Is This Anything? Hardcover – Illustrated, October 6, 2020

Loved it

Great book!

This is a compilation of memorable Seinfeld jokes by decade.I bought this under the impression (through a third party) that this outlined some general principles in joke writing structure and theory.It's not that in a straight forward manner, but you can see a pretty interesting pattern in how he structures his jokes.It's highly entertaining and I have found, though different than anticipated, some good writing take aways.

Very good. I really like how the sections are segregated into decades. Just another reason for me to miss the 80's and 90's so much. All of it is good and is a great example of the evolution of time with regard to humor mores.Having had experience in comedy clubs in the 80's, it is unfortunate that really funny comedy is gone!..."WOKE" ruined it....everyone is OFFENDED and it's mostly POLITICAL...how sad it is. Just look a SNL. Jerry S. is the greatest....all Clean Humor, but he couldn't even do his funniest bits today..

While reading in bed. First half funnier than second half. But I’ve loved Jerry Seinfeld since his first appearance on Johnny Carson! He’s adorable.

And this book taught me why. This guy IS extremely funny but I realized what I don’t like is his timing and flow of words. Still what he says had me laughing for hours. I could hear him speaking the words but I was able to go the speed of what I thought was a much better delivery. Still him, still very funny.Five stars because this enabled me to enjoy the jokes at my own vocal speed, pace and delivery. Now I’m funny too (only not very original. Thanks again Jerry. Top shelf stuff.)

I'm a Jerry Seinfeld fan but not a disciple, so I can honestly say there were portions of this book I found amusing but overall it was a disappointment. It must be nice to be a millionaire comedian. While others are struggling in quarantine, he can grab his old comedy bits from a shoebox, send them to an editor, and they are made into a book. That's what this is. Bit after bit. The same kind of material that Seinfeld became well-known for adding at the beginning of each "Seinfeld" episode to remind us that he was Jerry Seinfeld playing Jerry Seinfeld, not an actor but a stand-up comedian in NYC, as if we could forget. His bits are famously "What's the deal with ___?" Fill in the blank with some innocuous thing like cereal or honking in traffic, etc. He divides "Is This Anything?" by decade, but the material is largely the same, one or two page riffs on something, although I noticed that the first half of "Is This Anything?" was funnier than the second half. Artists seem to write better material when they're young and struggling. At the point Seinfeld reaches millionaire status, with tons of money from reruns, multiple mansions, a wife and kids and plenty of free time, the bits go downhill. I think he has a harder time now relating to "regular" things and people. I'll admit I was hoping for a more introspective book, something like Steve Martin's great memoir on comedy. But "Is This Anything?" seems more slapdash, thrown together, the brief one and two page autobiographical sections tossed in almost as afterthoughts, to tie things together. I think these bits were meant to stay in the shoebox, the best of them to be incorporated into routines at comedy clubs. After a drink or two, listening to these while watching the comedian among other fans of comedy, I think they would be funnier. More often than not, I was left pondering the strange use of punctuation in the book, the abundant white space, and the choice to cut sentences off midway through the page rather than allowing them to continue to the righthand margin like normal sentences. The text was left looking more like poetry, but these bits are not poems. Instead, I was left thinking that the writer and editor tried to stretch 90 pages of material into 200 pages, which is a bit of a rip-off for the reader.

A very funny collection of Jerry Seinfeld’s bits through the years.

If you're a comedian, reading a veterans jokes and how they are structured is the perfect way start off your career or reenforce your knowledge.

Eres fan de Seinfeld ? Me flipo este libro y si eres fan te flipara igual. Muy recomendable

Great for fans of Seinfeld's stand-up and transition from the show back to the stage. It really fits well if you saw the special he did free retiring his act and first started rebuilding his routine; otherwise, the section on the 2000s may seem just like bad material.If you just liked the show, I'd skip the chapter on the 2000s but would still give the rest a read.

Gostei, era o que eu esperava. Claro que as piadas são muito mais engraçadas quando ele conta, então o livro funciona melhor quando vc o assistiu apresentando e pode imaginar ou lembrar. Por isso não recomendo como uma introdução a Jerry Seinfeld, melhor para os fãs.

Per gli appassionati è d'obbligo averlo