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Sitcom: A Memoir
A memoir from Chuck Lorre—one of the most prolific television writers and showrunners in TV history (The Big Bang Theory, Two and a Half Men, Mom, The Kominsky Method, Young Sheldon), on his life, career, and the deal with all those vanity cards.
Ever wonder what it’s like to spend decades making millions of strangers laugh — while trying not to lose your mind in the process?
As the creator of The Big Bang Theory, Two and a Half Men, Young Sheldon, Bookie, Dharma & Greg, Mom, and more, Lorre has racked up almost two thousand half-hours of comedy. But his own story is just as outrageous, awkward, and surprisingly touching as the shows he built.
In this memoir on his life and career in comedy, Lorre trades punchlines for real the messy, very human truth behind Hollywood’s glossy façade, addiction, his own and that of his famous colleagues, his failed marriages, disastrous life choices, and chronic illness--all of which somehow became the ingredients for comedy. One chapter may leave you doubled over, the next might sneak in a lump in your throat — but that’s Chuck. That’s sitcoms. That’s also real life.
If you’ve ever binged The Big Bang Theory, argued over your favorite Two and a Half Men character, or wondered how TV comedy gets made, this is your all-access pass. it involves failure, low-self-esteem, and an unshakable love for laughter.
Ever wonder what it’s like to spend decades making millions of strangers laugh — while trying not to lose your mind in the process?
As the creator of The Big Bang Theory, Two and a Half Men, Young Sheldon, Bookie, Dharma & Greg, Mom, and more, Lorre has racked up almost two thousand half-hours of comedy. But his own story is just as outrageous, awkward, and surprisingly touching as the shows he built.
In this memoir on his life and career in comedy, Lorre trades punchlines for real the messy, very human truth behind Hollywood’s glossy façade, addiction, his own and that of his famous colleagues, his failed marriages, disastrous life choices, and chronic illness--all of which somehow became the ingredients for comedy. One chapter may leave you doubled over, the next might sneak in a lump in your throat — but that’s Chuck. That’s sitcoms. That’s also real life.
If you’ve ever binged The Big Bang Theory, argued over your favorite Two and a Half Men character, or wondered how TV comedy gets made, this is your all-access pass. it involves failure, low-self-esteem, and an unshakable love for laughter.
Kindle Edition
First published October 13, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
October 17, 2026
I am a fan of quite a few of Chuck Lorre's shows so I was intrigued by this memoir. I knew nothing about him personally and honestly that is not really what I cared about. I wanted more dirt on the shows. He did deliver some of that but I wish he would have gone into more depth.
Funny though sometimes harsh of the people he has worked with over the years I still enjoyed it and now want to do some further research. Especially regarding Anna Ferris.
Very quick and to the point but a good read.
Funny though sometimes harsh of the people he has worked with over the years I still enjoyed it and now want to do some further research. Especially regarding Anna Ferris.
Very quick and to the point but a good read.
October 16, 2026
There’s a scene in The Office where Dunder Mifflin employees eagerly gather around as Michael Scott recounts his dramatic resignation to David Wallace at the company’s NYC headquarters. Michael, enjoying the rare opportunity to have everyone hanging on his every word, takes his sweet time getting to the point.
“He finally has a story we really want to hear. And he knows it,” says Pam, recognizing his stall tactic.
This is precisely how I felt listening to Chuck Lorre’s memoir. In fairness to Chuck, I don’t know why I shouldn’t have expected him to cover his entire life in a story about him, but it made me realize pretty early on how little I give a shit about Chuck Lorre. If you find yourself in the same camp, I’d recommend skipping the first 2/5 of the book (or 5/5 to really save time) and jumping past his personal life if you want to get straight to the sitcom gossip.
There’s an occasional “Oh, I didn’t know that” moment involving a washed-up star of yesteryear like Brett Butler or Jenna Elfman, but it’s mostly trivial, and you’ll forget whatever it was by the time he moves on to the next show.
