So…I cheated.

Because I spend a lot of time at work and a lot of time studying when I get home, I’ve started listening to audiobooks while I’m at work. I’m still counting them as books read. I KNOW, I KNOW, I DIDN’T TECHNICALLY READ THEM, but it’s just like a book, except someone is reading them to me.

Still Foolin’ ‘Em: Where I Am, Where I’m Going, and Where The Hell Are My Keys? is Billy Crystal’s memoir and it was the first audiobook I’ve ever listened to all the way through. I’m not actually the biggest Billy Crystal fan, and I’ve never seen ‘When Harry Met Sally’ the entire way through, but he’s been funny enough when I’ve seen him host the Oscars and I think he was pretty funny when I saw him in ‘Analyze This’ in middle school.

So I listened to this in the office. Lesson learned: DON’T LISTEN TO A COMEDIAN’S MEMOIR READ BY SAID COMEDIAN IN THE OFFICE. I had to suppress giggles the whole time, as not to bother my officemate (the oldest behaving 20-something I’ve ever met) but this consequently meant my sides and stomach hurting a lot.

Billy Crystal obviously read his own book, and it was a riot. You know when you read a memoir of someone you think is going to be interesting and funny and it’s not? I had the opposite experience  – I didn’t expect it to be that interesting or funny, and it was VERY interesting and funny.

I enjoyed his stories because they weren’t ALL business stories. A lot of them were business related, but I especially enjoyed his stories about his relationship with Mickey Mantle (he painted Joe DiMaggio as a douchebag, but hey, maybe he was) and the relationship with his Jewish family. Crystal is funnier in his memoir than Woody Allen is in anything I’ve ever seen Woody Allen in, including ‘Annie Hall.’ Allen’s ‘neurotic Jew’ characters are gross caricatures that are more annoying than funny. While Crystal also plays up the ‘neurotic Jew’ angle as part of his real life personality, it’s funny instead of totally overwhelmingly obnoxious.

The best part, though, was the way he talked about his wife. It was clear he adores her and it was part of what makes Crystal so endearing. He’s always talking about her like she is the center of the universe. I’ve read memoirs where the writer goes most of the memoir without mentioning their spouses the whole time.

Overall, this was a very enjoyable memoir – better than most I’ve read. It wasn’t very long, but I liked learning both about Crystal’s life and the ins and outs of his comedic process and business. Still Foolin’ ‘Em is a short, fun way learn a bit more about a guy who you were always kind of familiar with anyway.

Tagged: authors: billy crystal, books: still foolin' 'em, genre: memoir