At the tender age of 41 it is really odd that Simon Pegg felt the need to write a memoir, but we are delighted he did. In Nerd Do Well, the writer, actor and comedian details his life in beautifully written prose that comes off as if he is sitting next to us.
Pegg throws out all the rules of the classic autobiography and simply talks with great wit about his experiences growing up, his growing love for all things geek and how he became a Hollywood player. On top of all that we also get Pegg’s comic adventure as he presents himself as a suave 007-style hero saving the world with his faithful C-3PO-like robot butler. Each chapter details an incident in Pegg’s life and then we see it presented hero-style in comic prose.
A Pleasure to Read
Pegg takes us through his life, revealing interesting tidbits and talking about how he found his calling. The interesting thing about Nerd Do Well is Pegg takes great pleasure in lampooning the kind of people who write memoirs in their 30s and even those who read them, but it's all done with a wonderful amount of charm. He talks about his parent’s divorce, his rocky relationship with his stepfather and his friendships and working relationships with Nick Frost, Edgar Wright and Jessica Hynes.
An Essay on His Loves
Pegg also takes the time to write extensively on his passions, something that would be tedious in another memoir, but Pegg knows his audience and we revel in his extended thoughts. He devotes an entire chapter to his feelings and love for the original Star Wars trilogy, he talks about his influences, his passions (his deconstruction of The Young Ones is a pure joy) and his hates. He goes into expicit detail about his reaction to the Star Wars prequels and talks about how The Matrix (released the same year as Phantom Mence) filled the void. Pegg's arguments are beautifully reasoned, funny, and great to read.
Glory Days
He traces his career from his student days living with fellow comic Michael Smiley (Spaced’s Tyres O’Flaherty) to his being cast as Scotty in the rebooted Star Trek and working with his hero Steven Spielberg on The Adventures of Tintin. On his casting in Tintin, Pegg talks about seeing his first Spielberg film, Raiders of the Lost Ark, with his stepfather and how they put aside their differences for the film. Pegg chokes us up when he tells us how he called his stepfather first to relay the news he would be working with Spielberg.
Nerd Do Well is a wonderfully funny account of an ordinary guy who got a peek behind the curtain, full of great stories and wonderful anecdotes and it is a really pleasure to spend the time with him.
Title: Nerd Do Well
Author: Simon Pegg
Gregory Breen - Gregory Breen was born and raised just south of Dublin, Ireland in the town of Dun Laoghire. He lived in Canada in 2006 for a year and ...
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