c.2026, Black Privilege Publishing / Atria $30.00 324 pages
So what do you think? No doubt, you have an opinion on the subject at hand. You have something to say, a POV, a side you’ll take or a stand to make. You have thoughts, info to gather, intel to share. Talk-talk-talk, maybe it’s a calling. Maybe, as in the new memoir, “Arsenio” by Arsenio Hall with Alan Eisenstock, it’s livin’ the dream.
Back when he was small, everyone assumed that little Arsenio Hall would grow up to be a preacher like his Daddy. Sunday mornings, Hall says, were spent listening to his father, learning the power of words spoken properly. Being a preacher seemed like a good calling, until Hall’s parents split and his world changed.
While he was temporarily living with his grandmother, a cousin brought home a book on magic and Hall was hooked. He became obsessed, practicing easy sleight-of-hand tricks until they were second-nature and sneaking out of the house to spend after-school afternoons in a magic shop. By the time he was a teenager, he was performing for spending money and had appeared on local Cleveland television.
But magic wasn’t everything.
The feeling that he got when he made people laugh – the idea that he could get paid for being funny – Hall needed more of that. He started adding humor to his magic shows until he realized that being a comedian was an actual job, and magic faded into his background.
Back when he was in grade school, Hall used to sneak out of his bedroom at night to watch The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. In his basement, he practiced doing interviews just like Carson. He didn’t want to be like Carson, he wanted to be Carson.
And so Hall moved to Chicago and started snagging gigs at comedy shows. He met up-and-coming comics and established funnymen who gave him advice, sympathy, and contacts, which helped him move up in the system, make money, and land movie roles.
Then Paramount came calling but Hall didn’t get another movie offer.
He got his own talk show…
Like so many Hollywood biographies, “Arsenio” is loaded – positively loaded – with name-dropping. Normally: ugh. But the thing here is, you won’t mind. Author Arsenio Hall (with Alan Eisenstock) tells this story in such an appealing, wide-eyed way that you’ll be too busy enjoying to care about dropped names.
Another thing: what you saw on TV and what you see in movies are pretty much what you can expect in Hall’s book. It’s authentic; readers will find stories that are thorny and squirmy, but also a bit star-struck. He’s not afraid to tell readers about being someone’s fan. He’s also willing to tell the truth about his career, his personal life, and the end of his talk show, and he plain-talks about the increasingly bad sides of the entertainment industry, so buckle up.
This is a book for Hollywood-watchers, fans of Arsenio Hall, of course, but also for anyone who loves comedy, hip-hop, or entertainment in general. Read “Arsenio.” It’s a book you’ll tell everyone about.
