The Bedwetter - Sarah Silverman

The Bedwetter - Sarah Silverman

There's probably a fairly large amount of people in Ireland and the  UK who have no idea who Sarah Silverman is. There is probably no-one under 50 in the US and Canada who don't know who she is. Of those who do know her, I imagine she is a 'love her/hate her' type of comic. I imagine this means that the target audience round these parts is pretty small. It stands to reason that the better you know someone, the more you are likely to enjoy their autobiography. I've been aware of Silverman for some time, but I've never seen her TV show. I suppose I'm as much aware of her notoriety as I am of her material.

Known for her spiky and extremely frank stand-up and TV shows - she's also appeared in a number of movies - I remember her from School of Rock primarily but I did a quick check of her TV and film appearances on IMDB, and she has actually appeared in a fairly large number of shows - most appearances are fairly obvious: The Simpsons, Futurama, Saturday Night Live, Entourage and Larry Sanders. 


It's while talking about her adventures in making shows and films that Silverman is at her most entertaining. She makes the comment that for a female comic wanting to appear in movies - there are only 3 different characters available: The bitchy ex-wife, The lead character's c*nty girlfriend before he finds out what love can really be; or the quirky best friend who exists to convey information to the audience ("but you're a lawyer and he loves you!"). She adds that if you are lucky, you get to play the lead in a comedy where you get to be the uptight shrill one who tells the man to stop acting like a child. Silverman adds that she has played all of these parts and has a stack of similar scripts lined up beside her as she types. 

It occurred to me that whenever I've seen a photo of Silverman, she's nearly always pulling a silly face, or doing something 'goofy' - whether she is doing a 'sexy' shoot for Maxim or appearing on the red carpet at a premiere, she is mugging, or grabbing her crotch or something. This book is kind of like that - whenever it seems like there is a danger of things getting too serious, or us getting to look into her psyche - she makes jokes about urine, farting or being Jewish (lots and lots of mentions about being Jewish). In her early life, she was a chronic bedwetter, and suffered pretty severely from depression. It seems her parents and family were pretty supportive of her throughout this - and she realised that the humiliation of being a teenage bedwetter was about as bad as it could get, and dying on stage as a stand-up was really nothing to be afraid of.

There are parts of the book that feel padded out - the foreword, which is normally written by someone else, is written by Silverman and is pretty indulgent, as the the 'middleword' in (you guessed it) the middle of the book and a bit written about Silverman by 'God'. It's a shame because when she does talk about her family, the creative process or struggling with censorship, she comes across as humane, likeable and genuine. I think really though, to really get anything out of the book,  you would need to be aware of not only Silverman, but her peers (Louis CK, Al Franken) and a fair chunk of her material (I've not seen her TV show, or her film: Jesus is Magic).


So basically, this is a useless review. If you like her and her material, you'll probably like this. If you don't, you probably won't. You have probably figured this out all by yourself. Still, there are some excellent autobiographies by comics out there (Tina Fey, Steve Martin), and it's a shame this isn't quite up there. 

Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell

"Outliers" by Malcolm Gladwell

Malcolm Gladwell is a writer who enjoys taking a sideways look at issues and beliefs that are universally held and asking if we are really correct in our beliefs. His most famous book: 'The Tipping Point' looked at what causes things to change from something quite normal to something suddenly popular and successful. 'Blink' examined the role that making snap and subconscious decisions played in our lives. Though there is generally a lot of research featured in his books - they are not science books - containing as much in the way of anecdotes as hard and fast facts.


Gladwell is firmly an apolitical figure - he doesn't have an agenda or a desire to puncture anyone's beliefs or to prove anyone wrong. You get the impression he is genuinely curious and is doing the research for his own interest - he would probably do it regardless of whether he was writing a book or not.

