In the Weeds cover art

In the Weeds

Around the World and Behind the Scenes with Anthony Bourdain

 Preview

Audible Standard 30-day free trial

Try Standard free
Select 1 audiobook a month from our entire collection.
Listen to your selected audiobooks as long as you're a member.
Get unlimited access to bingeable podcasts.
Standard auto renews for £5.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

In the Weeds

By: Tom Vitale
Narrated by: Tom Vitale
Try Standard free

£5.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

About this listen

 Anthony Bourdain's long time director and producer takes readers behind the scenes to reveal the insanity of filming television in some of the most volatile places in the world, and what it was like to work with a legend.

"The most complete picture yet of Bourdain's complex and conflicted character ... Vitale's writing is seductively alive, pulsating with events and vividly rendered observations." —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

Since Anthony Bourdain's death, no one else has come close to filling the void he left. His passion and genuine curiosity about the people and cultures he visited made the world feel smaller and more connected. Despite his affable, confident, and trademark snarky TV persona, the real Tony was intensely private, deeply conflicted about his fame, and an enigma even to those close to him. Tony’s devoted crew knew him best, and no one else had a front-row seat for as long as his director and producer, Tom Vitale.

Over the course of more than a decade traveling together, Tony became a boss, a friend, a hero and, sometimes, a tormentor.In the Weeds takes readers behind the scenes to reveal not just the insanity that went into filming in some of the most far-flung and volatile parts of the world, but what Tony was like unedited and off-camera. From the outside, the job looked like an all-expenses-paid adventure to places like Borneo, Vietnam, Iran, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Libya.

What happened off-camera was far more interesting than what made it to air. The more things went wrong, the better it was for the show. Fortunately, everything fell apart constantly.

Nominated for the 2022 BookTube Prize in Nonfiction Culinary Adventures Entertainment & Celebrities Grief & Loss Personal Development Professionals & Academics Relationships Celebrity Africa Biography
All stars
Most relevant
To accompany Tom’s account of his journey, I watched each episode of ‘Parts Uknown’ as Tom described it in the book.

I particularly appreciated Tom’s honesty and vulnerability in his account of working with Anthony over the years.

What a journey 💚

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The writer does add a positive spin in the end with how Bourdain seemed to be himself more positive, but my god it sounded like hostile carnage on the road, and the treatment towards a lot of people, it sounds a lot like harassment and bullying.
As a fan of the shows and Bourdain’s writing this was a surprise to me. I guess it’s good to get another side of the story, but it’s a tough one.

Bourdain doesn’t come of this too good…

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Great read! It’s how I pictured Anthony and the author has such great insights and reads it so well. Highly recommended 🍻

Sik!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.