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Fast Times, Post-Punk Weirdos, and a Tale of Coming Home Again
by Reggie Watts
Comedian and musician Reggie Watts shares his story of growing up in Montana as a biracial oddball struggling to navigate life, girls, drugs, and his own identity in America's heartland - and having a blast doing it.
Reggie Watts is weird. But you knew that. Anyone who's seen his multifaceted, entirely improvised comedy and music shows knows that. Reggie Watts is also from the town of Great Falls, MT.
These two facts are not unrelated.
Watts grew up in Montana in the '80s, half French, half American, half white, half Black, speaking a bunch of different languages and slipping between the orchestra geeks and the football jocks until he finally found a squad of fellow misfits with an affinity for trouble. It was a wide-open time and place that invited freedom and exploration—as well as car theft and the not infrequent use of recreational cough syrup. And it helped him become the uniquely strange creative voice he is today.
In Great Falls, MT, Watts takes us through his story, hitting on the culture shock he experienced after moving from Europe to the heart of America, where he was called racial slurs by neighbors but wasn't Black enough for his father's extended family. Where he fought with his authoritarian dad, built a new family of antiestablishment, post-punk oddballs—and ultimately knew he had to leave. But after Watts's career exploded in Seattle and New York, ultimately scoring him a nightly place next to James Corden on The Late Late Show, he found himself drawn back to his hometown after the deaths of his parents. This is his love letter to the town that made him. But like love itself, it's messy and complicated and dirty and beautiful—and as weird and wonderful as Watts himself.
"A pleasingly offbeat memoir of growing up biracial on the Montana plains...a lively, endlessly entertaining rejoinder to Chuck Klosterman's Fargo Rock City with a dash of Questlove for good measure. Watts captures a once-fresh era now rapidly receding into historical memory. Fans of Watts will revel in this enjoyable stroll into the past, and those new to him could have no better introduction." —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"Comedian and musician Watts debuts with an animated love letter to Great Falls, Mont., that recounts his tangled coming-of-age there...Watts is a droll, endearing narrator, delivering his account with the rapid-fire patter of a good improv act. Budding performers and comedy fans alike will find much to love." —Publishers Weekly
"It makes sense that one of our most original and surreal comedians would have an upbringing to match, having been forged in the crucible of Montana via Europe. Reggie's telling of his story is a delight, exceeded only by my ability to use 'crucible' in a sentence." —Conan O'Brien
"This gripping memoir is equal parts relatable small-town upbringing and unfathomable noise-wizard jazz-clown origin story. Eleventy stars!" —Nick Offerman
"Reggie Watts fits in no box. He is no type of person. Find out how this fascinating and fascinated dude came to be by reading the combination of words he put together on the pages in this book and maybe you will love him like I do." —Sarah Silverman
"Great Falls, MT deepens my understanding of Reggie Watts while keeping the mysteriousness around his incredible art intact. How did this brilliant, wonderful person get here? This book makes his path seem like something more logical than improbable. Of course he became this person! It's the same way I feel about Liverpool and The Beatles, or Minneapolis and Prince." —Fred Armisen
This information about Great Falls, MT was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Reggie Watts is an internationally renowned musician/comedian/writer who starred as the bandleader on CBS's The Late Late Show with James Corden and IFC's Comedy Bang Bang!. Using nothing but his voice, his looping pedals, and his vast imagination, Watts blurs the lines between music and comedy with a resume that includes multiple specials and appearances across platforms such as Comedy Central and Netflix.
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