By the time he finally gets to Two and a Half Men—the reason I imagine 99.9% of us are here—we’re in the final 10% of the book. He knows what we came for, and he punishes us by making us wait for it. By then, I was already thinking, “This better be worth having to endure this narcissistic, unreliable Hollywood douche of a narrator talking about his colostomy bags, failed music career, and clear axe-to-grind whining about all the people he claims did him dirty over the years.”
Welp, it was not worth it. Not even slightly.
There is no “holy shit” moment, no new information, no funny anecdotes. This whole memoir was Chuck’s way of playing Chuck’s Greatest Hits so Chuck could finally feel proud of Chuck, since it sounds like his mother never was.
And we all suffered for it.
“He finally has a story we really want to hear. And he knows it,” says Pam, recognizing his stall tactic.
This is precisely how I felt listening to Chuck Lorre’s memoir. In fairness to Chuck, I don’t know why I shouldn’t have expected him to cover his entire life in a story about him, but it made me realize pretty early on how little I give a shit about Chuck Lorre. If you find yourself in the same camp, I’d recommend skipping the first 2/5 of the book (or 5/5 to really save time) and jumping past his personal life if you want to get straight to the sitcom gossip.
There’s an occasional “Oh, I didn’t know that” moment involving a washed-up star of yesteryear like Brett Butler or Jenna Elfman, but it’s mostly trivial, and you’ll forget whatever it was by the time he moves on to the next show.
By the time he finally gets to Two and a Half Men—the reason I imagine 99.9% of us are here—we’re in the final 10% of the book. He knows what we came for, and he punishes us by making us wait for it. By then, I was already thinking, “This better be worth having to endure this narcissistic, unreliable Hollywood douche of a narrator talking about his colostomy bags, failed music career, and clear axe-to-grind whining about all the people he claims did him dirty over the years.”
Welp, it was not worth it. Not even slightly.
There is no “holy shit” moment, no new information, no funny anecdotes. This whole memoir was Chuck’s way of playing Chuck’s Greatest Hits so Chuck could finally feel proud of Chuck, since it sounds like his mother never was.
And we all suffered for it.
October 17, 2026
A book which reminded me that Chuck is an a.hole in real life too. What a selfish man!
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
I received an early uncorrected proof. I enjoyed the many anecdotes and would have enjoyed deeper versions of them.
October 18, 2026
On the personal side, Chuck Lorre's brief memoir bulges with self-abasement. With all its score-settling and gossip, the writer is harder on himself than anyone. He notes many personal failures, but he's not humbled. This is, after all, the inventor of the vanity frame. Sorry for offering a drink to the kids and failing at three marriages, but pity the poor oppressed showrunner of last resort, pummelled into soundstage subservience by the infamous Roseanne Barr, Brett Butler, Cybill Shepherd, and Charlie Sheen. Actually that sequence is more or less the '27 Yankees line-up of reputed tempermental Hollywood head cases. The guy did work his way up from door-to-door sales to non-union cartoons, a detour through Scientology and thence rapidly up the Hollywood food chain to the very top of profitability and broad audience appeal. He must have some serious writing chops, right? So -- examples, please?
If you're a fan of his The Kominsky Method, a fine three year long Netflix series about the acting profession itself starring Michael Douglas and Alan Arkin, you won't get much about it in this book. The memoir isn't really about quality television. You'll find even less about technique, how Lorre and his writing staff broke stories and tweaked character arcs so as to create hit shows. Apparently the editors noticed the missing "how to" element and obliged the author to add a final chapter with advice to writers. It's sketchy. Read, he says. He started with comic books and Mad magazine, then worked his way up to classics. A brief list of impressive authors follows. Still, it's hard to see how Lorre found time to read between decades of heavy drinking, wrangling power-mad stars, and playing Hollywood mind games.
Chuck Lorre is a proudly collaborative writer, and lavishes praise on several colleagues. He does not, however, give examples, jokes even, about the specific contributions each made. In contrast, Garry Marshall's hilarious memoir "Wake Me When It's Funny" is packed with top tier knowledge. I'm certain Mr. Lorre understands what makes comedy work, why certain kinds of human flaws are always funny, etc. Why not share more tricks of his trade? It is something of a dying art.
