booknewb

TL;DR: A bunch of bits that Chris Rock may or may not have done in a special but condensed in a book. 

I bought the book slightly out of an impulse. I wasn't expecting to see it in shelves and there it was. It's basically a collection of interviews Judd Apatow made with comedians when he was young and some more recently.  If he had the technology back then, he'd have probably turned them into podcasts. Aside from the current stand up comics, more than half of the people Judd interviews I've never heard of, which made it intriguing. A couple I realized I've seen their bodies of work, I just didn't know it came from them. One for example is Harold Ramis. That memory connection went when I googled and saw that he directed Groundhog Day. I may be oversimplifying something but it seems like the directors are pretty stable, happy and content. Some of the writers and stand up comics seem all over the place. Some are pretty dark and one could sense a bit of ego riding along. As a whole, I realized these comics are really just people. Some are born out of broken fam...

It's incredibly absurd; Hilarious.  Some comics say this movie cannot be made today. I got that now. It's basically a dark comedy in a western setting. The story revolves around a newly appointed black Sheriff in an all-white town. The final act was trippy. The movie gets away with a lot of edgy material for it's time.  This would be the first Mel Brooks movie I've ever seen. If it's representative of his comedy filmography. Much respect.

It's an interesting view on the modern dating scene in the US through the eyes of a stand-up comic. Most are pretty easily identifiable, like the anxieties over text messages. Some I'd say are still different in the Philippines, like Online Dating being not as prevalent, or m aybe I'm part of a segment that does not see as much.  Aziz has a bit that goes something like "Your grandmother didn't have 50 guys texting her all night saying how good she looked when she met your grandfather".  Time being a factor. People before didn't have the circumstances we have now. Likewise, people in the future will have advancements we don't have or know. Also,  people were meeting differently. They were meeting people that were relatively close to their homes. Nowadays, people have the option to meet through bigger channels and be introduced to a bigger number of potential partners. With the surge of potential partners and options, the paradox of choice surface...