Mandela Was Late: Odd Things & Essays From the Seinfeld Writer Who Coined Yada, Yada and Made Spongeworthy a Compliment

Mandela Was Late traverses the inner universe of a satiric genius who maybe should be getting out of the house a little more often. Wrapped in his cocoon of Hollywood residuals, battling his own (mounting?) foibles day by day, former Seinfeld writer/producer Peter Mehlman somehow manages to see the world a little more clearly than the rest of us.

Ride along through the arc of time drawn by six separate moving violations; only in L.A. can you mark life s mileposts by the traffic citations you receive. Share the thrill of being nominated for an Emmy, and the agony of not winning early in the evening. Meet a fictive pundit who becomes famous for publishing blank space; a detective who is ready to reopen the O.J. Simpson case and bust it wide open; a parole officer responsible for the newly won freedom of Nelson Mandela; and a Philip Roth who lengthens his literary career by resorting to roids. Go star trekking across the urban wilds of Manhattan, hunting celebrity big game; dodge potholes along a memory lane that feels very familiar in spots and bizarrely antic in others; and remember where you were the first time you heard that infamous number 69. Read and laugh and shake your head. Nothing is sacrosanct, including other people s kids.

Mandela Was Late will make you laugh and you will find more than once you can relate to his stories in a yeah that happened to me or yeah I feel the same kind of way. It was a true pleasure to get a firsthand glimpse into the mind of this master of satire. Keep writing Mr. Mehlman; we are waiting for more.
Jaime Martinetion, TheCelebrityCafe.com