Customer Reviews

The Making of a Stand-Up Guy

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

...and it was made all the briefer by the fact that I couldn't put it down. These days, I do most of my reading on my iPhone, which means that the book is always with me. With that understood, I finished this book in less than two days, and I mean that as a compliment to its page-turning quality.

This book is a disarming, surprisingly vulnerable telling of Charlie Murphy's life up to now. Clearly, he's had some interesting experiences. He comes off as a very down-to-earth, level-headed guy. Even though we come from totally different backgrounds, a lot of his observations about life are things that I have concluded as well.

If you're reading this, you probably know who Charlie Murphy is. If you think that you'd be interested in this book, read the excerpt linked in the upper left-hand corner of the page. If you like that, buy this book right now.

Charlie Murphy's "THE MAKING OF A STAND-UP GUY" is a very well written, very interesting prospective into the life of a stand-up comic - from dreamer to popular contributor on a hit TV sketch comedy show. Charlie's prospective on his brother's rise to fame is interesting, while he makes sure not to let his brother's fame dominate his own story. Overall it is a great, fast read (two days) worthy of five stars.

I read this book in a few days. His brother's rise to fame from his perspective was pretty interesting, but by no means did he use his brother to get where he is. I learned a lot about Charlie Murphy, he seems to be a mostly level-headed guy. I enjoyed the book, but I wish he had told more stories about his hollywood partying days. I guess he didn't want to throw any of his celebrity friends under the bus.

I wanna fingerbang-bang you all through the night. This book is very, very well written-by a can of worms. It's nothing more than an autobiography set up as a story about how CM became a stand-up comic. The stand-up story plays little part in the book, but for interludes and lead-ins. His story is highly interesting though, and worth reading just for that. Expect few, if any, laughs.

As someone who has always secretly aspired to be a stand-up comedian, I really enjoyed reading this book. The best thing about it is that it comes across so real. I found it to be very entertaining and although it is not much help from the standpoint of giving information about the comedy business, Mr. Murphy does impart several nuggets of wisdom that I found useful.

I really enjoyed reading all of the stories. The Rick James stories are funny but there are others as well. I found myself laughing at stories that I am certain were not meant to be funny. He also does a great job of pointing out the lessons he learned along the way. It is very refreshing to know that you can take such a circuitous route to success.

Here are a few of the tips I picked up from this easy and enjoyable read:

Always address the obvious

Record everything and use it like an athlete use "game film"

Find total solitude to write. He rents a hotel room

Comedy is all about observing everyday life and extracting the funny from it

Kai Dupé

[...]

Of course I had reservations about this book. Charlie Murphy can only be riding his brothers coattails. Wrong! I was amazed of Charlies memoirs, and impressed by the read. It's good to know about Charlie, and Eddies, world growing up, and existing today. I enjoyed this book very much and found it hard to put down. Nothing beats all the Rick James references in the book either. "What would Rick James do? I'll do exactly the opposite," Charlie Murphy. Defintiely a stand up book.

Before reading this book, I didn't know who Charlie Murphy was. I thought from the cover, he sure looks like Eddie Murphy. He is in fact, his older brother! I enjoyed this book, written in first person, covering his life growing up in Brooklyn to the present. This is a fast read with some really funny stuff sprinkled throughout the book.

When he was a kid, he recognized that he lacked the drive and purpose that his brother had. I think that may have been a contributing factor along with the neighborhood that he lived in as to why he got into trouble with the law. But he paid his price and set on a genuine search to find himself and what he could do well. What I liked the best was that he gained respect for himself and did not disparage others. He did not spout cheap Hollywood tell all stories but I think I would have preferred it if he didn't discuss the celebrities so much at the end of the book. He touched on his guilt that his beloved parrot died while on the road. I can understand why he never bought another parrot. I would have loved to hear some about his relationship to the rest of his family in the present also. I now know who Charlie Murphy is and would be delighted to meet him.

I enjoyed reading about Charlie's life and the things he had to go through to get where he is. I think it was more to let everyone know that he didn't make it by riding Eddie's coat tails. The only thing that I would've liked to see is him mention about his wives and son more, like how he felt and what was going on when he was born. I'll give it away but the only thing he said about his wife is, "this is when I married my 1st wife" and then jumped to something totally different. There were also a few other things that I felt needed closure but all in all it was a good read with a few funny lines that kept me interested.

i think left a review already. i'll leave another one. the book is very good. every detail was worth reading. again thank you. LaDawn

I was mostly surprised by this memoir b/c I knew so little about Charlie. I read this because it was recommended by Amazon after I read Black is the New White by Paul Mooney...and it was at the library. Can I compare the two for that reason? Mooney's memoir was impressive and fascinating from a historical perspective, and he always cited his looks on top of his talent as helping him open doors. You won't believe how he gets an honorable discharge from the US Navy, and who makes it happen early. Charlie obviously had connections, and the NYC comedy scene is considerably different from other places I'm sure, but his breakthrough with screenwriting is inspiring. So are his tips and advice (as well as a key tip he acknowledges from a comedy legend) to aspiring comedians. Both of these memoirs keep it real, and are very entertaining.