SITCOM

A titan of TV comedy takes a self-deprecating look back at his career.

Lorre has written and produced a string of beloved sitcoms, including Dharma & Greg, The Big Bang Theory, Two and a Half Men, and The Kominsky Method. And he’s a clever social observer, as viewers know when they pause to read the “vanity cards” Lorre uses instead of a traditional production-company logo. (This book includes copious examples of them.) For the memoir, though, he leans heavily into failure: busted marriages, a misguided detour into Scientology, heavy drinking, and a host of unsuccessful show ideas. At every step, he’s willing to name names and own up to his own shortcomings, including a very public split with Men co-star Charlie Sheen, whose addiction struggles led to his leaving the show in 2011. None of this reads like false modesty; indeed, he’s upfront about calling out duplicitous TV execs. But a running theme of the book is that honesty about one’s struggles is valuable creative fuel. In a too-brief chapter of writing advice, he suggests that a “deeper means to achieving laughter involves pain and suffering.” (His on-set conflicts with Roseanne Barr, Brett Butler, and Cybill Shepherd provided a steady flow of both.) Besides, he’s funny about his string of humiliations. On his second wife: “She was a former Playboy Playmate of the Month with daddy issues. I was a prime-time showrunner with mommy issues. A match made in heaven.” On one failed script: “The script was mulched and used as landfill.” If he keeps writing advice short, he’s expansive with show-and-tell: The book is appended with draft scripts for the Men, Big Bang, and Kominsky pilots, scribbled with annotations. “God, this script is filled with regret,” reads one typical comment.

A brutal look at funny business.