You're Lucky You're Funny

How Life Becomes a Sitcom

By: Phil Rosenthal

Narrated by: Phil Rosenthal

The creator and executive producer of Everybody Loves Raymond, on how to make a sitcom classic and keep laughing

This laugh-out-loud memoir takes listeners backstage and inside the writers’ room of one of America’s best-loved shows. With more than 17 million viewers and more than 70 Emmy nominations—including two wins for best comedy—Everybody Loves Raymond reigned supreme in television comedy for almost a decade.

Phil Rosenthal was there at the beginning. United by a shared lifetime of family dysfunction, he and Ray Romano found endless material to keep the show fresh and funny for its entire run. Alongside hilarious anecdotes from the series and his own career misadventures prior to working on the show, Rosenthal provides an enlightening and entertaining look at how sitcoms are written and characters developed.

You’re Lucky You’re Funny is an inspiration to aspiring creators of comedy and a must-listen for the show’s millions of devoted fans.

©2007 Phil Rosenthal (P)2006 Phoenix Books, Inc.

Loved it!

What a great book! Interesting, funny, good pace. The inside information and stories are just hysterical and now you can understand why this show ran 9 seasons. Phil Rosenthal is a guy you would want to get to know. So worth the listen.
Only drawback are the long silent gaps that hinder the enjoyment of the book and throw the pace off - I don't know why they did that.

Everybody Loves Phil!!!!

I just finished listening to this wonderfully funny book and I loved it and the author. Everybody Loves Raymond is one of my all time favorite comfort shows. And now I love watching Phil’s Somebody feed Phil. Thank u so very much for years of laughter and love. ❤️❤️❤️❤️

A wonderful and funny book.

Phil Rosenthal is a comedy great. He tells his own story in brilliant, funny and poignant way. Fantastic.

A great escape

I loved the television show and thought the book could be interesting. I was delightfully surprised and enjoyed the entire story. The insights are hilarious! Having watched the show, I related to most all of his comparisons and respected the creativity more. (The show made was so easy and fun to follow-now I understand why.)

A great listen all the way around. The audio clips from live speeches were a great touch, as well. Enjoy!

Great if you love sitcoms

If you could sum up You're Lucky You're Funny in three words, what would they be?

Educational, humorous, engaging

What was one of the most memorable moments of You're Lucky You're Funny?

I liked the audio of his various speeches (Emmy's, Hofstra...)

Have you listened to any of Phil Rosenthal’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I have not.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

The making of the last great traditional family sitcom.

Any additional comments?

I've never been a huge fan of Everybody Loves Raymond, I've always just thought it was a cute show and watched it sometimes in syndication. However, I love sitcoms in general (although I'm over the multi-camera format now, as is most of America I think). This book was just great if you're curious about how you get to make a sitcom. His early life was interesting enough but I really got into it when he started getting into the Raymond years. I might listen to it again at some point.

Solid and funny

I never heard of Rosenthal and "Raymond" was a show I watched only when the wife had it on, but this book, and especially Rosenthal's reading of his book, is just wonderful. Hilarious at times, moving at times, it moves along at a good clip. It offers mostly good information on how he and Ray Romano and the 5 men and women writers in the backroom worked together to mine their lives. You can get a good sense of the acting skills, too. I can now see the soul that was intentionally placed in each episode. One boring part about a boring vacation, and yes, there are many mysterious spots of silence throughout this audio. Yet overall one of the best audiobooks I've heard. And I have heard dozens.

We're lucky he's funny!!!

Phil is unique and a quiet comedy genius. Listen to his heart. Buy the book!!!

He IS really funny!

I didn’t really know anything about Phil Rosenthal prior to listening to his book. But I found him to be witty, self deprecating but charming and hilarious! I busted out laughing several times during some of his stories. It was also fun to get a behind the scenes look at the making of Everyone Loves Raymond too. I definitely recommend this book !

Great Storytelling

I've never seen an episode of Everybody Loves Raymond, I gave away my television in 1990 before I moved to California. What irony, since tv shows come from here.

Anyway, I bought this because it was about writing. I'm into the fourth hour, and I can't turn the iPod off. Phil is funny and honest and insightful and kind. This is the first five-star rating I've given an audiobook. It's brilliant and genuine. I just wish somebody had written a book about my favorite tv series, Cheers, and done what this writer has done.

What a joy to listen to!

I purchased this audiobook as a fan of Everybody Love’s Raymond, but soon realized Everyone should now love Phil too!

Phil has a genuine gift of storytelling that is not only humorous, but relatable.

From sharing his beginning struggles, to the finale of Raymond along with everything in between, this audiobook is a pure joy to listen to.

Thank you Phil!