What People Are Saying
"So Jeff Gorman is a storyteller. In his book, Last Stop Before the Sphincter, he sets out to tell you 40 stories about the stuff he experienced first-hand that you could hardly imagine goes on in advertising. If you've ever liked a TV commercial and wondered what kind of crazy people think these things up, Jeff, with his cynical wit, tells you. When you read how understanding the sphincter explains so much about the Ad Biz, the title and the stories become bitingly clear. Funny, crazy, irreverent.
I don't know what era deserves the title of The Golden Age of Advertising but it sure as hell isn't right now. What I do know is that Jeff Gorman was there for all the greatest moments and Last Stop Before the Sphincter documents his long career at the epicenter. Not only was he there, he was always on the bleeding edge. In fact, the first website I ever saw in my life was his. My friends that are still in the biz talk about how they miss the gutsy ads and characters of the past and there was never anybody in the biz gutsier than Jeff Gorman. I loved and still love the man but every creative and client feared him probably largely in part because of his ferocious intellect and biting wit which are fully switched on from chapter one. Reading Last Stop Before the Sphincter took me back to sitting with Jeff behind the camera on one of our shoots trading advertising war stories while the clients cowered behind craft service. Thank you Mr, Gorman for this book and the help you gave me (and countless others) along the way. I was lucky to meet you.
"I have known Jeff Gorman since ... the mid-1970's. We have been friends, accomplices in crime, occasional antagonists, business partners, and, most notably, accomplished kvetchers.
I was hoping that Jeff's tome, Last Stop Before the Sphincter would be an unreadable compendium of self-serving and humorless anecdotal cock-and-bull stories. Not because I wished Jeff any ill-will, mind you, but because I was thinking of myself; I really wanted to use a quote attributed to Dorothy Parker in her review of Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead: "It is not a book to be lightly thrown aside. It should be thrown with great force." (Incidentally, Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead, 753 pages; Jeff Gorman's Last Stop Before the Sphincter, 803 pages.)
Unfortunately, I will be unable to use Parker's quote when commenting on Jeff Gorman's illustrious and blithe look at the hell he willingly created for himself. Jeff recalls, in vivid detail, his career in the advertising and commercial film production business in a series of amusing and wryly written chapters. From his glory days at Chiat-Day to his award winning career at Johns+Gorman Films and JGF, Jeff lays out an uncompromising look at what it was like to be an advertising deity (despite relying upon an addled brain and a distorted sense of reality.) How he remembered anything is a tribute to his memory and/or creativity.
That said, Sphincter is a must read.
Jeff Gorman has written a memoir about his time in the Ad Biz. But it's not just any time. It's about the two decades or so that will never be seen again. Think of it as a kind of Roman Empire story.
As I read the Backwards and Forwards (both clever) I'm transported back to those Halcyon days of TV commercial production—the Platinum era of advertising. While I'm laughing my ass off at these stories, I remember Gorman was the funny one.
If Mad Men was inspired by the Tom Wolfe sensibilities, then surely Hunter S. Thompson was standing in Gorman's corner when he put down these memories.
These are the stories we told in long edit room nights or in boozy hotel bars while our wives and kids were sound asleep 3000 miles away and that grew in legend and scope until the excesses could not possibly be true. But they were.
In Last Stop Before the Sphincter, Jeff Gorman lays it all out there bare, warts and all, no regrets, no apology. And in recollecting it he has the balls to tell it like it was including the behind the scenes of the celebs he worked with. For all the great production and advertising stories that Gorman has penned in his bold, straight up fashion, it is the honest full on sharing of his life experiences and influences that makes it so much more than just the stories. This will be a great summer read.
I wish I had a book like this to read when I was starting off in the business. Last Stop Before the Sphincter, Jeff Gorman's collection of stories from his career, tells you everything you ever need to know about the ad and production biz. Not only is his memory for people, places and events scary the stories and the writing are laugh out loud funny. Anybody who wants or has a career in advertising should jump on this one.
Jeff Gorman's new advertising memoir is a fascinating peek into simpler, crazier, messier, riskier, goofier, louder, smarter, happier times in our industry. Please take off your "politically correct" goggles before sitting down for a read. And be prepared to be a bit jealous of it all.
Jeff Gorman is funny. Sarcastic. Fearless. And, tirelessly, caustically, cynically observant. Especially about himself. You can smell the bridges burning as you read.
