In the interest of full disclosure and some not so humble bragging, Rob Delany retweeted a tweet of mine. It was from my work account about Medicaid expansion, but nevertheless, I consider it the high point of my professional social media career. This experience alone would have compelled me to purchase his book. But in addition to being hilarious on twitter, Rob is the co-creator of Catastrophe. This show, available on Amazon Prime, is hilarious and heartbreaking and hits too close to home sometimes.
Rob Delaney is a Twitter master. It’s a skill that is sometimes scoffed at as a stupid form of communication, completely frivolous and ultimately dumb. But consider that it is damn hard to distill thoughts and ideas down to 140 characters and then flawlessly deliver them through a medium that takes all the tone and nonverbal communication out of the exchange.
Rob’s book is also hilarious. This is a man who has been through some shit and come out the other side. His real life experiences mirror that of his character in Catastrophe, and while he does talk about the poor choices he has made and his struggle with sobriety, he stays mostly on the lighter side of it all. Anyone who has struggled with addiction or knows an addict can see that there is a lot of sad and painful experiences that are glossed over here. In my opinion, it makes for a better read. I like knowing more about this man and his experiences, but I came to be entertained. And what is the point of going through painful things like addiction and struggling to start a career if you can’t mine it for comedy gold?
If you like Catastrophe, you will love this book. If you don’t like Catastrophe then you shouldn’t trust any of my opinions as we obviously find different things funny.
If you haven’t watched Catastrophe because you don’t have an Amazon Prime account, then good for you. Don’t give into the corporate overlords. But do buy this book so you can see what you are missing.
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