I enjoyed this book, if only for the humor and perserverance shown by Mr. Grodin.

I think it should be on the syllabus of every entry level acting class.

My brother is contemplating going to film school, and I've already sent him his own copy.

This book is depressing for aspiring actors, in that it shows how much SHEER LUCK is required to make it as an actor. My conclusion is don't go into acting unless a close relative happens to be a big Hollywood name (Nicholas Cage would be flipping burgers now if his Uncle Francis Coppola hadn't cast him in a number of his movies, to give one of numeruos examples). Grodin himself said in a subsequent book, that actors read this one and thought "Well, if Grodin made it, I can." And he said, "What my book showed you is that the odds are against you making it."

I usually like Grodin on TV and elsewhere. I have not read any of his other books so I have no basis for comparison there.
But...this book SUCKS! So boring. The jacket promises all sorts of "hard-hitting" and shocking revelations but the book is mainly comprised of Grodin's musings and mental meanderings. He goes to great pains to remind us time and again that he is considered "dangerous" by producers and network honchos, that everyone holds their breath when Grodin speaks because you never know what kind of politically incorrect, terrible truth he's going to utter. However, we all know that Grodin is a moderately talented, generally pleasant, relatively intelligent and articulate, and above all NICE guy. And this book does nothing to dispel that notion. He simply recounts a few anecdotes from his career and otherwise justs jots down his random thoughts. Just read his post-September-11th postscript to see what I mean.
There is just nothing there. No trenchant commentary. No patriotism or anything searching for an answer as to why this happened. Just garbage - "that pile of rubble used to be the Marriott", "there was smoke in the air", a mild jab at Bill O'Reilly that comes out of nowhere and means nothing, I mean, you don't have to buy this book to hear this kind of obvious pablum.
Where in God's name was the editor's critical faculties when he read this .. "the weirdest moment in the Simpson saga came when a defense expert was called and his name was Grodin!". This is page 79. First of all, note the exclamation point! Exclamation points should be used sparingly! And they should be used to underscore information that is truly noteworthy!This little coincidence just isn't really mind-blowing, is it?!!!
But forget the punctuation. Is this little coincidence, which no one else but Charles and his mother noticed, really the weirdest thing for Grodin that happened during that saga? Not the bloody gloves, not Simpson's book "I want to tell you", not Fuhrman's
videotapes or F. Lee Bailey's cross-examination of Fuhrman, not Faye Resnick or Kato or Henry Lee's testimony which was destroyed by the prosecution, none of this was weirder than a witness with the name Grodin? I just mention this because Grodin made his name as a talk-show personality with his show that dealt with the Simpson trial, and the thing that fascinated him the most was that his name matched that of a witness. It's a good thing Charles' last name isn't Smith. He'd walk around in a state of perpetual wonderment and disbelief.
If that isn't enough stupidity for one book, the transcripts of talk show banter featuring Grodin and some unfortunate guest or interviewer are more boring and useless than watching your toenails grow.
Grodin so desperately wants to be "edgy" and "dangerous", but there's nothing in this book to even remotely suggest that he's anything more than an avuncular milquetoast who slapped together this pitiful book in order to make a few house payments.
Stay away from this book. Unless you love every single thing you read, including stop signs and cereal boxes, you will probably hate it.
Here's an appropriate exclamation point for you, Charles. I want my money back!

This is light, fast reading and a fun book. Grodin seldom names names, but he gives many examples of cantankerous behavior within show biz people in tv and the big screen. I now want to read other books he has written. I enjoyed his work in the movies, but never watched him on tv until he went with CBS. His humor fits well with 60 minutes II.

I found Mr. Grodin's latest book fairly interesting. I am the opposite of Mr. Grodin politically, but I still enjoy all of his work, and that includes this book.

I have always liked Charles Grodin as a film performer but remained unaware of his reputation and political views. After seeing a rather fun television interview promoting his newest book, I searched this out. The book style is established in the first 100 pages: a fun book of Hollywood and Theatrical anecdotes. But, then something terrible happens. Grodin begins to tell that some people find him difficult and then he graciously explains why they were the ones who were wrong. It was actually them who were difficult. The middle of the book is devoid of the humor so apparent at the start, much of it does return after the political material is exhausted. To the slightly informed, the book shines no new light on Hollywood but rather focuses light on human facets so often missing from industry stories. In the final analysis, I'll put on MIDNIGHT RUN when I'm in the mood for Grodin, the book is not worth a revisit.

There are some amusing bits in here, but it's a weird mix of humor, confession and cynicism. It's too clunky in too many spots for me to rate it more highly.