Why read Surely You Can't Be Serious?

Book cover of Surely You Can't Be Serious: The True Story of Airplane!

Book description

Surely You Can't Be Serious is an in-depth and hysterical look at the making of 1980's comedy classic Airplane! by the legendary writers and directors of the hit film.

Airplane! premiered on July 2nd, 1980. With a budget of $3.5 million it went on to make nearly $200 million in…

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Why read it?

2 authors picked Surely You Can't Be Serious as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Colleen AF Venable

Author

I'm a comedy nerd and I've read every oral retelling and book on the history of comedy I can get my hands on. Not only did this one make me laugh harder than any I've read, but their their path to success was as loopy as the airplane on the movie poster. You can feel the friendship of the creators and it's hard to not feel like you're friends with them as well by the end.

From Colleen's 3 favorite reads in 2024.

Lori Alden Holuta

Author

I love biographies and also 'behind the scenes' glimpses of my favorite shows and movies.

Airplane! is one of my top ten all-time favorite movies, and I didn't know much about the making of the movie or the trio that created it, so this was right up my alley.

I liked that the book was written as a collection of small memory snippets, as the creators and actors recalled their days of filming the movie. I also enjoyed learning about the creator's very early days in showbiz.

It all felt very honest and real, refreshingly rough around the edges…

From Lori's 3 favorite reads in 2023.