No one knows more about everything, especially everything rude, clever, and offensively compelling, than John Waters. The man with the pencil-thin mustache, auteur of the transgressive movie classics, Pink Flamingos, Polyester, Hairspray, Cry-Baby, and A Dirty Shame, is one of the world’s great sophisticates.

In Mr. Know-It-All he serves it up raw: how to fail upward in Hollywood; how to develop musical taste, from Nervous Norvus to Maria Callas; how to build a home so ugly and trendy that no one but you would dare live in it; how to tell someone you love them without emotional risk; and finally, how to cheat death itself. Through it all, Waters swears by one undeniable truth: “Whatever you might have heard, there is absolutely no downside to being famous. None at all.”

SNAPSHOT REVIEW

This is for true John Waters fans who want to get to know more about his film career specifically. He leaves no stone unturned, recollecting the smallest, most intimate, behind-the-scenes details chronicling every step from his B-Movie beginnings, to Hollywood horrors, and falling off the A-list. Most everyone who has played a role in his films gets a mention, with something specifically related to that individual’s own experience on set, to an update on where they are at today (dead or alive).

The book is written in typical Waters comedic satire that his fans adore. It’s an easy read, and definitely one that should be added to the book shelf of anyone interested in Waters, the film industry, or celebrity gossip!

Studded with cameos, from Divine and Mink Stole to Johnny Depp, Kathleen Turner, Patricia Hearst, and Tracey Ullman, and illustrated with unseen photos from the author’s personal collection, Mr. Know-It-All is Waters’ most hypnotically readable, upsetting, revelatory book—another instant Waters classic.

Read and excerpt here.

John Waters’ books Role Models (2010) and Carsick (2014) were national bestsellers, and his spoken-word shows This Filthy World and A John Waters Christmas continue to be performed around the world. Indecent Exposure, a retrospective exhibition of Waters’ acclaimed artwork, was recently shown at the Baltimore Museum of Art and the Wexner Center for the Arts in Columbus, Ohio. He is at work on a novel.

Mr. Know It All is available from MacMillan Press

About the Author

Bryen Dunn is a freelance journalist based in Toronto with a focus on tourism, lifestyle, entertainment and community issues. He has written several travel articles and has an extensive portfolio of celebrity interviews with musicians, actors and other public personalities. He’s willing to take on any assignments of interest, attend parties with free booze, listen to rants, and travel the world in search of the great unknown. He’s eager to discover the new, remember the past, and look into the future.