Dying to Do Letterman
Author | : Steve Mazan |
Publisher | : Health Communications, Inc. |
Total Pages | : 266 |
Release | : 2011-10-17 |
ISBN-10 | : 9780757316272 |
ISBN-13 | : 0757316271 |
Rating | : 4/5 (72 Downloads) |
Book excerpt: Someday I'll open my own business. Someday I'll write my screenplay. Someday I'll travel the world. What if someday never comes? Steve Mazan's someday was to perform on The Late Show with David Letterman. From the time he was twelve, he told himself Someday and busily passed the time as a successful stand-up comic. Then, in his early thirties, Steve was diagnosed with an incurable form of liver cancer. Doctors told him he might have only five years left to live. So Steve did something strange: he started living. His first move was to chase that childhood dream and turn someday into today—he would perform his act live on The Late Show with David Letterman . . . even if it killed him.In a literal race against time, Steve peels back layers of himself that he never knew existed, taking risks that would ultimately put his act, his pride, and his livelihood on the chopping block for all to criticize. With his confidence in a rut and his healthcare bills mounting, Steve finds himself filing for bankruptcy, receiving rejection after rejection, battling death, and questioning his dream. Every hero has his journey, and in this raw, riveting, riotous account of what one man would endure in a quest to tell a joke, Steve takes readers on a journey that ultimately is no joke.