内容摘要：, who is 21: “I mean, I don’t know if it’s like the ‘Gen Z’ in me, but I think if we have the technology, we should use it.”

, who is 21: “I mean, I don’t know if it’s like the ‘Gen Z’ in me, but I think if we have the technology, we should use it.”

Follow Associated Press entertainment journalist Gary Gerard Hamilton at @GaryGHamilton on all his social media platforms.It’s a rite of passage for all comedians: Work like crazy on the stand-up circuit, hit it big, record live specials for a streaming platform, and then write a book that can never quite measure up to your live act.

Consider “Big Dumb Eyes: Stories from a Simpler Mind” byI laughed so hard I cried during parts of his Netflix special “Your Friend, Nate Bargatze.” But I can count on two hands the laugh-out-loud moments I experienced as I read “Big Dumb Eyes.” That’s not because Mr. Bargatze isn’t funny. Books just aren’t the funniest mediums for stand-up comics. Bargatze’s live act flows from his droll, self-deprecating delivery. And while he tries right there in the book’s subtitle — “Stories from a Simpler Mind” — the humor just doesn’t have the same impact on the page as it does the screen.Bargatze seems to realize this, writing in his introduction that he is “very on the record about not liking to read books.” Alas, the publisher, and good ol’ fashioned capitalism, apparently convinced him that he should write one.

All that said, for super fans or anyone who would rather read funny stories than watch Bargatze tell them on TV, “Big Dumb Eyes” is a quick read. There are even grainy, black and white photos of Bargatze through the years with his family. If you haven’t already watched his specials, you’ll learn a lot about his upbringing — from the sense of humor and theatrical nature he inherited from his father, the greatest clown and magician to ever work in Old Hickory, Tennessee, to the role his decade-younger sister, Abigail, played in keeping him from being completely self-centered growing up.My favorite chapter, the one with the most LOL moments, is called “My Sister the Alien” and recounts the time when Nate, his brother Derrick and their dad forgot to bring Abigail home from church one Wednesday night. They all realize when they get home that Abigail isn’t with them and dad’s first words are “Do not tell your mother.” When they drive back to the church, Abigail is with a couple, who found her in the church cemetery “passing from tombstone to tombstone communing with the dead like the devil’s phantasm.”

Bargatze tells quite a few stories about his wife, Laura, as well, and near the end Laura even chimes in via footnotes, as if she’s reading the book along with you. “Obviously I knew about this, too. Now that I think about it, go ahead and tell Nate. I can’t wait to see the look on his face,” reads one after Nate shares how he had to ask his parents to pay for her engagement ring.

At the end, in a two-page “Conclusion,” Nate offers his congrats to readers who make it that far, scolding anyone who got through all 222 pages in one sitting. “You should probably move around some more. Or sprinkle in some other healthier activities, like watching TV,” he writes. It’s good advice. I suggest “Your Friend, Nate Bargatze.”feel-good album endure. She’s released “Brat and It’s Completely Different but Also Still Brat,” a deluxe, remixed, double-album version of her culture-shifting

this time featuring A-listers like Billie Eilish, Lorde, her tour mate Troye Sivan, her forever-hero Robyn, and more. Just don’t confuse this one with her other Brat re-release, “Brat and It’s the Same but There’s Three More Songs So It’s Not.”— He’s the not-so-new name on everyone’s lips:

will release a follow-up to his breakout album, 2023’s “Whitsitt Chapel” on Friday. Little is known about the 22-track “Beautifully Broken” beyond its previously released tracks “I Am Not Okay,” “Get By,” “Liar” and “Winning Streak” — the latter of which he debuted during the premiere ofjoined by a choir. That one was inspired by an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, and the album will no doubt center on the kind of stories he’s become known for: Soulful country-rock on adversity, addiction, pain, suffering, and ultimately, chasing safety.