I enjoyed this biography of Jon Stewart, reading this in anticipation of his ending tenure at The Daily Show. Nothing controversial here - Rogak covers his early life, his soccer career at University, his comedy beginnings. Stewart's take over of The Daily Show, how his past informs his comedy, a few controversies from the show. The reviews at library thing complain that there is no new information, nothing very deep, but it was all I wanted and I listened easily.
narrated by Heather Henderson
I'm not even sure how I found this engrossing read, but this was a great investigative journey into the author's 'month of madness.' Susannah Cahalan was a reporter with the New York Post when she had a seizure. Or something. She quickly devolved, and had some psychotic episodes, became erratic, and couldn't function. She ended up in a psych ward and without the devotion and determination of her divorced parents, and a lucky consult from a particular doctor, she might still be there. That doctor determined she had an infection and her immune system had attacked her brain - rare form of encephalitis.
After the fact, the journalist in her looked back at records, journals, and even video tape from hospitals to piece together what had actually happened to her, as she had little memory. It was a scary story, how quickly she changed, and how no one really knew what was the matter. There is now more awareness of this and more people are being diagnosed, but looking back, it's believed that perhaps others with this may have been diagnosed as schizophrenic or possessed by the devil.
I've always been conflicted about Martin Short - I've watched a lot of his work over the years, especially SCTV and Saturday Night Live when he was on it. Include some great movies, like Three Amigos and The Father of the Bride and the man has an impressive resume. But some of his stuff is so over the top (I'm looking at you Jimminy Glick) and Short's apparent incessant need for attention can be annoying. However, this memoir was fabulous, and has improved my impression of him. He's still over the top and goes too far too often in his comedy, but he comes across as so down to earth, and kind, and so very Canadian that I guess I am a fan.
There are tons of names dropped here, and it must have been a great time in the 1970s comedy scene. He and Andrea Martin were married to siblings, he dated Gilda Radner, Paul Shaffer is a pal, Victor Garber is a close friend, as is Tom Hanks and Steve Martin. He appears to have stayed good friends with a large circle of famous people and yet, he never succumbed to a rich and famous life style, living in the same house in Pacific Palisades with his long time wife, and maintaining a cottage in Canada. His family was close and funny, and he was orphaned by the age of twenty, but he never seemed to let these sad events, including his brother dying as well, define him. His Canadian-ness is also very important to him, even though he has lived in the States for so long.
I'd recommend the audiobook version of this book, as all the characters appear, and his ability to do impressions of people is so evident and funny. There is behind the scenes stuff from SCTV (the best show ever!) and SNL with Billy Crystal, plus so much more, His love for his wife comes through loud and clear - they married in Toronto before he was famous, and they stayed together until she died in 2010 of ovarian cancer. I had almost forgotten about that and then suddenly remembered just before I got to the chapters that detail her death. So the book has very funny, and very sad. Their love story and friendship was quite beautiful, and his remembrances of her after her death were very touching. I especially liked him when he was being sincere and smart, and wasn't 'on'.
