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Is This Anything? Hardcover – Illustrated, October 6, 2020

by Jerry Seinfeld (Author)
Goodreads Choice Award nominee
See all formats and editions
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The first book in twenty-five 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 twenty-one-year-old college student in fall of 1975, Jerry Seinfeld has written his own material and saved everything. “Whenever I came up with a funny bit, whether it happened on a stage, in a conversation, or working it out on my preferred canvas, the big yellow legal pad, I kept it in one of those old school accordion folders,” Seinfeld writes. “So I have everything I thought was worth saving from forty-five years of hacking away at this for all I was worth.”

For this book, Jerry Seinfeld has selected his favorite material, organized decade by decade. In page after hilarious page, one brilliantly crafted observation after another, readers will witness the evolution of one of the great comedians of our time and gain new insights into the thrilling but unforgiving art of writing stand-up comedy.
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Previous page
  1. Print length
    480 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Simon & Schuster
  4. Publication date
    October 6, 2020
  5. Dimensions
    6.13 x 1.4 x 9.25 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    1982112697
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1982112691
  8. See all details
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Get to know this book

Previous page

  1. What's it about?

    A collection of Jerry Seinfeld's best work across five decades in comedy, organized decade by decade.

  2. Popular highlight

    The real problem of stand-up, of course, is that you must constantly justify why you are the only one talking while a room full of people sit quietly.
    393 Kindle readers highlighted this

  3. Popular highlight

    I was more than happy to accept being a not-that-funny comedian over any other conceivable option. Without realizing it, of course, this attitude is the exact right way to start out in the world of comedy. Expect nothing. Accept anything.
    269 Kindle readers highlighted this

  4. Popular highlight

    But when I’m in the company of other stand-up comedians I feel like I’m rolling around in a litter of puppies.
    167 Kindle readers highlighted this
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“Jerry Seinfeld’s new book, Is This Anything?… I enjoy opening it, pretending I’m Jerry and making my wife laugh with Jerry’s material. It’s like an artist being a copyist at a museum; you learn by emulating the strokes of others.”—Steve Martin in the New York Times Book Review

“It almost looks like a book of poetry…It made me realize a joke is a precision instrument, every word is a beat.”—Susan Morrison, The New Yorker

“This book is incredible…It’s like the best joke book you can buy.”—Jimmy Fallon

"[A] trove of laugh-out-loud one-liners but also a timeline, beginning with a kid commuting from his parents' home on Long Island to New York City to try to make strangers laugh. It continues through a career during which Seinfeld became arguably the greatest stand-up comic of his era and the pivotal figure of the funniest TV sitcom of its time.”—Associated Press

“Seinfeld proudly proclaimed to be a show about nothing. Is This Anything?, Jerry Seinfeld’s first book in almost three decades, is about everything....Bit by bit, we chart his growth as a master joke craftsman. Decade by decade, we follow his life journey, viewing the world through his perspective of what he found to be funny.... Is It Anything? captures the output of one of our great comic minds.”—Washington Post

“Fans of Seinfeld will eat this up, and aspiring comics will want to study how he shapes his seemingly effortless humor.”—Kirkus Reviews

“Comedian Seinfeld reflects on the absurdities of life in a laugh-out-loud volume that gathers jokes he’s written over the course of his 45-year career along with reminiscences on the lifestyle and craft of stand-up…This sharply observed, life-in-gags treasure trove offers essential reading for comedy fans, from a master of the form.”—Publishers Weekly,

“Admirers of Seinfeld's stream-of-consciousness observations about the minutiae of daily life will find much to enjoy here, and readers will also appreciate the window onto his evolution as a comic as he changes from a single guy in a messy apartment to the cocreator and star of a hit sitcom to a husband and father who watches (and critiques) Star Wars with his kids...a welcome treasure trove of laughs.”—Booklist

"Seinfeld’s jokes on the page makes his comedy come to life with new meaning. As you consider Seinfeld’s career, which has spanned nearly five decades, you realize that even though he claims his comedy is about nothing, you could just as easily say it’s about everything."—BookPage