Jeff Gorman's account of advertising in Last Stop Before the Sphincter is an important read for those interested in period pieces, advertising and a good old American journey—taking us from Kansas to Chicago, New York's Studio 54 era to LA in 1984 with the Olympics and Apple's game changing big bang. Like Bewitched, Thirty Something and Mad Men, Gorman's story is a modern period piece capturing culture using advertising as a backdrop; unlike all three, you get the real story of the creative existence, with the impeccable humor and R-rated writing that one could expect from this comedic icon. If you are interested in a sneak-peek behind the curtain into the sausage factory revealing the making of some of your favorite ads and their cultural significance, it's a unique take on the ad business spanning several decades. If you are in the ad industry, Jeff's account captures his incredible career through some of the most memorable campaigns in some of the most interesting times in advertising. What makes this read so unique is that these vignettes recount his many influential projects and the array of characters that advertising brings together—he names names and does not hold back one detail about the lunacy and lore of the business during some special times. If I was near Jeff at any time, the first thing I would do is scan this tome to see where I fit in, and if I were teaching an advertising course, this would be required reading.
Anyone that wants to understand where and how 'funny' worked in the ad business needs to read this book. Jeff Gorman has reached deep into the recesses of his mind and shared with us a real life in advertising. Last Stop Before the Sphincter is filled with the kinds of crazy war stories all of us have experienced. But Jeff's take-no-prisoners telling with his patented dark, deadpan humor will leave you dissolving with laughter. It's a must read for every ad biz newbie and veteran alike.
Looking for pollyanna tales of the glamorous life in advertising? Look elsewhere. This is not for the faint hearted. Or for those of you who can't handle the truth. This is a book about being in the trenches. Of resisting the urge to clobber stupid clients and corn hole even stupider colleagues. You want strategy, you want business acumen, you want the secret formula to successful advertising? Fuck you. Jeff Gorman has seen everything. And done everything. And at over 800 pages in length, he hasn't left out a single juicy detail. First there was Mad Men. Last Stop Before the Sphincter is about Madder Men. Love it. Not just saying that. Love it.
At 21 I found myself a wide-eyed apprentice among Titans on advertising's Mount Olympus, where the venerable Lee Clow took me under his wing. He taught me about professionalism, to live my work and make it great. And then along came Jeff. I had worshipped his work since high school, and considered his La Machine "30 Second Salad" spot nothing short of a miracle. He became my Prometheus, awakening my ego to self-confidence, entitlement and world-class worldliness. Jeff's swagger always belied his genius, he made it seem so effortless and always had the shine of someone who was going places. This book is an engaging, always entertaining train ride to so many of them. Of real life bacchanalian junkets and cautionary tales in the pursuit of ad-crafting of the very highest order. I savored this book and loved seeing work I'd never seen before. A page turner.
Where to Buy
iTunes
$9.99
- Told in a rollicking stream-of-consciousness style that is both riveting and insightful, the reader will feel like they're sitting on a bar stool having a confidential drink with a master storyteller.
- With each sentence they'll be on the edge of their stool in danger of falling off it from howling so hard.
About the Author
Jeff Gorman
"My review of my book: Almost as long as War and Peace. Hopefully slightly more amusing."
Jeff Gorman, an internationally known, award-winning advertising writer, creative director and TV commercial director has written a first person, profane, hilarious book of tell-all stories that are often so preposterous you wouldn't believe they could possibly be true.
Gorman, a madder than Mad Man, chronicles over 30 years of experiences without pulling any punches. "As they say, comedy is tragedy plus time," he says laughing. With that distance of time, these nutso goings on—that drove Gorman to the brink of lunacy while they were occurring—are now so funny you will be rolling with laughter while you feel his pain. "My review of my book: Almost as long as War and Peace. Hopefully slightly more amusing."
Last Stop Before the Sphincter also gives the reader a realistic, inside look at the ad biz from the mid-60s to the present day. It covers the period when Don Draper and Mad Men left off and the creative revolution swung into full gear with the inmates truly in charge of the asylum. If that wasn't enough, it also peels back the skin of Corporate America to reveal just how incompetent major advertisers are and the millions and millions of dollars that are unnecessarily flushed down the toilet selling well-known, everyday consumer brands.
And of course there are the celebrities that Gorman dealt with. Jerry Seinfeld, Michael Jordan, Candice Bergen, George Burns, Jimmy Kimmel, Rainn Wilson, David Spade, The Smothers Brothers, Leslie Nielson, Leonard Nimoy, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, and Mark Cuban are just some of the names featured in the stories he tells. And better believe it, Gorman names names.
Told in a rollicking stream-of-consciousness style that is both riveting and insightful, the reader will feel like they're sitting on a bar stool having a confidential drink with a master storyteller. With each sentence they'll be on the edge of their stool in danger of falling off it from howling so hard.
Gorman reflected, "I see these stories as teachable moments—how the ad business really works. Not the B.S. way it's usually portrayed. I could see teaching a University course on directing using these funny, provocative experiences. But that might weed out all the students except severe masochists."
The world of advertising not only touches on all of our lives but reflects it. More and more, advertising is an inescapable reality where everything is sponsored. Last Stop Before the Sphincter exposes the people behind the ads—the good, the bad and the ugly—and makes you think about the psychology of those who are the drivers of American consumerism.