Lorre's shows connected with comedy's last mass audience. Maybe he has some thoughts about his social impact? Instead of the obligatory political potshots, he might have given us a few pages on how his sex-based humor on "Two and a Half Men" pushed the ever-moving line of social acceptibility. Did the changing status of nerds among men in the tech era lift the popularity of "Big Bang Theory" and "Young Sheldon"? And what about the culture of Hollywood? The disfunctional upbringing that Lorre credits with shaping his comedic attitude -- any concerns about passing that forward in society?
If you're a fan of his The Kominsky Method, a fine three year long Netflix series about the acting profession itself starring Michael Douglas and Alan Arkin, you won't get much about it in this book. The memoir isn't really about quality television. You'll find even less about technique, how Lorre and his writing staff broke stories and tweaked character arcs so as to create hit shows. Apparently the editors noticed the missing "how to" element and obliged the author to add a final chapter with advice to writers. It's sketchy. Read, he says. He started with comic books and Mad magazine, then worked his way up to classics. A brief list of impressive authors follows. Still, it's hard to see how Lorre found time to read between decades of heavy drinking, wrangling power-mad stars, and playing Hollywood mind games.
Chuck Lorre is a proudly collaborative writer, and lavishes praise on several colleagues. He does not, however, give examples, jokes even, about the specific contributions each made. In contrast, Garry Marshall's hilarious memoir "Wake Me When It's Funny" is packed with top tier knowledge. I'm certain Mr. Lorre understands what makes comedy work, why certain kinds of human flaws are always funny, etc. Why not share more tricks of his trade? It is something of a dying art.
Lorre's shows connected with comedy's last mass audience. Maybe he has some thoughts about his social impact? Instead of the obligatory political potshots, he might have given us a few pages on how his sex-based humor on "Two and a Half Men" pushed the ever-moving line of social acceptibility. Did the changing status of nerds among men in the tech era lift the popularity of "Big Bang Theory" and "Young Sheldon"? And what about the culture of Hollywood? The disfunctional upbringing that Lorre credits with shaping his comedic attitude -- any concerns about passing that forward in society?
October 19, 2026
Chuck Lorre’s memoir is barely a book and even less of a memoir. I can’t remember the last time I’ve been so disappointed by a book. Keep in mind, in order to be disappointed by a book, you have to have enjoyed it for a period of time. Chuck Lorre has been the brains behind some of the most successful sitcoms of all time (Two and a Half Men, The Big Bang Theory, and Mom, to name a few). He has worked with Charlie Sheen, Anna Faris, Allison Janney, John Goodman, Melissa McCarthy, and many, many more). From the moment I started reading his book, I was captivated by his journey and his brutal honesty regarding the highs and lows of creating sitcoms. However, after 184 pages, the book then decides to just include a bunch of scripts from sitcoms he worked on. This is in addition to all of the vanity cards that are included throughout the book. While I wouldn’t call the book a complete waste of time, I don’t quite understand why he wrote it if he wasn’t going to fully commit to discussing his career more in depth. It was almost like he started writing the book, got bored, and then just filled in the rest of the book with scripts to turn it in and complete it.
If you look up the highlights of the book (His Anna Faris thoughts, the Charlie Sheen feud, and the Big Bang Theory cast initially refusing to take pay cuts to help out their co-stars), you pretty much discover all of the interesting stuff that Chuck is willing to cover in this book. This book was a complete money grab. The whole thing felt like a sick practical joke. The abrupt ending of the book caught me completely off guard. What a rip-off.
If you look up the highlights of the book (His Anna Faris thoughts, the Charlie Sheen feud, and the Big Bang Theory cast initially refusing to take pay cuts to help out their co-stars), you pretty much discover all of the interesting stuff that Chuck is willing to cover in this book. This book was a complete money grab. The whole thing felt like a sick practical joke. The abrupt ending of the book caught me completely off guard. What a rip-off.
