Mike Sacks has lived the dream of practically every comedy nerd. For his book And Here’s The Kicker—released today—Sacks had extensive conversations (between five and 15 hours) with 21 of America’s top humor writers. “This was really just an excuse to talk to these people,” jokes Sacks when asked about his motivation behind writing the book. While that’s a pretty good excuse, Sacks explains that he noticed so much has been written about the comedians of past generations, but very little attention has been paid to modern humor. By skipping “comedy professionals” and going directly to the writers themselves, Sacks creates a wholly original piece that is candid, smart, informative and funny. While the names of the writers may not be immediately familiar to those outside of the comedy world, their resumes are rather impressive. Sacks, a staffer at Vanity Fair, interviewed writers for The Daily Show, Colbert Report, Arrested Development, Borat, The Onion, the Marx Brothers and many more.
The book, which includes advice sections from professionals who discover new comedic talent, is geared towards those already interested in writing humor. This does not mean, however, that those not familiar with this genre should skip the book. In fact, quite the opposite is true. The wide-ranging interviews provide in-depth discussions about how comedy comments on culture and the role it plays in our society without coming off as preachy. Most of the discussions, though, revolve around what makes these writers laugh and how they made their way in to the business.
The biggest danger with this book is that a reader will flip through the pages and only read the interviews with the writers of their favorite shows, movies or books and skip the rest. And Here’s The Kicker reads best as a cohesive discussion about modern comedy—the personal stories, industry demands and philosophies from those that crack us up.
