Celebrity Autobiography Returns to Guild Hall on August 25

We already know the “other half” lives differently. Some of us may even be intimately aware of the details of those different rich and fabulous lives via the autobiographies they’ve written. But on Friday, August 25 at Guild Hall you’ll be able to experience those celebrity autobiographies in a truly unique way when New York’s funniest show, Celebrity Autobiography: The 2017 Edition, hits the Hamptons for two shows in one night.

The premise is simple: Celebrities read the published autobiographies of other celebrities. The result? The New York Post called it “The funniest show in town, hands down.” New York magazine called it “Brilliant.” It also won the 2009 Drama Desk Award in the category of Unique Theatrical Experience and a 2010 Bistro Award while being one of the most critically acclaimed productions ever in the Off-Broadway scene. This year’s Hamptons show stars Christie Brinkley, Mario Cantone, Susan Lucci, Eugene Pack, Dayle Reyfel, Brooke Shields, Ali Wentworth, five-time Emmy winner Alan Zweibel and others.

Passages run the gamut from the “poetry” of Suzanne Somers to the shocking “romance tips” from Tommy Lee to the most famous Hollywood love triangle in history—Elizabeth Taylor, Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher. And what’s remarkable and unforgettably hilarious—it’s all in their own words.

Comedienne and actress Ali Wentworth, for one, hopes her books, Ali in Wonderland and Happily Ali After, don’t get the Celebrity Autobiography treatment. “First of all,” Wentworth says, “the reader would have to explain who Ali Wentworth was. And second, they’re humor books which, read aloud, might make people cry.”

What celebrity would you want to read your autobiography? Dan’s Papers Senior Editor, Stacy Dermont says restaurant critic, author and novelist Gael Greene; Jordan Green, Summer Editor and softball player extraordinaire (he batted 3 for 4 with two runs scored and an RBI in this year’s Artists and Writers Charity Softball game) says Samuel L. Jackson, “because of his voice.” Ali Wentworth would want her mother to read her first book, Ali in Wonderland, as “It’s mostly stories about her that she doesn’t approve of or remember.”

Wentworth has many celebrities, whom she knows personally, to chose from. Her television show Nightcap, which centers around an overworked head talent booker on a fictitious fifth highest rated late night talk show, features multiple special guests on each episode. “Nightcap is the greatest project for me because I created it, write and star in it,” she says of the show. “I’m not an actor waiting in my trailer—but control the complete vision. And we don’t start before 8:30 a.m. and I’m home for dinner.” The dream. “Plus,” she says, “I feed my crew my homemade banana bread.” (Sometimes our boss at Dan’s Papers brings us homemade jams and jellies, but homemade banana bread can be sent to Bertrand Langhorne c/o Dan’s Papers, 158 County Road 39, Building 1, Southampton 11968.)

Wentworth doesn’t yet know which autobiography she’ll be reading from, but a girl can dream. How about Cher? “I love her more than most gay men,” Wentworth says. Or, she says, she’d like to read any of the Housewives memoirs. “Do I need to explain?” Of all the guests on Nightcap, she’d pick David Hasselhoff. “He has to have good Baywatch stories.”

To find out what she’s reading, you’ll have to attend the show on August 25.

Celebrity Autobiography takes place at Guild Hall, 158 Main Street in East Hampton. Tickets range from $38–$75 and can be purchased at guildhall.org or by calling 631-324-0806. For more information and to purchase tickets to the New York City show—Monday, August 28 at 8 p.m. at the Triad, 158 West 72nd Steet—visit celebrityautobiography.com. Nightcap, which just finished its second season, is on Pop, channel 154 on Optimum.