"The book is consistently funny and it’s impressive that someone could have had a lifetime of so many insightful observations about seemingly mundane things... It’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen..."—Paul Leslie Hour

"[H]is autobiographical intro to Is This Anything? is so perceptive and engaging, as are subsequent interstitial glimpses of his offstage life..."—Air Mail

"Jerry Seinfeld's new book, Is This Anything? proves that passion leads to career success."—Inc. Magazine

About the Author

Jerry Seinfeld is the author of the New York Times bestsellers Seinlanguage, Halloween, and Is This Anything?.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Simon & Schuster; Illustrated edition (October 6, 2020)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 480 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1982112697
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1982112691
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.63 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.13 x 1.4 x 9.25 inches
  • Customer Reviews:

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Jerry Seinfeld

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Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
4.6 out of 5
7,415 global ratings
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5 Stars
Is everyone getting it?
Thank you Jerry Seinfeld for taking the lead in your industry and helping those coming up. I feel that you’ve taken on this role to instill and preserve high level comedy in our world. We need your help... I’m sure you know that. Comic genius as a gift and you’re sharing this gift with us on your own time...Congratulations on an excellent read and for sharing your talent, wisdom, and guidance. I’m not a comedian but I respect the presentation skills of fine comedians and this needs to be values and protected. Bravo.
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Top reviews from the United States

Joe MacGregor
5.0 out of 5 stars A collection of bits
Reviewed in the United States on May 14, 2024
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A very funny collection of Jerry Seinfeld’s bits through the years.
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David Rose
5.0 out of 5 stars It took years before we thought he was funny.
Reviewed in the United States on January 8, 2024
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And this book taught me why. This guy IS extremely funny but I realized what I don’t like is his timing and flow of words. Still what he says had me laughing for hours. I could hear him speaking the words but I was able to go the speed of what I thought was a much better delivery. Still him, still very funny.

Five stars because this enabled me to enjoy the jokes at my own vocal speed, pace and delivery. Now I’m funny too (only not very original. Thanks again Jerry. Top shelf stuff.)
2 people found this helpful
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Chris Parr
5.0 out of 5 stars Great! But, may or may not be what's expected.
Reviewed in the United States on December 9, 2023
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This is a compilation of memorable Seinfeld jokes by decade.

I bought this under the impression (through a third party) that this outlined some general principles in joke writing structure and theory.

It's not that in a straight forward manner, but you can see a pretty interesting pattern in how he structures his jokes.

