It Never Ends

May 31, 2021
Comedian and television writer Scharpling careens with reckless abandon around the curves life has thrown him in his sidesplitting debut. Bouncing around in time, he skims over prank-calling his high school bullies’ parents as a freshman and cuts to the depression that led to electroconvulsive treatments for most of his senior year. Listening to the radio became an escape, and in college in the mid-1990s, he turned his passion into a gig as a DJ for Jersey City radio station WFMU: “When I talked into that mic and said whatever I was thinking, the universe literally handed me my voice.” In a serendipitous moment, he met Jon Wurster, from the rock band Superchunk, and the two created a comic call-in music show that would eventually become The Best Show on WFMU in 2000. Jonesing to become a “Professional Funny Person,” he soon began writing for the TV show Monk and for movies such as Grown Ups 3. All jokes aside, Scharpling uses his struggles to offer poignant life lessons, dropping in thoughtful reflections about the importance of putting ideas into action and overcoming shame (“set it down and move forward”). Readers will laugh, cry, and laugh some more as they cheer on this story of persistence and triumph. Agent: Christopher Hermelin, Fischer-Harbage.

June 18, 2021

Scharpling acknowledges that he's not a household name, but readers who can't place the name may still have encountered his work. While he's most notably the longtime host of the radio/webcast series The Best Show with Tom Scharpling, he also wrote for Monk during its entire eight-season run and appeared in sketches on Late Night with Conan O'Brien. He proves himself an able storyteller with his debut memoir, a collection of stories that include a summer spent in a Jersey Shore arcade and a bizarre Papa Roach promotional basketball game. He also offers a poignant account of his struggle with mental illness; he was institutionalized and underwent electroconvulsive therapy as a high school student. VERDICT A radio deejay should be loud and opinionated, and Scharpling doesn't disappoint. Though the book will appeal mostly to his fanbase (who will learn that Scharpling isn't his real name), his stories are accessible to a wider audience. Be warned, though: He has little use for conservatives, Billy Joel, or the pizza in Toronto.--Terry Bosky, Madison, WI

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