Novelist, columnist, television writer. During the last three decades, Bill Scheft (www.billscheft.com) has established himself as a versatile, singular and influential comedic voice.
His latest novel, TOMMY DASH: WAS IT EVERYTHING I SAID? is now available on Audible (and other audio sites). Tommy Dash, an unapologetic 60-year-old scuffling LA stand-up comedian, is trying to apologize his way back into show business, one burnt bridge and one more last chance at a time, during the last days of Pre-Trump America. Think Lewis Black, but a little angrier. Think Sam Kinison on a coke budget. Think Bill Maher, without the cable filter. Think Amy Schumer, with a slightly smaller set of balls. Think Samsonite, but with less baggage.
A lot of people are waiting for their apology. Ex-wives, daughters, soon-to-be former girlfriends and three generations of fellow comics, celebrities and industry people along the redemptive path. But here's the thing with Tommy Dash. Before you may or may not get a sorry, you get a story. And as Tommy will tell you, he is in it for the stories. And so are we. Despite lovingly referring to himself as a Category 4 shitstorm, we root for him and his emerging heart. We want to hear about the wreckage, sure, but we keep hoping he'll land safely.
Larry David raves: "Vintage Scheft! I loved it, but that's a given...."
TOMMY DASH is Scheft's fifth novel and his first in audiobook format. It is narrated by Johnny Heller, an award-winning audiobook voice-over legend. Heller, who recently narrated a biography of Don Rickles, was the beyond no-brainer choice to capture the singular cadence of the not-entirely fictional stand-up Dash.
Midway through his 24-year run as a staff writer for David Letterman, Scheft broke into fiction racket in 2002 with his critically acclaimed first novel, THE RINGER. The story of a 35-year-old hired gun New York City softball player whose life changes when he has to take care of his infirm sportswriter uncle. THE RINGER was optioned for film by United Artists, for whom Scheft wrote the screen adaptation. His second novel, TIME WON’T LET ME (2005), chronicled the chaotic resurrection of the prep school garage band The Truants, whose members try to reunite 30 years after learning the album they recorded in 1967 is worth $10,000. TIME WON’T LET ME was a finalist for the 2006 Thurber Prize for American Humor, the nation’s highest honor for literary humor. (In 2012, fiction met reality, as Scheft started his own garage band, The Truants (www.thetruantslive.com), who gig regularly all over the East Coast.)
In his third novel, EVERYTHING HURTS (2009), Scheft introduced the world to self-proclaimed “self-help fraud” Phil Camp, who accidentally achieved international acclaim writing under the pseudonym Marty Fleck and now tries to seek relief from his unexplained chronic pain through the aid of another self-help guru, Dr. Samuel Abrun. Publishers Weekly was ecstatic: “Scheft skewers physical and emotional pain with a mercilessly comic touch and a bit of poignancy.” And Pulitzer Prize-winning author Richard Russo marveled, “How rare it is for a novel to be both hilarious and profoundly moving.”
SHRINK THYSELF came out in the summer of 2014. Charlie Traub leaves therapy to try and live a non-psychological life. Which would be great if he could shake his former therapist, who turns out to be, uh, nuts. Despite all unexamined evidence to the contrary, Charlie just may be unable to accept that wherever he goes, there he is. "Bill Scheft has created a sad-sack hero with the exuberant verve of a character out of Philip Roth or Saul Bellow...." crowed The Atlantic.
In addition to his long-form works, Scheft was widely known for his weekly humor column, "The Show," which appeared in Sports Illustrated for three years. A collection of his columns, THE BEST OF THE SHOW, was published in 2005.
After twelve years touring as a stand-up comedian, Scheft was hired as a monologue writer for Late Night with David Letterman in 1991. He was with the program for its last two years at NBC, then moved over to CBS in August, 1993 to work on Late Show with David Letterman, where he stayed until the show ended last May. During his 24 years with Letterman, he was nominated for 15 Emmys. Which, ah, means he never won.
Scheft has contributed humor essays and short pieces to the New Yorker, New York Times, Esquire, Salon, McSweeney's, TV Guide, George, Talk, Slate, Modern Humorist, the collections Mirth of a Nation, 101 Damnations, May Contain Nuts, Howl, the Final Four of Everything and reviews to the New York Times Book Review.
The nephew of legendary golf writer Herbert Warren Wind, Scheft edited a collection of his uncle's pieces on the Masters, AMERICA'S GIFT TO GOLF: Herbert Warren Wind on The Masters (The American Golfer, 2011)
A 1979 graduate of Harvard College, where he majored in Latin because he "thought the church was going to come back," Scheft began his professional career as a sportswriter for the Albany Times-Union before he came to the realization, "Hey, what the hell am I doing in Albany?" He moved to New York City in December, 1980. He still lives in Manhattan with the voices in his head.
Read more
Read less