October 15, 2026
Chuck Lorre has been responsible for making millions of people laugh for over 30 years, so it was pretty neat to learn more about the man behind so many successful television shows.
From Roseanne and Two and a Half Men to The Big Bang Theory, Young Sheldon, and several others, it’s pretty incredible how much of an impact he’s had on television comedy.
There are some interesting stories about his life, how he got started in the business, and what went on behind the scenes of some of these shows. It’s easy to watch a sitcom and never really think about the people responsible for creating it, writing it, and keeping it entertaining year after year.
I came away knowing a lot more about someone whose work I’ve been familiar with for decades but knew very little about personally. Good book and a pretty interesting look at the man behind so much laughter.
From Roseanne and Two and a Half Men to The Big Bang Theory, Young Sheldon, and several others, it’s pretty incredible how much of an impact he’s had on television comedy.
There are some interesting stories about his life, how he got started in the business, and what went on behind the scenes of some of these shows. It’s easy to watch a sitcom and never really think about the people responsible for creating it, writing it, and keeping it entertaining year after year.
I came away knowing a lot more about someone whose work I’ve been familiar with for decades but knew very little about personally. Good book and a pretty interesting look at the man behind so much laughter.
October 14, 2026
It's hard to make me laugh out loud while reading a book. This paragraph
This alone was worth the price of admission for Sitcom: A Memoir.
Other times — a couple times — I found myself tearing up. Maybe that's just a product of getting older. I've been told. The book is short (would that it were longer) and written by someone who understands writing, not always a given in celebrity memoirs. I did sense that Lorre was pulling his punches from time to time, also a product of age I suspect.
What more need be said?
Brett [Butler] invited Roseanne [Barr] out to lunch to compare notes regarding their status as the all-powerful queens of comedy. Roseanne returned from the lunch and loudly announced, “That bitch is crazy!”
This alone was worth the price of admission for Sitcom: A Memoir.
Other times — a couple times — I found myself tearing up. Maybe that's just a product of getting older. I've been told. The book is short (would that it were longer) and written by someone who understands writing, not always a given in celebrity memoirs. I did sense that Lorre was pulling his punches from time to time, also a product of age I suspect.
What more need be said?
October 19, 2026
I get the feeling Lorre wasn’t fully committed to this memoir. There are some interesting parts but I never felt invested while reading it, like I was mirroring his lead. The memories are there but some lack context, others stay at first names, and some refer to events as if we should know already. It’s strangely detached, some chapters just start with a “they wanted me to talk about this” type of prompt. His sitcom resume is stellar but maybe this whole life review thing turned out to be not as pleasant as he thought it would be. The book covers his beginnings, his shows, his marriages, in short condensed bursts.
I listened to the audio book and concurrently followed along on Kindle. The audio book adds some fun footnotes that are not in the ebook. Conversely the ebook drops in some of his show-ending Vanity Cards and ends with a sampling of show scripts. All of these adds, along with lots of white space between short chapters, work as fillers. The audio book clocks in under 4 hours, the book at 368 pages.
I listened to the audio book and concurrently followed along on Kindle. The audio book adds some fun footnotes that are not in the ebook. Conversely the ebook drops in some of his show-ending Vanity Cards and ends with a sampling of show scripts. All of these adds, along with lots of white space between short chapters, work as fillers. The audio book clocks in under 4 hours, the book at 368 pages.
October 15, 2026
Excellent Book…While It Lasts
I loved this book, especially as an Audio Book read by Chuck Lorre. The reason it’s only getting 3.5 stars is because I wanted more of it. It’s actually quite short, and I would’ve liked more behind-the-scenes “meat” to the book. What Lorre does write is very funny and insightful…I just wanted more.
Post-Script: I dropped the star rating another half star because after finishing it, I began to wonder if Lorre was telling the whole story (hence the reason it was so short). The more I thought about it, the more it seemed like he was playing the victim who was “wronged” by all these actors, writers, directors and producers, when there could’ve been more to the story he was leaving.
