The Bassoon King

My Life in Art, Faith, and Idiocy

By: Rainn Wilson

Narrated by: Rainn Wilson

Rainn Wilson’s memoir about growing up geeky and finally finding his place in comedy, faith, and life.

For nine seasons Rainn Wilson played Dwight Schrute, everyone's favorite work nemesis and beet farmer. Viewers of The Office fell in love with the character and grew to love the actor who played him even more. Rainn founded a website and media company, SoulPancake, that eventually became a best-selling book of the same name. He also started a hilarious Twitter feed (sample tweet: “I'm not on Facebook” is the new “I don't even own a TV”) that now has more than four million followers.

Now, he's ready to tell his own story and explain how he came up with his incredibly unique sense of humor and perspective on life. He explains how he grew up “bone-numbingly nerdy before there was even a modicum of cool attached to the word”. The Bassoon King chronicles his journey from nerd to drama geek (“the highest rung on the vast, pimply ladder of high school losers”), his years of mild debauchery and struggles as a young actor in New York, his many adventures and insights about The Office, and finally, Wilson's achievement of success and satisfaction, both in his career and spiritually, reconnecting with the artistic and creative values of the Bahá’í faith he grew up in.

©2015 Rainn Wilson (P)2015 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

"Rainn Wilson narrates his own story with such perfection that the only disappointment is the fact that it ends. The memoir is smart, inspirational, and funny, so the addition of Wilson's performance adds delectable icing to a tasty cake." (AudioFile)

"Quirky, witty, literate." (Washington Post)

"Rainn Wilson's memoir captures essence of his offbeat humor." (Chicago Sun-Times)

Rainn Wilson is a mastermind

Rainn Wilson is a magical human being. He is hilarious without being dumb or insulting, he is spiritual without being condescending, and he is relatable without pretending to ever have had a worse or better life than anyone else on this planet. He shares his own wisdoms as well as those of others and leaves great subliminal and obvious suggestions for further conversation. I was pleasantly surprised by the fact that I finished listening to this story feeling not only entertained, but enriched. I will also say that listening to The Bassoon King read by Rainn Wilson himself is far superior to any other reading of the story.

Rainn Wilson is witty, and awesome.

I loved him in the office so when I saw that he wrote and narrated his own book I downloaded it and listened to it immediately and I have no regrets. rock on Rainn.

Best Autobiography I've Read in a Long Time

I've never been the type to read celebrity autobiographies, but when I learned that Rain Wilson, whom I admired as his role of Dwight Schrute on The Office, I had to pick it up and I do not regret it. This man has lived a very interesting life, and one that definitely deserved it's own book. I couldn't stop listening, and the way he read was if I was hearing it from his recollection in person. I do not regret picking this up, and I'm sure you won't either.

The interesting life of Rainn Wilson

Rainn Wilson has had an interesting life. For anyone that has been a fan of the office will know who Rainn Wilson is as his character Dwight Schrute. Without giving anything away about the story he has some very funny stories and his take on spirituality through the Bahá'í faith. He is one of the creators of Soul Pancake and prior to this story I had no idea about the kinds of things he has gone thorough in his life. I really enjoyed this audio book, it will make you laugh, it will make you think. His stories are pretty cool and his take on spirituality and the soul are really something that I didn't expect. I really appreciate his work and this book is really well done.

Very thorough funny and honest

You really feel like your sitting next to rainn taking about his life from start to finish. It’s everything you want as a rainn Wilson fan.

Happily Surprised

...I wasn't expecting that.... I thought it would be funny, which it was- but it was much deeper than I ever could have imagined... its the kind of book I'm going to need to listen to about 10 more times before I can say I really understood what he was saying....those are the best books.

Hilarious, yet surprisingly serious at times

I love listening to authors read their own autobiographies and Rainn Wilson does not disappoint. After listening to Paul Simon's biography, Wilson restored my faith that most artists have a truly fucked up childhood. Hearing him talk about his experiences in NYC in the 80's brought back horrible memories. So much fun! But what I never would have guessed is how deep his faith is, the faith of the B'hai. He made it sound so cool, with all his talk of love and gooey shit like that. Overall, this is a terrific book.

awesome awesome awesome.

loved it. if you love dwight from the office. you will love hearing rains Wilson on how he got to be dwight.

Travel, education, religion beyond Dwight

What did you love best about The Bassoon King?

Learning about Rainn's childhood in his voice, what's happened before and after The Office, and his perspective on religion and family. There were some things that were a bit gross or blunt, but overall, good variety and well presented.

What did you like best about this story?

Chronological covering his life with good tidbits and funny jokes, hitting on the popular shows we know him from.

Deep for who you think Dwight is.

If you look at it in a open eyes and open heart way you will learn a lot about yourself and a lot about others. As a Christian I do not agree with everything this book teaches or says but after looking at it openly and not giving up on it I learned a ton about not only myself but about the Baha'i culture.