Outliers (one that appears to deviate markedly from other members of the sample in which it occurs) follows a similar thread to his previous books by taking a look at success - what's behind it, what isn't behind it, and whether 'talent' as we know it, really exists at all. Without giving the whole book away, Gladwell seems to suggest that the idea of a self made man (or woman) simply does not exist. It is impossible to lift yourself out of the mire on sheer will/talent/intelligence alone - those who have become successful or lauded as geniuses have got there on a combination of hard work, a good support network (both social and cultural) and no small slice of good fortune (mostly being in the right place at the right time). 

This book seems mostly focused on his American audience - many of his examples are based in the US, and some of his anecdotes are a little too sugar coated for a more cynical audience. However, I suppose the fact that many Americans like to see their country as a place where you can make if you simply work hard enough - means it is the country that Gladwell needs to set straight more than any other.

His most interesting and discussed point in this book is the '10,000 hour theory': Anyone who is regarded as a Genius will have had at least 10,000 hours of practise before they achieved the height of their profession (Mozart, The Beatles, Bill Gates etc.). He suggests, that as long as it's developmental practise, then this theory is pretty much guaranteed (though success and genius are not hand in hand). It is something also discussed in Matthew Syed's book: Bounce - which looks at what creates sporting success. Syed agrees with Gladwell - and cites examples of Kenyan distance runners, who start off early on by running to school every day. It's a smack in the face for those who believe that talent is inherited or that people are born with it - and a comfort to those who believe in hard work, and lots of it.

I broadly agree with what Gladwell has to say in the book - and that's possibly the only annoying thing with it -he seems to think that he is really going against the grain and will be causing great consternation and argument by what he has to say. At one point he makes the argument for the oldest children in primary school classes having a major influence on their progress from then on - particularly in sports (though it is applicable in academics too). This is something I remember the missus talking about years and years ago.

Nonetheless there is plenty of food for thought in here - there will probably be at least one well made argument that goes against what you had until now, presumed to be true. For that alone, it's worth a look.

To Kill A Mockingbird / To Use A Kindle

To Kill A Mockingbird

Apparently you may have heard of this book. I can't believe I've never read it before now. Everyone I know has read it and has told me they would loan me their copy, but it never happened, so now I've gone and got my own - thanks for nothing everyone else! 

Anyway,  I was given a Kindle as a Fathers Day present, and I decided I should start off by reading something worthwhile. However, I'm not entirely sure I need to review or give my opinion about this book. I mean, what do I have to add to one of the most widely read and respected books of the 20th Century?

Maybe I should use this review to give my thoughts on the use of a Kindle. Like a great many people, I was of the opinion that 'nothing beats a book - that feeling of cracking open the spine and leafing through the pages'. I always thought a Kindle would be useful if you travelled a lot, or if you, as I once did - spent 2 years in a small town in Nigeria with not a lot else to do. Though I wasn't pining for a Kindle - I am a gadget fan, and once this opportunity was offered to me, I couldn't turn it down.

So, how does it compare to reading a book? Pretty well actually. The screen reads exactly like a page of a book - regardless of the angle of view and how sunny it is. If, like me, you end up reading a book on a train while standing - being able to hold the 'book' and turn the pages with one hand is pretty useful. There are lots of other handy gadgets, including a dictionary option for when you're reading clever books. - and many other things I'll probably never get round to messing about with. The only downside I can see is that I have about 150 books lined up, and I find it difficult to stick to one book when I know there's 149 others I want to get to. I did manage to read To Kill a Mockingbird straight through, but since then I'm on 2 books at the same time.

I think my missus is happy that we wont have to find more storage space for all my books - but I do still have about 25 paper books still left unread.... when will I get to them?

So, To Kill A Mockingbird is ace. I think I pretty much knew the story and had heard the names Atticus Finch and Boo Radley long before last week. If you've never read it, you really should - it's not a difficult read - and covers racism, tolerance, prejudice, decency and not judging a book by it's cover. You probably know that because you read it when you were 15, but my English teacher made us read an awful book called "Men Withering" instead, which is like sitting inside licking stamps, when all your friends are outside playing football. Dont read Men Withering - not even on a Kindle