You probably know Kal Penn best from his starring role in the Harold and Kumar movies. You were probably as surprised as I was when it was announced that he had taken a role as an advisor in the Obama administration. After reading this book, I’m not surprised at all.

The first part of the book is about how Kal got his start in Hollywood and oh my gosh, the overt, unabashed racism and sexism he encountered was astounding. I know the entertainment industry can be racist and sexist but I thought people perpetuating it were a little more subtle about it. But no – like the producer who told Kal he doesn’t hire “chicks” because he doesn’t want to deal with possible sexual harassment lawsuits. Instead of maybe just controlling himself and not being a jerk? Or the producer who said Joseph Gordon-Levitt would never get a job because he was too Asian. Said this to Kal, who is, hello? Also Asian! Kal was not afraid to call out people who treated him poorly. Most of the time, he doesn’t use names but I bet you could figure out who they were if you tried hard enough.

The next part of the book was about Kal’s time in the Obama administration, which totally makes sense to me now. He was taking an international studies course through Stanford at the time. He was a surrogate for Obama during the campaign and learned a lot so when Obama was elected, he applied for a job. He truly did get it on merit, not because he’s a movie star. His role was not symbolic, he actually made important decisions.

One thing that I thought was odd was that he didn’t talk about being gay at all, other than to briefly mention his first few dates with his finance Josh. Apparently, this book was the first time he publically stated that he’s gay. Since he wrote about his parents struggling with his decision to pursue a career in the arts instead of medicine or engineering like most Indian children, I thought he would also write about how they felt about his sexuality. I mean, it’s none of my business but I just thought it was a pretty big part of his life to leave out since he writes about other personal stuff.

He reads You Can’t Be Serious himself and I think that made it extra funny. He has a conversational style that was really engaging. Highly recommended. ( )

You know the author from his roles in Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle, The Namesake, House, Designated Survivor, and Sunnyside. (Oh wait, you probably don’t know about Sunnyside because NBC set it up to fail.) He narrates the audiobook version of this memoir, and is as hilarious and delightful as you’d expect. But as he reflects on his careers both in acting and serving in the Obama administration, he goes into pretty serious stuff, especially the overwhelming amount of racism in supposedly progressive Hollywood. I felt inspired by his stories of standing up for himself while learning how to play the game, all told with earnestness, humility, introspection, and laugh-out-loud humor. ( )

3.35 https://debbybrauer.org/#you-cant-be-serious ( )

You Can’t Be Serious

I Picked Up This Book Because: I like the actor.

Media Type: Audiobook
Source: Scribd
Dates Read: 11/18/21 - 11/21/21
Stars: 4 Stars
Narrator(s): Kal Penn

The Story:

A really interesting look at Hollywood. The lens of a non white actor is tough and a little shocking. I also enjoyed the non-hollywood parts of the book. His growing up and time at the White House. Admittedly I could have done about 20% less WH stories but they were all interesting and I heard about parts of the government I had no idea existed. Overall a great multifaceted book.

The Random Thoughts: ( )