It's highly entertaining and I have found, though different than anticipated, some good writing take aways.
2 people found this helpful
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bonedoc
4.0 out of 5 stars Great time travel review of comedy!
Reviewed in the United States on March 15, 2024
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Very good. I really like how the sections are segregated into decades. Just another reason for me to miss the 80's and 90's so much. All of it is good and is a great example of the evolution of time with regard to humor mores.
Having had experience in comedy clubs in the 80's, it is unfortunate that really funny comedy is gone!..."WOKE" ruined it....everyone is OFFENDED and it's mostly POLITICAL...how sad it is. Just look a SNL. Jerry S. is the greatest....all Clean Humor, but he couldn't even do his funniest bits today..
2 people found this helpful
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Johnny
5.0 out of 5 stars LOL on first flip open.
Reviewed in the United States on December 13, 2023
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I'm a huge Seinfeld fan so I am familiar with his material. Even so, the book cracks me up every time I flip it open to any page. These are literally his material. Material people have enjoyed for a long time. It'll be a staple around my coffee table or my bookshelf or even my desk.
You know how people have a favourite dish, flavour or fruit. It doesn't matter how many times I've had mangoes; I still get excited when I spot it on the shelfs. This is like that.
One person found this helpful
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Steve Malysz
5.0 out of 5 stars A Hilarious Gem
Reviewed in the United States on October 14, 2023
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I loved this book. Its print is large and double spaced. The bits are so funny. I was amazed at how the topics are constructed. If you love to laugh get this book.
3 people found this helpful
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Duane Schneider
3.0 out of 5 stars Money-Grabbing, not Super Funny
Reviewed in the United States on January 30, 2021
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I'm a Jerry Seinfeld fan but not a disciple, so I can honestly say there were portions of this book I found amusing but overall it was a disappointment. It must be nice to be a millionaire comedian. While others are struggling in quarantine, he can grab his old comedy bits from a shoebox, send them to an editor, and they are made into a book. That's what this is. Bit after bit. The same kind of material that Seinfeld became well-known for adding at the beginning of each "Seinfeld" episode to remind us that he was Jerry Seinfeld playing Jerry Seinfeld, not an actor but a stand-up comedian in NYC, as if we could forget. His bits are famously "What's the deal with ___?" Fill in the blank with some innocuous thing like cereal or honking in traffic, etc. He divides "Is This Anything?" by decade, but the material is largely the same, one or two page riffs on something, although I noticed that the first half of "Is This Anything?" was funnier than the second half. Artists seem to write better material when they're young and struggling. At the point Seinfeld reaches millionaire status, with tons of money from reruns, multiple mansions, a wife and kids and plenty of free time, the bits go downhill. I think he has a harder time now relating to "regular" things and people. I'll admit I was hoping for a more introspective book, something like Steve Martin's great memoir on comedy. But "Is This Anything?" seems more slapdash, thrown together, the brief one and two page autobiographical sections tossed in almost as afterthoughts, to tie things together. I think these bits were meant to stay in the shoebox, the best of them to be incorporated into routines at comedy clubs. After a drink or two, listening to these while watching the comedian among other fans of comedy, I think they would be funnier. More often than not, I was left pondering the strange use of punctuation in the book, the abundant white space, and the choice to cut sentences off midway through the page rather than allowing them to continue to the righthand margin like normal sentences. The text was left looking more like poetry, but these bits are not poems. Instead, I was left thinking that the writer and editor tried to stretch 90 pages of material into 200 pages, which is a bit of a rip-off for the reader.
4 people found this helpful
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Christopher Baker
5.0 out of 5 stars TOTALLY RELATABLE TOPICS.....EVERYONE CAN ENJOY!!!!!!
Reviewed in the United States on February 3, 2022
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My review is based on reading the entire Kindle version of this book. The beauty of this book is that Jerry investigates everyday, common experiences and products that everyone is exposed to and analyzes them at face value. The reader immediately recognizes the topics Jerry is talking about but his whit and criticism bring the topics into a completely new light that is hysterical in its truth. Another valid win for the book is the fact that the TOPICS TRANSCEND GENERATIONS and genders. I was able to read some of my favorite excerpts to my Mom who was also in tears with the ridiculousness.
***A special note: This is NOT a biography about Jerry NOR does it reveal his secret process for creating his routines. This is purely a collection of notes he has saved on various topics that he wondered if it was anything that he could use for stand up.
4 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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Orlando Sánchez Reyes
5.0 out of 5 stars The perfect way to learn joke structure
Reviewed in Mexico on September 15, 2021
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If you're a comedian, reading a veterans jokes and how they are structured is the perfect way start off your career or reenforce your knowledge.
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Eduardo
5.0 out of 5 stars Genial
Reviewed in Spain on March 6, 2024
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Eres fan de Seinfeld ? Me flipo este libro y si eres fan te flipara igual. Muy recomendable
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Greg Reader
5.0 out of 5 stars Great for fans of Seinfeld's stand-up
Reviewed in Canada on March 21, 2021
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Great for fans of Seinfeld's stand-up and transition from the show back to the stage. It really fits well if you saw the special he did free retiring his act and first started rebuilding his routine; otherwise, the section on the 2000s may seem just like bad material.

If you just liked the show, I'd skip the chapter on the 2000s but would still give the rest a read.
One person found this helpful
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Para fãs
Reviewed in Brazil on December 28, 2020
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Gostei, era o que eu esperava. Claro que as piadas são muito mais engraçadas quando ele conta, então o livro funciona melhor quando vc o assistiu apresentando e pode imaginar ou lembrar. Por isso não recomendo como uma introdução a Jerry Seinfeld, melhor para os fãs.
4 people found this helpful
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M K
5.0 out of 5 stars Bella idea regalo
Reviewed in Italy on April 28, 2022
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Per gli appassionati è d'obbligo averlo
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