Ratings111
Average rating4.1
Really enjoyed this. A lot more thought-provoking, and genuinely funny, than I had anticipated
What's wild to me is the amount of influential people Seth Rogen talked about and in all fields, not just the entertainment industry.
Who did Beyoncé meet in her life?!
Overall, great listen.
This book was a breath of fresh air. I laughed out loud repeatedly. I felt like Seth Rogen was talking to me the same way his dialogue unspools in his films. No filter, no edit just straight talk and wow does he cover some topics. There are several famous people in this book that he straight up wrecks. To be fair- sounds like they deserved it. There were so many song and movie references that I knew and loved that I had such a good time reading about Seth's life. This was a blast.
It's easy to give Seth Rogen five stars...I mean, it's Seth Rogen. This is not a life changing, perspective altering memoir but as a fan of his writing, movies, and overall personality, it's awesome to get an inside look into the more intimate details of his life and way of thinking.
My greatest take away was that Seth Rogen is indeed outspoken and stands up for what he believes in. This is what makes me a fan of the man.
Laugh-out-loud funny, heartfelt and thoughtful, I loved Rogen's Yearbook. His drug-addled stories are hilarious, if a bit concerning, but his genuine reflections on life, love, movies, comedy, friendships, celebrity, Hollywood, bigotry, politics, et. al. are refreshing and laden with the comedy of the every day. Laughter is awesome.
Ive never read an autobiography so fast. I laughed out loud so many times. I loves it and would definitely recommend.
Very entertaining! No surprise that Seth Rogen is a talented comedy writer. I laughed out loud quite often. Also fun to read about the real-life experiences that influenced his movies, and to get some insight into the strange world of Hollywood. While it's mostly a surface-level memoir of his life's funnier (vs most impactful) moments, Rogen does skirt some interesting deeper questions (about drug use, anti-Semitism, free speech, etc.). Definitely recommend this delightful read!
A truly laugh out loud memoir filled with stories I truly wonder if the people in them are aware they've been written.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and all it had to offer.
This is an easy read and definitely one of the better celebrity memoirs. Still, it is a celebrity memoir. I find the genre disappointing, on the whole. “Born a Crime” is the exception.
What I liked was the voice. It was all Seth and didn't feel like an editor added their voice to it.
What I wish there was more of was the thoughtful reflection a memoir normally contains. This was a book filled with funny dinner-party stories of people I feel I know through their work. But what did the anti-Semitic elevator incident tell us about the world or about Seth? Not much and I wish I understood the importance of that moment for him.
All of that said–I'd still recommend this book. It is a beach read and we all need to inject more beach and more reading into our lives :)
This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Readeras part of a quick takes/catch up post —emphasizing pithiness, not thoroughness.
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Simply put, this is a collection of stories from Rogen's life—from doing stand-up as a teenager to his work on TV and in movies. There's—no surprise at all—a lot of references to and stories about drug use.
I'm not a huge Rogen fan—have enjoyed some of his work, but not most of it. I have always appreciated his ability to tell a story in interviews, though, and that's what we get here. Great literature? Nope. Insightful look into the human condition and/or the Entertainment Industry? Nope. Silly fun? Yup. I can't imagine anyone picking up a Rogen book looking for more than the last option, anyway. So you get what you expect.
This was definitely a book to listen to on audio—listening to Rogen tell these stories adds a bit of humor and flavor to it that I think just reading it wouldn't deliver.
I'm not a huge fan of Seth Rogen, but he can certainly be funny and charming so I thought hearing stories from, especially about the film industry, could be entertaining. And they are, I really liked his behind-the-scenes takes from some movies or about certain celebrities. A lot of them are just very strange interactions that he seems to have been bewildered by. I'm not as big of a fan of drug trip stories though and that's about a third of this book, but you kind of have to expect that from a Seth Rogen.
Overall a pretty fun quick read and it was nice to listen to the audiobook narrated by Rogen himself and featuring a bunch of other actors.
The audiobook was fantastic—read by the author. Captivating and hilarious all the way. Can't think of a funnier book.
Read this in the middle of the night when I couldn't sleep. I'm not sure I knew who Seth Rogan was before this, but his essays are funny and I like his politics. Four stars, two thumbs.
Spoiler alert; I didn't finish this book. I got 11% of the way in & gave up. I think you need to be Jewish to appreciate this book. I didn't laugh once or relate to a single thing he said.
5 stars bc it is what it is. In other words, this isn't great literature, but as a Hollywood memoir to make you laugh and give you this one person's perspective, it was great. I especially enjoyed hearing about his Jewish identity, his ideas about drug use, and the stories of movies he has made. I listened to it (his reading), and I think that made it better too.
(closer to 3.5 but - give that 0.5 to storytelling and narrative)
Seth does a great job at telling a hilarious, non stop narrative which at times feels like the best stand up he's ever done. The end to me didn't seem to have landed - either because I wanted him to keep going or perhaps he is already thinking of follow-up. None the less - it was hilarious, catching myself laughing out loud, non-stop.
Books that are intentionally trying to be funny are usually a miss for me. I still read them, though, if I'm a fan of the supposed funny person. I guess I like pain or maybe I'm optimistic or maybe I like having a better understanding of said funny person. But there are only few exceptions where funny book is actually funny.
This is one of those times.
I listened to the audiobook, which was brilliant. Each story in this book was funny, to me personally. Some were laugh out loud funny (the Interview filming, the Tom Cruise meeting, the Nicolas Cage misunderstandings, the Kanye West stuff), and others were merely amusing, but I was entertained the entire time. I rarely think comedy books should be longer but this one should have been. I hope he does another.