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Brian’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Brian’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
Brian Phares’s Followers (7)
1,697 books
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112 friends
586 books
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23 friends
1,746 books
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10 friends
1,179 books
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151 friends
2,299 books
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85 friends
411 books
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62 friends
813 books
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156 friends
1,691 books
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300 friends
More friends…
Brian Phares
Goodreads Author
Born
in Rochester, New York, The United States
Twitter
Genre
Influences
John Green, Tina Fey, John Irving, Adam McKay, Stephen King
Member Since
June 2012
Brian’s Recent Updates
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Brian Phares
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"GodDAMN"
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Brian Phares
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Brian Phares
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Brian Phares
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Brian Phares
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Brian Phares
rated a book it was amazing
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Brian Phares
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"It's been a while since a book has made me want to buy a box of copies and give them out on the street and ask people to read it, but this is one of those books."
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Brian Phares
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“The show doesn’t go on because it’s ready; it goes on because it’s 11:30.”
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“The show doesn’t go on because it’s ready; it goes on because it’s 11:30.
This is something Lorne [Michaels] has said often about Saturday Night Live, but I think it’s a great lesson about not being too precious about your writing. You have to try your hardest to be at the top of your game and improve every joke you can until the last possible second, and then you have to let it go.
You can’t be that kid standing at the top of the waterslide, overthinking it. You have to go down the chute. (And I’m from a generation where a lot of people died on waterslides, so this was an important lesson for me to learn.) You have to let people see what you wrote. It will never be perfect, but perfect is overrated. Perfect is boring on live TV.
What I learned about ‘bombing’ as an improviser at Second City was that bombing is painful, but it doesn’t kill you. No matter how badly an improv set goes, you will still be physically alive when it’s over. What I learned about bombing as a writer at Saturday Night is that you can’t be too worried about your ‘permanent record.’ Yes, you’re going to write some sketches that you love and are proud of forever—your golden nuggets. But you’re also going to write some real shit nuggets. And unfortunately, sometimes the shit nuggets will make it onto the air. You can’t worry about it. As long as you know the difference, you can go back to panning for gold on Monday.”
― Bossypants
This is something Lorne [Michaels] has said often about Saturday Night Live, but I think it’s a great lesson about not being too precious about your writing. You have to try your hardest to be at the top of your game and improve every joke you can until the last possible second, and then you have to let it go.
You can’t be that kid standing at the top of the waterslide, overthinking it. You have to go down the chute. (And I’m from a generation where a lot of people died on waterslides, so this was an important lesson for me to learn.) You have to let people see what you wrote. It will never be perfect, but perfect is overrated. Perfect is boring on live TV.
What I learned about ‘bombing’ as an improviser at Second City was that bombing is painful, but it doesn’t kill you. No matter how badly an improv set goes, you will still be physically alive when it’s over. What I learned about bombing as a writer at Saturday Night is that you can’t be too worried about your ‘permanent record.’ Yes, you’re going to write some sketches that you love and are proud of forever—your golden nuggets. But you’re also going to write some real shit nuggets. And unfortunately, sometimes the shit nuggets will make it onto the air. You can’t worry about it. As long as you know the difference, you can go back to panning for gold on Monday.”
― Bossypants