The title alone is smile-worthy: How Catering Sucked the Life Right Out of Me. And the author, Sudi Karatas (pronounced kara-tosh), brings humor to everything he does. And man, he has done a lot.

From humble beginnings in upstate New York and Long Island, Sudi, who also goes by Rick, had dreams of acting, took classes and finally moved to the west coast. Now, 20 years later, his credits fill an entire website--sudirick.com--and make it hard for a podcast interviewer to know where to begin. So, this ...