I am so excited Jill Soloway is writing a book for you. But Jill is an accomplished writer.
The following is a short list of what I am:
1. Actor
2. Husband
3. Daddy
4. Grandparent
5. Lecturer
6. Bookstore co-ownerShort list of what I am not:
1. Writer
So Jeffery Tambor did not set out to write a memoir, he was approached and eventually convinced, but he delivered an A+ series of essays about his personal and professional life. His early life in San Francisco was complicated, his mother had some demons, but mostly happy. He fell in love with theater early and studied acting in college; he eventually got work in repertory theater which lead to Broadway.
Steady television work, beginning with The Ropers, lead to a breakthrough role in 1992 on the Larry Sanders Show with Garry Shandling which in turn opened up numerous other doors. Unbelievably Tambor was only meant to be in the first episode of Arrested Development! I can’t imagine a world without George (and Oscar) Bluth! Tambor is grateful for all his successes and comes across as a genuine, wonderful person. He shares several unflattering stories about his first marriage, how he abandoned his oldest daughter and his struggles with alcohol. He has nothing but good things to say about his second wife, Kaisa, and their four children; he acknowledges starting a second family in his sixties is not normal but he seems like a devoted family man.
I liked the easy, conversational flow of his stories. His various lists like his Twelve Most Embarrassing career moments, his use of “cut to” as a quick transition and his little shout outs to the people he references (Hi Jeffery!) within his stories.
To be clear, dear reader, the phrase is “fuck’em.” It’s not “fuck them.” It’s not “fuck you”- especially not “fuck you,” never “fuck you.” It’s “fuck ’em.” It really should be written fuckem, actually. It’s an attitude- not of hatred or aggression- but of freedom from self-censorship and the need to please.
The thing is, you don’t need to love Jeffery Tambor to love Jeffery Tambor.
Looking through his resume the only shows of his I’ve watched is Arrested Development (which I love, love, love) and the first two seasons of Transparent; I’m too young to have watched Larry Sanders or The Ropers. I’m not a huge fan of Transparent, I just really hate Maura’s children (I can’t stand Gabby Hoffman), but I can objectively accept that Tambor’s performance on such a timely, important show is amazing and worthy of all the praise its received. But his resume is irrelevant! This is one of the best memoirs I’ve read this year.
Larry Sanders is my favorite show of all time and Tambor’s Hank Kingsley is the king of uncomfortable comedy. I’ll definitely be looking for this book, thanks.
Hey now.
Thanks for the review. Definitely added this book to my “To Read” pile.
Incidentally, despite his long and illustrious career, Last month during this book took appearance on LIVE WITH KELLY AND RYAN, Seacrest confused him and the actor from GHOST, Vincent Schiavelli who died in 2005.
re: TRANSPARENT. I totally agree with you about the children. They are not people I ever see myself wanting to be friends with. As such, I’ve no real interest in watching the show from the last episodes I watched (midway through season 2, I think).
I’m adding this to my to read list for the definition of fuck’em alone.