Is This Anything ⭑⭑⭑⭒

Genre: Humor

US Publication: October 6, 2020

Print: 480 pages

Audio: 6 hours 19 minutes

Confetti Rating: 3.5 stars

REVIEW:

Is this anything? Well no, it's a book about nothing.

But as Seinfeld has demonstrated for years, nothing can be pretty darn funny. And, ultimately, this collection of his favorite jokes gave me more than a few chuckles. The material is not new, so the older bits feel pretty stale. Getting weapons past lazy TSA agents? Some things that landed in the '80s just don't resonate anymore. As he moves along to newer material though... now we're talking... and laughing.

I listened to this on audio, which is a solid choice since he performs it himself. The audiobook would make a great road trip companion. The print version would be a welcome find on a guest bedroom nightstand. It would also make a nice bathroom reader. If you're looking for a gift for someone who has everything, why not get them nothing in the form of "Anything" to flip through while doing something.

3.5 stars rounded up (because we have to take the laughs wherever we can get them in these days)!

Feeling nostalgic after reading my thoughts? Click the image below the publisher synopsis for a link to the book’s promotional video that includes clips of Seinfeld’s standup through the years.

PUBLISHER SYNOPSIS:

The first book in twenty-five years from Jerry Seinfeld features his best work across five decades in comedy.

Since his first performance at the legendary New York nightclub “Catch a Rising Star” as a twenty-one-year-old college student in fall of 1975, Jerry Seinfeld has written his own material and saved everything. “Whenever I came up with a funny bit, whether it happened on a stage, in a conversation, or working it out on my preferred canvas, the big yellow legal pad, I kept it in one of those old school accordion folders,” Seinfeld writes. “So I have everything I thought was worth saving from forty-five years of hacking away at this for all I was worth.”

For this book, Jerry Seinfeld has selected his favorite material, organized decade by decade. In page after hilarious page, one brilliantly crafted observation after another, readers will witness the evolution of one of the great comedians of our time and gain new insights into the thrilling but unforgiving art of writing stand-up comedy.

Click here to watch Seinfeld reflect on the book and his 45 years in comedy in Simon & Schuster’s promotional video.