Mental: Funny In The Head

By Eddie Sarfaty

Book Overview

Eddie Sarfaty's astute and acerbic stand-up effortlessly captures the everyday absurdities of life, blending self-deprecation and sarcasm with a razor-sharp instinct for the ridiculous. In Mental, he expands his hilarious insights into a collection of autobiographical essays that explore career lows, cheapskate exes, the wonder and hell of family, psychopathic felines, and so much more. . .

Whether recounting a family trip to Paris, where his ailing father shouts obscenities at the Mona Lisa, or discovering his mother surfing JewHunt.net in search of a mahjong ? trois, Eddie excels at bitingly, but lovingly, mocking his family.

Spotlighting his own misadventures with equal relish, Eddie recounts his darkly funny experience stage managing an ill-fated Portuguese production of The Phantom of the Opera, reveals taking Ecstasy before lunch with Hillary Clinton, and recalls a one-night stand whose fondness for balloon animals would have animal activists up in arms.

Eddie Sarfaty is a natural storyteller, and his candid wit-caustic, yet surprisingly poignant-proves just as endearing and hilarious in print as it is onstage.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0758222556
• ISBN13: 9780758222558
• Release Date: July 2009
• Publisher: Kensington Publishing Corporation
• Length: 267 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.4" x 8.1"

Customer Reviews

BUY THIS BOOK....SERIOUSLY FUNNY

The last few years, I have been doing some writing, in particular for a comic in my town. I firmly believe that in order to be good at any writing, you have to be an avid reader. So, while I've read my whole life, for the past two years, I've been hitting the humor section quite often. I picked up "Mental" because I recognized Eddie's name, and.......I LOVED THIS BOOK!!!! His stories are my favorite kind of humor, simple, honest, and very touching. The characters in Eddie's world are incredibly familiar and likeable....yes, his friends and acquaintances at work (The Eton Club) are out of their ever-lovin' minds, but they are kind and supportive of each other; yes, the boss who hires him to manage a production of PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (the knock-off version...cracked me up!) is a very manipulative man, but Eddie manages to find humor in his behavior. Oh, yes, I almost forgot...I laughed out loud...A LOT!!! This book is seriously funny....seriously.

A GREAT READ BY A GIFTED NEW WRITER!

Mr. Sarfaty is a gifted writer with the courage to be vulnerable and the ability to make one laugh out loud and shed a tear in the same sentence. The stories in Mental drew me in, in a way that made it difficult for me to put the book down. The world described therein is rich -- his characters fully formed and vividly described and his prose is filled with warm and touching insights. Much of the writing is seemingly autobiographical as he explores what it means to be a gay man at the start of the 21st century, making his way in relationships with family, boyfriend, friends and co-workers. Reading his book, I felt that I had been let into a world which was not always comfortable, but where the human condition in all its splendor and pathos is fully revealed. Mr. Sarfaty creates a palpable tension between the ability to discern the feelings of the people around him, while still feeling like much the outsider and struggling throughout to connect and be understood. He is a natural wise guy that knows how to easily poke fun at himself and most everyone else along his path. But he seldom settles for the cheap joke at someone else's expense without connecting back to bigger issues of how we learn to love, show compassion, understand and be understood by the people that we meet along the way. Mental is a fun read that can easily be digested in one or two sittings. It is perfect for the beach, a plane ride, or to wind down at the end of the day.

I laughed, I cried, it was better than CATS... really!

It's not every book that makes me laugh out loud at 3 am, but MENTAL did! There I was, giggling in the middle of the night... ten pages later I was nearly in tears from the poingnant story of a fading parent. Why was I up at 3 am? The thing is, that some books have a voice - you hear the characters talking or yelling or crying in your head. Mr. Sarfaty had half of Commack, Long Island yelling at each other in my head and I didn't want it to stop... it was too good! Whether it was his father hating his mother's best friend, his too-cute-for-words grandmother accepting him for who he is or his psychopathic rescue cat shrieking around his apartment, they all live and breathe in his work. This book is a giant, fancy chocolate dessert (without the calories!) , you know you want it... Go ahead, c'mon, you know you deserve it!

The Next David Sedaris

Eddie Sarfaty is just HILARIOUS. He takes some of the most mundane situations and is able to see and reflect on the absurdity and humor that make them compelling stories. This is one of those books that makes you laugh out loud...and that you can't wait to read the next chapter. I've never seen this guy do standup, but if it's even remotely as good as this book, he must be amazing.

Hillarious look at our big gay world ...

You may have seen Eddie Sarfaty doing his stand-up comedy act at your local gay pride event, on Comedy Central's "Premium Blend," at major comedy clubs or festivals nationwide, or in one of several specials on the LOGO gay cable channel. His comedic talent is not really in telling jokes, but making his rather dry and occasionally sarcastic observations about modern life, including such usually mundane tasks as adopting a cat, dealing with his parents, teaching comedy to students, online dating, and the need to make compromises while in a relationship. The book contains original rants on these subjects, stories about performing with other comics, an amusing yet very touching "mini-novel" about a trip to Europe taken with his mother and Alzheimers-afflicted father, and ending with the hysterical story of his misguided attempt to be a road/stage manager for an bare-bones acting troupe in Portugal. One of the stories in the book, "Second Guessing Grandma" (about the day he came out to his grandmother), has been made into a short film. Despite his significant success as a comedy headliner (He also teaches standup and comedy writing at New York University and The Theatre Lab in Washington DC), NYC-born Eddie is - in his own words - "still a neurotic Jew who is my own worst enemy!" Dealing with the confusion of everyday life ("My father and my lover have the same name! ... Daddy!"), Eddie's comedy transcends any ethnic, sexual orientation or routine convention, and his book reveals him to be a unique and exciting storyteller whom you will enjoy reading. Loved it. Five schmoozing stars out of five!