "Internet of Endless Listicles."
The origin of the book Sick in the Head, Conversations About Life and Comedy is, by itself, a fascinating story.
Apparently, ever since Judd Apatow was a teenager in high school—and this is long before he was a famous comedic writer, producer, and director—he would reach out to famous comedians and request to interview them.
Apatow did this under the hilarious guise of being a reporter for a radio station. Which was only sort of kind of the truth. The radio station was his high school radio station. But the comedians didn’t know that. Or maybe they did, but they didn’t care. Or maybe they were just impressed by the kid’s chutzpah.
Lucky for all of us, most of the comedians Apatow requested interviews with said yes. And then some other comedians said yes. And then, as Apatow himself became famous, they of course said yes. Thus began a lifetime of interviews with other famous comedians, which Apatow compiled into this platinum mine of a book.
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All of this, by the way, is so Judd Apatow. It’s easy to imagine an Apatow movie about a lonely nerdy high school kid chasing down comedians and interviewing them. It would certainly make a great film. But Apatow is probably too focused on making films that tell other comedians' coming-of-age stories, like The King of Staten Island, than to tell his own.
Here’s the thing. The book is so much more than just a collection of interviews with comedians making jokes and talking about making jokes. Yes, there is plenty of joking around in the book, and it’s all pure comedy gold.
But where the book really transcends comedy, and is most substantive—and even inspiring and profound at times—is the degree to which Apatow’s interviews reveal the relatable humanity of the comedians he interviews.
I love, love, love Jerry Seinfeld’s show Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, and I’ve watched every single one of the 70+ episodes. Some I’ve even watched more than once. But the key difference between Seinfeld’s show and Sick in the Head (besides, of course, that one is a TV show and the other is a book) is that with two comedians in front of a camera, you’re going to get a lot of joking around. You just are. And that’s a big part of what’s great about Seinfeld’s show.
However, with no camera in the room, Apatow is able to dig a little deeper into the creative process and other interesting subjects. By the way, Seinfeld was one of Apatow’s first interviews back in high school. And he’s interviewed him again since then, too. Without the camera, you get to experience Seinfeld in a way you haven’t before.
I love both Seinfeld’s and Apatow’s formats, and I love them both for different reasons. When you mix, say, Seinfeld with Steve Martin you’re going to get a different result than when you mix Apatow with Steve Martin. Both great. Both great in different ways.
I also appreciated the range and diversity of the comedians Apatow included. Along with obvious comic geniuses like Tina Fey, Will Ferrell, and Chris Rock—and classic greats like Garry Shandling and Mel Brooks—you’re also getting people like Spike Jonze and Lena Dunham.
Last of all—and this is pretty cool—Apatow donates 100% of his royalties from the sale of this book to the charity “The Judd Apatow Family Vacation Fund” (just kidding). The charity is actually called 826LA a nonprofit writing and tutoring center (826la has yet to be rated by Charity Navigator, but I trust Apatow and his book publisher @randomhouse to have thoroughly vetted it ).
So you’re not only getting a book that improves your life, your money is also helping to improve other people’s lives. Pretty cool.
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