Another excessively candid memoir from a stand-up comedian.As
Nichols reached middle age after having failed at just about
everything, his feckless life somehow became the focus of an
independent film. Despite his well-heeled, WASPy genes, the author
is afflicted with a speech impediment, ADD, dyslexia and a mild
case of Tourette's. A slob with poor hygiene, he stutters and is
fearful of New Balance shoes. Dysfunction is his shtick. He's
botched virtually every endeavor since boarding school and college,
during which he concentrated solely on alcohol, various drugs and
misbehavior. After a disastrous bike tour through Europe, Nichols
landed on Wall Street, where he lasted for one year. A slew of odd
jobs followed, including house painting, a stab at dictionary sales
and, mostly, substitute teaching to supplement the college and club
bookings. The lonesome loser sank a yacht and burned down his
family's lake house. He spent a lot of time at Alcoholics Anonymous
meetings, which he attended to meet women and push his stand-up
career. These days the author abstains from booze and blow, but he
notes that he "put down the drink and instantly picked up sugar,
coffee, and cigarettes - all okay and sanctioned within the
confines of society." He's got a girl and a license as a
fishing-boat captain. Comically, Nichols focuses on bodily
conditions and emissions. Like many contemporary stand-up comics,
the material is simply sullied shock talk masquerading as whimsical
banter. Despite avowals that it's all quite funny, the story of how
one 40-year-old juvenile became a better person is really just
indecorous solipsism.Life as a loser makes wan humor. Wait for the
movie. (Kirkus Reviews)
Growing up a privileged upper middle class kid in New York City,
Jeff Nichols should have had it all. Instead, with a litany of
learning disabilities and conditions ranging from ADD and dyslexia
to Tourette's, there was no smooth sailing for him. After bouncing
from elite private school to elite private school, he lands at
Hobart College, where he drinks everything that is offered to him
and tries every drug known to man, earning the nickname "Spicoli"
(after the stoner from Fast Times at Ridgemont High). Miraculously,
he graduates and is offered gainful employment at Merrill Lynch,
where he manages to last a year until being unceremoniously dumped
with the words, "You are weird, incompetent, and often stink of
booze." And that's when Jeff discovers AA . . . mainly as an ideal
forum for working on material for a burgeoning stand-up career and
meeting girls. His string of disastrous odd jobs (dictionary
salesman, Broadway usher, substitute teacher in NYC public schools)
ultimately leads him to discover his heart's desire: charter
fishing. When Jeff decides to document his misadventures and is
turned down by every literary agent in town, he perseveres. Things
then take a crazy turn when a leading indie production company buys
rights to his unpublished manuscript, and his life as a loveable
screw-up is brought to the screen. Hilarious, kooky, and oddly
inspiring, Trainwreckis proof that a life disastrously lived can
still turn out beyond your wildest imaginings.
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