Rainn Wilson is coming to DUMBO to talk up new book

Brooklyn BookBeat

October 27, 2015 Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Famed actor Rainn Wilson will appear at DUMBO’s powerHouse Arena (37 Main St.) on Nov. 10 at 7:30 p.m. to speak about his new book “The Bassoon King: My Life in Art, Faith and Idiocy.” Photo by Matt Hoyle

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Long celebrated for his quirky, comedic talent — particularly as everyone’s favorite work nemesis and beet farmer Dwight Schrute on the blockbuster show “The Office” — Wilson is also known for being the founder of the popular website and media company Soulpancake.com, which went on to become a bestselling book of the same name. In addition, among many other accomplishments, he discovered and nurtured the internet phenomenon “Kid President.”

Now, for the first time, Wilson turns to memoir writing to explain how he came up with his unique sense of humor and life perspective with “The Bassoon King: My Life in Art, Faith, and Idiocy” (Dutton; on sale Nov. 10, 2015).

Wilson will appear at DUMBO’s powerHouse Arena (37 Main St.) on Nov. 10 at 7:30 p.m. to speak about the book.

From the very beginning, Rainn (the real first name given to him by his hippie parents) had well-established nerd cred — and not the commercially acceptable kind celebrated by today’s entertainment industry. In school, he was a member of the chess team, Model United Nations, computer club and pottery club, and played bassoon in the orchestra — after his band teacher pulled a fast one and convinced Wilson it was cooler than playing the saxophone. Outside of school, he played Dungeons and Dragons and attended NorWesCon, a yearly sci-fi convention in western Washington.

“The Bassoon King” chronicles Wilson’s journey from nerd to drama geek, his years of mild debauchery and struggles as a young actor in the drug-fueled 1980s New York City, and how he landed the defining role of his career on “The Office.” As soon as he was cast, Rainn knew he was about to receive “the worst haircut of my entire life” — and he knew the show had the potential to be huge. “The Bassoon King” details his many adventures and insights behind the scenes of the show’s epic nine-season run.

Wilson also opens up about becoming a husband and father (“of all the adventures Holiday and I have had, the most horrific and transcendent was the birth of our son Walter in 2004”), and finally, his achievement of success and satisfaction, both in his career and spiritually, reconnecting with the artistic and creative values of the Baha’i faith he grew up in.

The book also includes s hilarious foreword written in the voice of Dwight Schrute; an explanation of Wilson’s strange and sometimes horrifying history with the varmints of Nicaragua; a series of fun, witty lists; stories from the sets of “Almost Famous,” “Galaxy Quest” and “Sahara”; a section comparing British “Office” fans to U.S. fans; and an invitation for readers to take the “10 Things I Know for Sure” challenge.