Product Description

This is the profoundly honest, profoundly hilarious and sometimes profoundly wacky recovery memoir of a neurotic comedian, and regular guest star of the hit show Curb Your Enthusiasm.Richard Lewis is one of America's most gifted and successful comedians, and one of these most respected by his peers. But at the age of 44, at the height of his success, Lewis found himself on a trolley in the ER, toxic with alcohol and hallucinating from excess cocaine use. The same neuroses and dysfunctions that had been the basis for his successful stage persona and inspired his best material had, it seemed, turned on him.How he got there, why he got there, how he finally got on the road to recovery and how he copes with being sober on a daily basis, are the subjects of this very funny, deeply honest, inspiring but very untreacly book. Told with the same fearlessness and wild energy that have defined his talent as a comedian Lewis re-creates scenes from his childhood and his Hollywood escapades, imagines what Woody Allen might say about whether he should commit suicide, holds forth on the difficulties of being a man and of having satisfying relationships, and talks about what it's like to be not only a recovering alcoholic but a 'recovering lunatic' who occasionally, finally, feels like a human being.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #219892 in Books
• Published on: 2008-04-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 304 pages

Review
"Imagine my surprise when I realized soon after starting this book that the one person to whom I had confided my deepest and most intimate thoughts was a raging alcoholic. I now know more about him than I do about me. A most unfortunate development." Larry David"

About the Author
Richard Lewis lives in Los Angeles.

Customer Reviews

Sober Mind-Blowing!
I'm an American living in London and have always been a huge fan of Mr. Lewis's stand-up and had felt that his honesty, albeit, generally self-effacing put him high on the list of American humorists of all time-- for his sheer courage, command of the language and wild hipness. I was really blown-away a few years back to see his dramatic turn in the indy film, "Drunks" but this memoir is the ultimate mind-blower! What a read! I had seen him talk openly and with his authentic spin about being a recovering alcoholic and had looked forward to this book for quite a while but never expected it to be so amazingly funny, harrowing and enlightening all in one book. I'm thankful that I'm not an alcoholic but sure share a multitude of other problenms that he has as well and had the courage to reveal and give advice on how to overcome them. It surely has made me feel less alone. Plus,it has made me re-think a lot about my own denial (not to mention most of the people I know) and yet I have found tremendous hopefulness from his rigorous honesty. No other comedian I'm certain has even penned anything like this. This is like a "bible" for the recovering addict. Bravo Mr. Lewis and keep those problems coming--as long as you write about overcoming them!