It’s the Eve before the Eve. I recently have been listening to a new audio book and usually if I do not enjoy something I just move on… not every book is for everybody ya know? Yet this book was such an epic fail I literally groaned out loud when I finally decided enough was enough. I am talking about Jerry Seinfeld’s new book, Is This Anything?
I love good humor. I adore quick witticism. While I don’t per se usually sit down and watch a comedy act, I do enjoy good funny shows etc… I have listened to many a funny person on audio as they narrate their life and share their journey and have come out the other side just fine for doing so. Some examples would be David Sedaris (hilarious!), David Spade, Amy Poehler, Tina Fey, Justin Halpren, Kevin Hart, Jim Gaffidan… you get the picture. All funny… all laugh out loud funny. Even typing about them makes me want to listen to some of them again…
And then there is, Is This Anything? At first I thought it was just the start of the book…. like a prologue. A robotic woman’s voice announces the joke, then Jerry tells the joke. THEN the robotic woman’s voice announces another joke. Jerry tells the joke.
And again.
And again.
And again.
Seriously who thought this was a good idea?
I was listening in my car or when I was cooking dinner. The voice was jarring. The audio had no smooth rhythm. The jokes were not like chapters, they were like speed bumps so you literally had a new joke and a new robot voice every 30 seconds to a minute.
It was awful and after an exasperated “ARGGGHHH” Charlie Brown style, I shut it off.
Life’s too short.
Nothing against Jerry, I enjoy him on Seinfeld. This was just not a win for me.
Is This Anything?
No Jerry, it is not.
Have you experienced a book or audio that you could not get through do to choppy formatting? Weird voice? Or other fingernails on a chalkboard happenings?
Oh… and two more days to First Book 😀
Book Journey 
Oh, so sorry, but definitely a book to toss aside! Enjoy whatever you pick up next, and Happy New Year!
Thanks, Laurel. LOL. I am really surprised by this one.
Seinfeld: a specific humor for a specific time. He’s old, it’s old. Fuggetaboutit…NEXT
My spouse says, if you don’t like/can’t stand after 5 pages….
I bought a really bad 19 page short because it was Red Riding Hood…how can that be bad? It was HORRIBLE! The author, a woman, wrote the most horrific, everyone gets eaten, why would you publish this. The worst part? I couldn’t return it….
It’s not like his comedy is bad, it was the formatting of the book. Choppy comes to mind… and he doesn’t read like he talks…. he reads like he is well, reading. It just didn’t flow. I can’t imagine what the book looks like… just jokes?
Oh boy I don’t think this would be for me either. I loved the Seinfeld show but, I never found Jerry’s intro monologues funny so, when I had a chance to see him in person I passed. I think the success of the show was he and the supporting cast together. I just finished my last book with The Best of David Sedaris on audio – he’s funny.
Yeah, Seinfeld was never a “must watch” but it didn’t bother me if it was on. I actually enjoyed Elaine and the tall dude more than Jerry… Sedaris… oh my word – I think I have listened to all of his books. So funny!
This does not sound good. Bummer of a way to end the year 2020 in reading.
Meh. It was on Audible – I can return it for something more enjoyable 🙂
Seinfeld is not my favorite comedian and I’ll gladly skip this one. The expression on your face says it all!
LOL I felt a visual may be in order.
That sounds ghastly.
However Mr Books had this as his bathroom book (is that too much information?) and I would regularly hear him chuckling. It obviously works better when you can imagine Jerry’s voice!
LOL Maybe that is the way to go! Certainly, some must like it – I can not imagine it is a worldwide epic fail ;P So glad he is enjoying it.
That happened to me with Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey. I love his acting and think he’s really funny, but there was just to much personal information that I did not like or need to know. Ruined the book for me and I gave up after the 3rd mention of it.
So disappointing when you’re very excited about starting a book 😦
And I loved Greenlights (except a few odd personal moments I probably didn’t need). I guess I liked hearing how he was a natural actor and how he got into acting as well as his drive for his best life and taking the downfalls in stride as opposed to them deflating his positive attitude. I belive I know what you are referring to in the book and yeah… that was unfortunate.
Oh dear. We’ve just watched our way through 2020 with Seinfeld, so I have stayed away from this book after Seinfeld-Overload, I think.
Oh this sounds awful and I would have thought it would have been great! I usually love a celebrity book in audio. I loved all the ones you mentioned and if you haven’t listened to Anna Kendrick’s you should give it a try. I will pass on this one. I’ve really only had one narrator who just about ruined a book. I kept listening because I enjoyed the mystery but her voice was so weirdly robotic that I made sure to remember her name so I never pick up anything by her again.
yeah, when i saw the title, i figured i’d pass. glad i did. i listed to both Poehler’s book and Fey’s book. Fey nailed it.
Tina Fey’s book on audio was great, and I barely knew who she was because I hardly ever saw Saturday Night Live. All of David Sedaris’s are great on audio, too. I’m not a big Seinfeld fan, but your review got me curious, so I looked up the AudioFile review. It’s a rave that starts out with “Gold, Jerry! This audiobook is pure gold! In that one-of-a-kind unforgettable voice, Seinfeld explores 45 years of comedy bits, sorted by decade.” I also listened to the audio sample they had, and it had both my husband and me chuckling. (Maybe it’s because we’re old, though not as old as Jerry!) But no robot voice on the sample, either! 😀