When We Were Bouncers: Famous Actors, Athletes and Others Tell Insane Stories Of Their Days Behind The Velvet Rope

This book brings me back to my youth, when I was a bouncer and doorman. I can relate to most of these stories, especially the crazy and hilarious stuff that sometimes occurs in that line of work. People who have never worked in the industry will probably enjoy it too, just to get a no holds barred peak into a different world. Entertaining and enjoyable.

Nice quick read.

Hilarious, entertaining, and engaging. It's never too serious, never too gory or disgusting -- couldn't put it down once I started reading it.

A whole new view of our crazy world. I didn't know anything about these people. I shy away from danger if I can. After reading this book I know how naive and very protected I am. A rough world. Waiting patiently on Volume 2.

This book is hilarious, insightful, and down right a good read. A must buy for anyone who wants to know the history of some of their favourite athletes and actors! It's also very inspirational for those that dream to one day make it big. We all start somewhere; these guys/gals started behind the velvet rope!

Eh.

Bummed at lack of good fighting stories. Maybe cause bouncers are trying to stay out of fights? I think most guys that have been in a few good fights would have better stories than most of these. Me included.

It's okay.

This book is a collection of actors/stuntmen/ professional fighters experiences when bouncing. I think it is best summed up with an example, so here is one from Pat Miletich"Back in the early 90s, I was working with two other bouncers at a club whose name I forget -- it was up on the hill in Davenport [Iowa], on Harrison St. The place was owned by a guy named Little Joe, who also owned a bunch of strip clubs in the area. For some reason, Joe thought it would be a good idea for this particular club that I was working at to have a Hip-Hop Night.Now, I warned him against it, since there was a lot of gang activity in the area and I figured there’d be a lot of fights and stuff, but he went on ahead with his idea and had his first Hip-Hop night during a massive snowstorm. Sure enough, a bunch of gang-bangers from nearby Rock Island [Illinois] -- which we used to call “Little Chicago” -- rolled in, along with some other bad guys from Davenport. Pretty soon the place was packed, with me and the other two bouncers being the only white guys in the joint.It didn’t take long before some rival gangs got into it, and of course the three of us had to dive in to try to break it up. But the crowd didn’t take too kindly to some white boys trying to break up their fight, and so they all joined forces against us!As soon as the brawl kicked off, I had no idea what was happening to the other bouncers because I was totally preoccupied with fending for myself. Right away I got clamped in a side headlock by somebody, which actually ended up working in my favour because the guy’s head was pressed against mine and protected me on that side.A lot of the guys were wearing their coats inside, so I was able to fight back by grabbing them by their jackets. Every time I got hold of someone, I’d pull him in and put his head on one side of mine with the headlock-guy’s head still pressed against the other. That protected me on both sides, and it kept anybody from getting clean shots on me.Who I had by the jacket, I’d pull his lapel across his throat and choke him unconscious with it. Then I’d drop him, grab another guy, and repeat the process. I left a trail of four or five bodies as I worked my way toward the door, with the dummy who was headlocking me never realizing that he was helping me out the whole time. When I finally got to the door, I slid backwards out of the headlock and snatched the guy in a standing rear choke, then backed outside while using him as a human shield.In spite of the giant snowstorm, a bunch of the gang-bangers were already outside, waiting to jump any bouncer who made it out of the club. I kept my head down as they swarmed me, and dragged my guy out to the middle of the street by which point he’d gone completely limp.I was just letting him slide out of my arms, when someone came up on my blind side and smashed me in the side of the head with a brick! Lucky for me, I instinctively managed to roll with it, and even though it put a pretty good lump on my head it didn’t hurt me too bad.The guy yelled out “YEAH!!!”, thinking that a shot that solid would put me down, but I just turned around and looked at him and his jaw dropped like he’d seen a damn ghost! (laughs) He didn’t even have time to raise his hands as I rifled a straight right into his face, and he was still collapsing to the pavement when three squad cars came flying up the street.The cops barely managed to get out of their cruisers before the crowd had them completely surrounded, and then I realized that I was the only bouncer who’d even made it out of the club. It was just me, five cops and three German Shepherds standing in an outward-facing circle, surrounded by swirling snow and a hundred screaming, cussing people trying to attack us from all sides.Somehow, we managed to hold them off until enough additional cops arrived to get things under control, but to this day I still think about how ugly that scene could have gotten. Thankfully, the other two bouncers ended up being okay, and I went home that night with nothing worse than a big lump on the side of my head. "As you would expect there is lots of violence, gruesome injures, drugs and other things that bouncers have to deal with. A lot of the stories are not as interesting as the above example but overall I found the book to be a interesting read.

This book is highly recommended for anyone who enjoys a great, entertaining biography full of wild characters and memorable stories. Although "When We Were Bouncers" is not a 'biography' or 'autobiography' in the obvious sense, the candid, honest and, at times, totally insane stories featured here are very raw and revealing. If you're a fan of any of the actors or pro fighters featured in the book, you will almost certainly read some anecdotes you never knew about.Author Paul Lazenby, who is well known as a stuntman and actor himself, has done an excellent job essentially writing up conversations with his friends and peers and has turned them into a compelling e-book. These are the types of stories you'd hear in the bar or over a coffee, and not the journalist-friendly stuff you'd often encounter. This makes the book all the more special and gives the feeling you're getting the inside track from these guys. So prepare to be entertained and, occasionally, a little shocked!I very much hope there's a follow-up down the road. Be sure to pick this up now! Highly recommended.

An interesting book featuring stories from celebrities (well, 'celebrities' mostly) from when they worked as bouncers. The stories get samey pretty quick though, they're mostly about times where somebody started a fight and the bouncer came in to be the hero. If you've read a couple of chapters you've pretty much read them all.

Loved the book, easy to read short stories and gives a fresh look on the doorstaff lifestyle. Paul Lazenby story is especially great!

Highly recommended and entertaining!