Silver Screen Fiend: Learning About Life from an Addiction to Film

Veteran stand-up comedian and television actor Oswalt brings his quirky persona to the audio edition of his latest book. Oswalt recounts a four-year period as a young adult in the 1990s when he became obsessed with vintage movies and spent at least three nights a week at the famed New Beverly Cinema in Los Angeles. Oswalt provides a conversational and confessional style of delivery familiar to fans of his stand-up act; he moves at a fast pace, never slowing down to allow time for listeners to digest all of his unapologetically esoteric references to cinema and the comedy scene. Yet that mixture of eccentricity and bravado is the essence of Oswalt’s appeal. A tribute to The Beverly Theater’s colorful owner and operator, the late Sherman Torgan, is especially memorable, as Oswalt vividly recites a list of never-made films that he wishes Torgan could view as a reward in the afterlife. The audiobook also includes a bonus PDF with photos and a helpful index detailing all of Oswalt’s movie-going during his addiction period. A Scribner hardcover. (Jan.)