Live Talks Los Angeles event:
Ari Emanuel
in conversation with Kara Swisher
discussing his memoir,
Roll the Calls
4401 W 8th St,
Tuesday, September 29, 8pm
$65 General Admission ticket + signed book
$95 Two General Admission tickets + ONE signed book
PURCHASE VIRTUAL EVENT TICKETS (US Orders Only)
Tuesday, October 6, 6pm PT/9pm ET
$50 Virtual Admission + signed book (includes shipping to US addresses only). Includes access to watch the event on October 6 at 6pm PT/9pm ET and on video-on-demand for five days
One of Hollywood’s most accomplished, feared—and funny—dealmakers has some stuff he wants to get off his chest. A lifetime worth of stuff. And secrets. And stories. And it all makes for one hell of a ride, and one of the must-read books of the year.
Kara Swisher is host of On with Kara Swisher and co-host of Pivot. She’s editor-at-large at New York Magazine and a CNN contributor, where she hosts the series Kara Swisher Wants to Live Forever. She was the cofounder and editor-at-large of the technology website Recode and co-executive producer of the Code conference. Considered the top reporter in the tech game, Swisher has been reporting on the industry since the early 1990s. She is a former contributing opinion writer for The New York Times and has also worked for The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post. She’s the author of the New York Times–bestselling memoir Burn Book: A Tech Love Story (Simon & Schuster, 2024).
Now, for the first time, the agent, the mogul, the ferocious power broker, speaks for himself, about himself, and about the game of life—often at the top of his lungs. In Roll the Calls, his take-no-prisoners memoir, Emanuel tells the incredible stories behind the signings and firings, the triumphant mergers and nasty breakups, the hard-won victories and crushing mistakes.
With great comic zest, and in precise cinematic detail, he traces the arc of a classic rags-to-riches career, from suffering through severe dyslexia, to clerking in the mailroom of CAA, to striking out on his own with three fellow agents, launching a new talent agency that would go on to represent some of the most glittering names in show business, including Larry David, Quentin Tarantino, Denzel Washington, Billie Eilish, Martin Scorsese, and Oprah Winfrey. Along the way Emanuel was also raising four kids, fighting and reconciling with friends and colleagues, coping with a failing marriage, and struggling to find love again.
Shattering the mold of stodgy CEO memoirs, Roll the Calls is told in a punchy, telegraphic style, with disarming humility and ribald candor. It’s a fable about success and failure, about creativity and persistence, and a master class in how to ignore the haters, how to overcome withering self-doubt, and, at moments of profound crisis and despair, how to be a fearless advocate for your most vulnerable client: yourself.