Stand-up comic Gary Gulman on his awkward 1980s childhood

nypost.com:

“Misfit: Growing Up Awkward in the ’80s” (Flatiron Books) delves into the childhood that turned him into the kook he is today. With such a successful stand-up career, why did you decide to write a book? It’s something I always wanted to do.

Growing up, I was keeping track of stories and sort of delusionally thought maybe one day I’ll write a book. First it was about my rise to stardom as a basketball player [laughs], and then about football or comedy, but I kept track of things.

I love telling childhood stories because they’re laughable and absurd and more painful but you have some distance, too. By definition you’ve survived your childhood stories so people feel comfortable laughing at them, which is really important. In the introduction you say the worldview you learned in your childhood home is a reason you ended up moving back in your 40s while depressed? There were two things going on there.

Basically, I was an only child since my brothers were so much older than me. There was a lot of loneliness and not much attention paid to me.