The Hilarious World of Depression

Starred review from February 24, 2020
Moe (Conservatize Me), host of The Hilarious World of Depression podcast, wryly reflects on life as a “saddie” in this stirring memoir. Moe discusses depressive thoughts and experiences, including addiction in his family, his brother’s suicide in 2007, and moments of acute professional stress. He explains that as he grew up, married, and raised his children, he felt a need (increasingly prompted by his wife) to treat his low-key desire “not so much to die as simply not be alive anymore.” Despite his suicidal ideation and his struggle to move past his guilt after his brother’s suicide, Moe’s story is not bleak. While he does not come out on the mythical other side, he learns—with the help of medication, dogs, listening to music, and therapy—to break the “habit of converting stress into bleak, goth-eyeliner-wearing despair.” Such side-eye commentary separates Moe’s story from the “trite ’70s self-help” he loathes, as does the inclusion of quotes from podcast guests Maria Bamford, Patton Oswalt, and others. Moe’s edifying, enjoyable take on the realities of living with depression will uplift any reader.

March 1, 2020
The creator and host of the titular podcast recounts his lifelong struggles with depression. With the increasing success of his podcast, Moe, a longtime radio personality and author whose books include The Deleted E-Mails of Hillary Clinton: A Parody (2015), was encouraged to open up further about his own battles with depression and delve deeper into characteristics of the disease itself. Moe writes about how he has struggled with depression throughout his life, and he recounts similar experiences from the various people he has interviewed in the past, many of whom are high-profile entertainers and writers--e.g. Dick Cavett and Andy Richter, novelist John Green. The narrative unfolds in a fairly linear fashion, and the author relates his family's long history with depression and substance abuse. His father was an alcoholic, and one of his brothers was a drug addict. Moe tracks how he came to recognize his own signs of depression while in middle school, as he experienced the travails of OCD and social anxiety. These early chapters alternate with brief thematic "According to THWoD" sections that expand on his experiences, providing relevant anecdotal stories from some of his podcast guests. In this early section of the book, the author sometimes rambles. Though his experiences as an adolescent are accessible, he provides too many long examples, overstating his message, and some of the humor feels forced. What may sound naturally breezy in his podcast interviews doesn't always strike the same note on the written page. The narrative gains considerable momentum when Moe shifts into his adult years and the challenges of balancing family and career while also confronting the devastating loss of his brother from suicide. As he grieved, he writes, his depression caused him to experience "a salad of regret, anger, confusion, and horror." Here, the author focuses more attention on the origins and evolution of his series, stories that prove compelling as well. The book would have benefited from a tighter structure, but it's inspiring and relatable for readers with depression.

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March 1, 2020
On his podcast, The Hilarious World of Depression, Moe talks to comedians about coping with mental illness. In his latest book, he gives himself the THWoD treatment, with the same combination of heart-wrenching honesty and silliness. It works, creating a warm relatability that normalizes the many insidious aspects of living with depression. Moe's combined family history of depression and denial left him without the tools to handle uncontrollable adolescent crying jags or adult-onset, virulent road rage. In hindsight, he understands that things that are easy for "normies" feel insurmountable for "saddies" like himself. He describes seeking help in fits and starts (like most saddies), sprinkling in memorable and relevant conversations from his podcast with the likes of Peter Sagal, Maria Bamford, Dick Cavett, and fellow school-crier Jeff Tweedy. An annual Twitter thread honoring his brother Rick, who died by suicide, nets so much grateful feedback that it eventually gives birth to THWoD the podcast, and by the end of the book, readers will be convinced that Moe is exactly the right person to give an attentive, irreverent voice to those suffering with depression.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)