Forever Nerdy: Living My Dorky Dreams and Staying Metal

In this hilarious and honest memoir, stand-up comedian and actor Posehn (who has appeared on The Big Bang Theory) chronicles the pop culture obsessions that have shaped his life and career. Coming of age in the Bay Area during the 1970s and 1980s, Posehn was a “full-blown nerd” and “obsessed with a bunch of cool stuff that dumb people think is uncool,” namely comedy, sci-fi and horror films, and heavy metal. He maintains that “nerds don’t like things passively,” and this sentiment bears out in his obsession with Kiss and Metallica (he once cornered Metallica’s James Hetfield after a show and asked him what his friends should name their band; Hetfield answered, “Almost”), Jaws and Star Wars, and Saturday Night Live (“I fell in love with Jane, Gilda, and Lorraine instantly”). Posehn explains how meaningful these outlets were to him during an adolescence that was marked by the deaths of relatives as well as a strained relationship with his mother. As a lonely, awkward grade schooler, he found refuge in books and libraries; in high school, he developed friendships through movies and music; and in his early 20s, he developed an identity as a stand-up comic. Posehn explains that this memoir is “not [his] life story... just a bunch of stories from [his] life,” and the stories he shares are intimate and wonderfully entertaining. This work will resonate with those who have always felt like outsiders. (Nov.)