Staff Picks: Celebrity Memoirs

Books that were Josh Safdie's muse when he wrote Uncut Gems.

Feature Presentation’s Staff Picks is not a best-of list. How do you even craft a list of the best of something as subjective as film? This is a list designed to highlight films (and occasionally television shows or other mediums of entertainment) of a certain theme or topic. It’s a watchlist, they are suggestions. Movies on this list will very in quality, length, genre, and home video or streaming availability.

This list’s theme: Celebrity Memoirs

Down the Drain by Julia Fox

Julia Fox is famous for many things: her captivating acting, such as her breakout role in the film Uncut Gems; her trendsetting style, including bleached eyebrows, exaggerated eyeshadow, and cutout dresses; her mastery of social media, where she entertains and educates her millions of followers. But all these share the trait for which she is most famous: unabashedly and unapologetically being herself. (Simon and Schuster)

Patrick: Typically, this quarterly-or-so column is used as a watchlist, a list of film recommendations on any one topic. Sometimes a tv show will sneak in, but we're changing it up completely this time around and suggesting four different books. Taylor and I have both recently read and enjoyed a number of celebrity memoirs and needed no excuse to talk about them.

Taylor: I love a good memoir and I especially love when the audiobook is read by the author. I also, against my better judgment, love celebrity gossip. Although I have, at any given moment, about 1,000 more important things to concern myself with, I just can't stop myself from checking DeuxMoi's Sunday Spotted or reading up on influencer gossip on Reddit. 

For those very reasons, Julia Fox's Down The Drain appealed to me as soon as I heard her confidently state that, despite not writing a single word, it would be a masterpiece.

While the term masterpiece is obviously subjective, Julia's talent as a creative writer swirls throughout her debut book. I typically avoid audiobooks because I find them difficult to follow. This is no fault of any author, but largely because I have a difficult time imagining things in my head. That, coupled with the fact that I'm easily distracted and am a terrible multitasker, makes podcasts and audiobooks largely out of the question for me day-to-day, (how I wish I could focus on a podcast during my commute!)

Down The Drain, a visceral re-telling of Fox's highest highs and lowest lows, charts her entire life. From being a young child in Italy to the somewhat complicated star we know her as today, it showcases her truly undeniable talent for sharing imaginative, descriptive stories in a way that is highly accessible to a multitude of listeners (I was worried there would be a learning curve given our staunchly different upbringings, but she brings it all down to earth without too much over-explanation).

Patrick and I listened to this in the car together over several weeks, and I've never yearned for a road trip more. I truly could not get enough of her life and stories. I could listen to her describe paint drying and I would be completely gripped. 

While everyone can make their own conclusions regarding what to make of her, the distinct writing style showcased in this book makes me excited to see more.

Misfit by Gary Gulman

For years, Gary Gulman had been the comedian’s comedian, acclaimed for his delight in language and his bracing honesty. But after two stints in a psych ward, he found himself back in his mother’s house in Boston—living in his childhood bedroom at age forty-six, as he struggled to regain his mental health. That’s where Misfit begins. Then it goes way back. (Macmillan)

Patrick: I've long been a fan of Gary Gulman, since my days of discovering new standups on Pandora comedy stations. I've always found him to be a master craftsman of the joke, a wordsmith of the highest order (which is funny considering that the only time I've seen him live was during one of the earliest stops in his Born on Third Base tour, where he riffed off his notes for almost two hours - it was fascinating to see the artist at work), and a particularly sympathetic character, both onstage in his act and in the characters he plays in his stories. 

His opus to date is his 2019 special The Great Depresh, a hybrid stand-up special/documentary chronicling his lifelong struggles with depression and anxiety, a fight so severe it caused him to move back in with his mother at age 46. It was at this point that he considered retiring from comedy, but, as he says in the special, "Johnny Carson retired. Michael Jordan retired. Gary Gulman, you're giving up."

But he didn't. He came back with that special, one that I revisit often. His book Misfit is an extension of those stories, from his second grade "cry for help" writing his book "The Lonely Tree" to his 2017 spent in his mother's house. But if there's one thing I've always wanted from Gary Gulman, it's more words. He uses them better than anybody else. A book seems like a natural progression of his work and this one is excellent. I hope he writes many more.

In the Form of a Question by Amy Schneider

In eighth grade, Amy was voted “Most likely to appear on Jeopardy!” by her classmates. Decades later, this trailblazer finally got her chance. Not only did she walk away with $1.3 million while captivating the world with her impressive forty-game winning streak, but she made history and won an even greater prize—the joy of being herself on national television and blazing a trail for openly queer and transgender people around the world. Now, she shares her singular journey that led to becoming an unlikely icon and hero to millions. Her superpower: Boundless curiosity and fearless questioning. (Simon and Schuster)

Patrick: Back in 2022, I wrote a love letter to Amy Schneider and her run on Jeopardy! where I expressed:

"(I love it) when a player is just really damn smart. Finishing categories, one at a time, sweeping them. Just cooking up the other contestants on the way to a smooth victory and an untouchable Final Jeopardy. If my calculations are correct, over 35 of Amy’s 41 games were runaways by Final Jeopardy. Some folks get bored watching a player sizzle up the competition game after game, week after week. Not me, I was mesmerized."

When she released her first book (one with a lovely kitschy title and framework) In the Form of a Question, I knew that I needed to read it. In this memoir, she answers all our frequently asked questions with chapters like "How Did You Get So Smart?", "What’s It Like To Be Famous?", and "When Did You Know You Were Trans?"

But that's just the beginning. "How Did You Lose Your Virginity?" is almost unbelievably honest and "Why in God’s Name Did They Make ‘Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue’?" is supremely silly. For most people, Amy is known as one of the most successful contestants in the history of Jeopardy! But that's only the first few chapters. It's who she really is, warm, thoughtful, curious, that makes up the rest. 

Yearbook by Seth Rogen

A collection of funny personal essays from one of the writers of Superbad and Pineapple Express and one of the producers of The Disaster Artist, Neighbors, and The Boys. (All of these words have been added to help this book show up in people’s searches using the wonders of algorithmic technology. Thanks for bearing with us!) (Penguin Random House)

Taylor: To be completely honest, I judged a book by its cover. There are a few variations of the Yearbook cover, but the striking, blue hardback was the primary reason it made its way to the checkout counter…with the runner-up reason being I'm a very casual Seth Rogen fan. 

I loved this book and it's hard to put into words what I liked about it without spoiling all the fun. The book follows Seth (and his buddies that you may or may not know) at various stages of life and notoriety. It is literally laugh-out-loud funny, which is huge praise coming from this tough audience for comedy. 

I read the book and had a blast doing so, but I want to quickly highlight the audiobook. Should you choose to listen over read, his aforementioned buddies are the ones reading their respective chapters. I haven't personally listened to the audiobook, but having read the book and knowing how the stories play out, I can only imagine that listening in this way elevates the experience. In fact, I almost always prefer listening over reading, but the cover was just too good! 

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