Is This Anything?
by Jerry Seinfeld
Recommended by Susan J. Fowler and Russell Brand
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Reading Profile
Should I read this?
Starts as a curated trove of one-liners, setups, and short bits saved across five decades, so it reads like a comedian's scrapbook rather than a linear life story. Best value: quick laughs and the sheer volume of punchlines, plus seeing how some ideas shift over time. Main limitation: uneven polish—some entries feel like rough drafts or stray notes—and the lack of sustained personal narrative or backstage detail will frustrate readers expecting memoir depth.
Read this if...
- •a novice stand-up preparing for an open-mic next week who needs tight punchlines to test onstage — the short items let you harvest setups and try rapid experiments during rehearsals.
- •a product manager commuting between back-to-back meetings with 10–15 minute breaks who wants light, energizing reading — each entry fits a short slot and delivers quick laughs without a time commitment.
- •a mid-career comedy writer trimming a 7-minute festival set under a deadline who must sharpen wording and tighten timing — scanning brief, draft-like lines helps you spot compact phrasing and repurpose alternate punch shapes fast.
Skip this if...
- •you'll likely put it down when you want sustained storytelling or behind-the-scenes anecdotes and instead encounter lists of short jokes with minimal connective tissue.
- •annoying if you prefer narrative-driven memoirs or reflective essays rather than rapid-fire bits — the book lacks deep personal context.
- •avoid if you wanted exercises or practical how-to writing prompts — no hands-on exercises or structured craft lessons here.
The first book in twentyfive years from Jerry Seinfeld features his best work across five decades in comedy.Since his first performance at the legendary New York nightclub “Catch a Rising Star” as a twentyoneyearold college student in fall of 1975, Jerry Seinfeld has written his own material and saved everything. “Whenever I came up with a funn...
Before You Buy
Reading Specifications
Difficulty:hard
Audience Fit
- a novice stand-up preparing for an open-mic next week who needs tight punchlines to test onstage — the short items let you harvest setups and try rapid experiments during rehearsals.
- a product manager commuting between back-to-back meetings with 10–15 minute breaks who wants light, energizing reading — each entry fits a short slot and delivers quick laughs without a time commitment.
- a mid-career comedy writer trimming a 7-minute festival set under a deadline who must sharpen wording and tighten timing — scanning brief, draft-like lines helps you spot compact phrasing and repurpose alternate punch shapes fast.
- you'll likely put it down when you want sustained storytelling or behind-the-scenes anecdotes and instead encounter lists of short jokes with minimal connective tissue.
- annoying if you prefer narrative-driven memoirs or reflective essays rather than rapid-fire bits — the book lacks deep personal context.
- avoid if you wanted exercises or practical how-to writing prompts — no hands-on exercises or structured craft lessons here.
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Why recommended
Recommended by 3 sources and appears in Most Recommended Books, Fiction, and Nonfiction.
Recommended by notable people
People and public figures who have recommended this book.
Recommendation Signals
Recommendation proof is sourced from public posts, interviews, reading lists, and cited references.
Susan J. Fowler
“I bought @JerrySeinfeld?s book ?Is This Anything? and started reading it thinking it was a memoir. I was expecting it to be one of those sortafunnybut serious comedian memoirs, and now I?m sitting here laughing so hard I?m crying. | I bought @JerrySeinfeld’s book “Is This Anything” and started reading it thinking it was a memoir. I was expecting it to be one of those sortafunnybut serious comedian memoirs, and now I’m sitting here laughing so hard I’m crying. | What a brilliant and funny book by a great man. All @JerrySeinfeld material. On the page they are like haikus or incantations of mirth.”
View sources (2) ▾80%
Appears In
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“Accidental Presidents offers eight narrative portraits of men who succeeded to the U.S. presidency without election, using anecdote-rich scenes and readable context to show how personality and circumstance interact with office power. It’s strongest as a set of self-contained stories that make succession stakes concrete for non-specialist readers; it does not prioritize dense archival argument or exhaustive methodology, so expect some interpretive generalizations and repeated themes across cases. Use it for fast historical orientation rather than scholarly deep-dives.”
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How recommendation signals are reviewed
Each recommendation is collected from a public source — interviews, articles, or curated lists — and linked to its original URL. Books with many verifiable recommendations from respected people rank higher.