I loved this book, especially as an Audio Book read by Chuck Lorre. The reason it’s only getting 3.5 stars is because I wanted more of it. It’s actually quite short, and I would’ve liked more behind-the-scenes “meat” to the book. What Lorre does write is very funny and insightful…I just wanted more.
Post-Script: I dropped the star rating another half star because after finishing it, I began to wonder if Lorre was telling the whole story (hence the reason it was so short). The more I thought about it, the more it seemed like he was playing the victim who was “wronged” by all these actors, writers, directors and producers, when there could’ve been more to the story he was leaving.
October 14, 2026
I've never watched Chuck Lorre's sitcoms, but I catching his vanity cards at the end of them, before the program I was waiting for aired. (I even bought his huge book of vanity cards: What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Bitter. Five stars.)
Today was a sick day and listening to Chuck read his memoir made for perfect company. Sitcom was historic for me. It's the first time I was able to use the new Goodreads half and quarter stars rating feature.I only took off 1/4 star because I wanted it to be longer than four hours.
Today was a sick day and listening to Chuck read his memoir made for perfect company. Sitcom was historic for me. It's the first time I was able to use the new Goodreads half and quarter stars rating feature.I only took off 1/4 star because I wanted it to be longer than four hours.
October 19, 2026
Found on Libby & interested in learning more about the man behind Dharma & Greg, Big Bang Theory, etc. I’m also a listener of his ex-wife’s podcast and he seemed to be a pretty private person from her perspective. 3 stars - interesting read but all over the place, not in chronological order & you can tell he held back. He shares his alcoholism, drugs, wives, etc but really doesn’t share the details on his insane net worth. He just says all of a sudden he was paid the big bucks but not specifics and he skates over it and then pivots back to Charlie Sheen and it’s over?
October 16, 2026
I enjoy a memoir on occasion so when I saw that Chuck Lorre had one out, I grabbed it immediately. He reads the audio version, and it’s only four hours. The narrative is choppy and decidedly nonlinear. I expected a dry, self deprecating humor, and he has plenty of that. But he also (while occasionally praising others) spend a lot of the memoir complaining about how he was treated. There wasn’t enough about what makes his sitcoms funny, and that’s what I hoped to hear.
October 16, 2026
Very little substance in this book, which consists mostly of pictures and script fragments. For a memoir, it contains surprisingly few personal stories or behind-the-scenes secrets. Instead, it reads more like a dry listing of the shows that came along, with little more than a paragraph about each.
October 17, 2026
Fool me once. Shame on you. Fool me two and a half times, shame on me. Why I thought this would be interesting is beyond me. I was hoping for deeper insights on Two and a Half Men and Big Bang Theory but all it was was surface level stuff. Bazinga me.
October 18, 2026
Not alot of depth at all as Chuck Lorre discusses his early careers, and slow ascendency to now being the king of Sitcoms. Certainly wanted more on personal stories as well as "behind the scenes" stories.
October 19, 2026
An interesting look at the background happenings of some pretty big TV shows. Also, a decent shout out to SUNY Potsdam, as he was a student (not graduate) and they gave him a honorary doctorate recently.
October 20, 2026
Fun. quite the insight into a life of flux and success beyond the comprehension or imagination of more comedy writers. I especially liked this line: If I could have done better, or made better choices I would have."
October 13, 2026
Enjoyed learning Chuck’s journey. Chuck is a writer. This needed to be longer with more stories.
October 14, 2026
Real and brutally honest
October 15, 2026
The first 184 pages of the book are a narrative, which is quite good. The last half is three scripts from the author’s shows. I was less excited about those.
October 16, 2026
Devoured it. Only wish it was longer. With such a storied career I'm sure there was a ton left out.
October 18, 2026
I have enjoyed alot of Chuck Lorre's sitcoms so when I saw that he wrote a memoir I had to read it.
October 18, 2026
Enjoyed this book. Felt like there could have been more though.
October 16, 2026
Very short book with not a lot of previously unknown information. Only four hours long on audible.
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews