Radio comic and television writer Tom Scharpling embodies the spirit of New Jersey as he recovers from depression while learning to write for television in tandem with his weekly comedy improv platform show in his comedic memoir.
Tom Scharpling grew up in New Jersey with a family of independent entrepreneurs and access to the New York music scene in the late 1970s through early 90s. His childhood includes great adventures like setting high scores at pinball, a family court battle against arcade bullies, watching a classmate attempt to score a switchblade in Times Square while going to see Billy Joel in 1983 and even auditioning for The New Monkees! He also worried intensely about his mother’s health and nearly succumbed to depression at the end of high school. Luckily his life didn’t end there, and he eventually channeled his music obsessions into radio comedy on his weekly platform program, The Best Show on WFMU. A passion for prank phone calls and rock and roll both indie and hard led to a life changing relationship with punk band Superchunk’s drummer John Wurster and some lively improvised radio comedy like the legendary Rock, Rot, and Rule call about a fake book designed to be the “ultimate argument settler” for music fans. There’s a lot of heart in his statements about creating and his commitment to trusting his creative instincts in the face of an audience that doesn’t initially understand what he’s trying to do. At the same time as the platform show, he learned to write humorous content for both The Onion and the entire run of USA’s hit detective show Monk. There are life lessons on the ethical approach to meeting heroes from encounters with celebrities like Patti Smith, Mickey Dolenz, Adam Sandler, and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson; some professional weirdness with Papa Roach; and some truly great music videos directed for Yo La Tengo and Aimee Mann by Scharpling himself. His personal growth feels like an uphill struggle through family illness, fear of mental healthcare and its effects on memory recall, and a codependent fixer mentality. In places there are breaks for garbage food and addiction to gaming machines with even an obsessive knowledge of how to feel broken pinball bumpers and dislodge stuck character cards from a coin pusher game. There’s a horrible car crash on the eve of a horrible president. Above all, there is Jersey pride throughout in a music trivia genius who always cheers the little guy and overcomes personal tragedy to summon the courage to make his next show a great party for his culture-savvy listeners.
A lively recharge to affirm sense of purpose for underdogs everywhere.
