So here's my sparse review of Marc Summers book:
-Now if you're expecting to read a book about his past experience with Double Dare, you will get it, but there won't be much. This book is basically a half memoir/information book about Marc Summers' experience with OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder). He puts some of his personal life into inspection and finds out that his past leads towards a trail of his realization of this anxiety disorder. From the constant thoughts of his mother's worries about his father not coming home at night and the empathy for his mother's worries, to his deep constant feelings of anxiety whenever whipped cream, baked beans in a vat, or even dog food were to ever physically be flung or hit in his way, he shudders at the idea of being messy, despite giving the cameras a smile and a good-natured attitude towards the chaos.
He talks about his obsessions of wanting to be on camera, on television, radio, that feeling of commanding a room and making people entertained. He tells about how he was pretty much the only kid in his neighborhood having a Johnny Carson poster on his bedroom wall. He dreamt of hosting or being on The Tonight Show, let alone just appear and being pushed back as a guest ten times (if I recall that's the actual number). But he did get his wish, when in 1993-4, he appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, who at the time was new at the job and previously mentioned doing stand-up (that's right, he was previously a stand-up comedian during the 70s with Jay, Robin Williams, and Garry Shandling at the Comedy Factory [if that's the correct club] in Los Angeles). Jay was interviewing Burt Reynolds, who at the time was going through a divorce and was going through a book tour, promoting his autobiography, to which Marc explicitly notes that he didn't write. Jay basically pestered at him throughout the whole interview, with roaring applause and laughter from the audience, which was basically the goal of trying to bring in ratings for NBC, which I guess at the time, there was some concern of NBC losing viewers cause Johnny left and a era of golden television has left and needed an edge to keep up with a newer generation.
To skip ahead, Marc made a joke about him being married and Burt not, to which Burt threw a cup of water onto Marc's crotch. Marc tried to rebel back by doing the same thing, but Burt knocked the cup and hit Marc's face, to which he thought he knocked his tooth out [he didn't]. Then the producers had the idea of pieing each other in the face (the cream was actually shaving cream, which was better for comic and physical effect when thrown).
These are one of the many things in the book where he discusses about his personal life, as well as his introspection upon everything needing to be in order: from the fringe being straightened out, the kitchen curtains needing to have the same creases when on the floor, to having not one mark on the walls of his house.
From seeing his personality, he seems somewhat of a control freak and a bit of an a-hole, saying to the reader that he has A-type personality traits: impatient, hostile, aggressive, competitive, strong in achievements, basically feeling the need to control in order to have a stable life. And that's what Marc had struggled over the years.
Topic: The Official Daily Diary (TODD) Thread (Read 24651 times)
