Everything Is Horrible and Wonderful

Holy shit.

That's how I felt on every page of this book. It ripped me raw in the best of ways. Wittels Wach is a phenomenal writer, but she writes real. Really real. The frustration. The fatigue. The emptiness. But also the laughter. It's so, so rare to find a book that can make you crack a smile through tears. It doesn't matter if you don't know who Harris Wittels was or have never enjoyed his work (and if that's so – who are you??). It doesn't matter if you've never had an addict in your life. It doesn't matter if the sun is shining and you found out you won the lottery in a pile of snuggly puppies and it's the happiest day of your life; you read this book and it smacks you hard with grief, bringing you right to the moment where life pivots, and all that precedes and proceeds from that hard stop; every page is a beautiful fucking whirlwind and I couldn't put it down.

I'll forever carry the titular line with me, a fantastic quote from Harris: “We are all horrible and wonderful and figuring it out.” But also: “Waldo asked me to spot him at the gym. Couldn't do it.” And also: “Aw man, when eye boogers turn sharp, forget about it.” And pretty much every quote he has about Phish. And Chilis. Ugh whatta guy. Rest in peace, dude.

If you have a heart, this book will rip it out . . . continually.

Harris was one of the funniest people on the planet, hands down. I miss seeing his name pop up in my podcast feed as a guest on shows like Comedy Bang! Bang! and Who Charted, or trying to convince Scott Aukerman that Phish was a good band on Analyze Phish.

I was just a fan, though. Reading how his sister and family have had to deal with this tragedy was gut-wrenching. I tend to forget most of a book pretty quickly after reading it, but I don't think this one is leaving my memory anytime soon, if ever.

I loved this and highly recommend it if you a) loved Harris Wittels's comedy and/or b) are looking for a good memoir about grief, especially the particular grief of losing someone at a young age to something preventable.

I will add that a particular bonus appeal factor here was confirmation that comedians I like are good people, or at least have done nice things. I enjoyed reading about kind gestures from people like Amy Poehler, Sarah Silverman, Kulap Vilaysack, and Aziz Ansari. (I know most of those people have also done problematic things in their lives but just, you know, from a celebrity-adjacent memoir perspective...I liked that.)

Anyway it's very funny and heartbreaking and raw. I was very moved by it.