You're Not Doing It Right: Tales of Marriage, Sex, Death, and Other Humiliations
Black’s fame is a peculiar but deserved one. He’s never starred in a big hit movie (although the giddily absurd 2001 cult classic Wet Hot American Summer should have been) or a top-rated television show (a supporting role in the 2000–2004 NBC series Ed is the closest he’s come so far), yet he’s brought his brand of sly wit and deadpan pop-culture commentary to a variety of places, including a gazillion of those I Love the . . . VH1 specials, memorable commercial spots (for Sierra Mist and Pets.com), and several short-lived cable series (The State, Stella). Now Black is carving out his own unique niche as an author, landing comfortably between Tina Fey and Augusten Burroughs along the comedy-memoir spectrum. He leaves out the Hollywood dish and avoids exposing any deep, dark family skeletons in favor of self-deprecating ruminations on his own neuroses, schoolyard fights, the toils and spoils of marriage, child rearing, pets, religion, masculinity, and, finally, coming to terms with being a traditional middle-aged family man and target BMW demographic. --Chris Keech