Real Hollywoood Stories

He's brought them books to break the ice; he's brought Cinnabons, too.

He's walked the dog with Paul Newman on the actor's Connecticut estate; with Ewan McGregor, he somehow ended up at the London Zoo.

He's gone speedboating with Sean Penn off Malibu to talk movies; he's gnawed ballgame hot dogs with Ann Coulter to talk about talk.

         AND NOW, in Real Hollywood Stories, author Scott Raab presents his greatest hits, with 20 new short stories of outtakes - and inner thoughts - on celebrities, getting to know them, and on our popular culture.

From movie sets to music studios and major league clubhouses, Raab says one note rings true: "For the celebrity profiler, EVERY JOB'S A BLIND DATE - and the sweaty fat girl is always you."

Scott Raab isn't famous. But he knows famous. And wants to share it, inside out and unstarry-eyed, with you.

Inside the minds of 20 celebrities, excerpts from the book

"WHAT I RECOGNIZED when I started doing comedy was that I'm probably not the wittiest, not the fastest on my feet, but the one thing I can guarantee is that I won't hold anyting back."

- from Chapter 10, "WILL FERRELL," a look behind the sophomoric slapstick, and at his behind, and into his comic genius

"GOD DAMN IT," Bill Murray snarls, "the movie better be the greatest movie ever made. If it's not, I'm gonna kill (director Wes) Anderson. He's a dead man. If it's not the greatest movie ever made, or in the top ten, he may as well just move to China... and even then, I'll hunt him down."

- from Chapter 1, "BILL MURRAY," an intimate profile

"A CAR COMMERCIAL or a video - I'm saying it's the same thing.... It doesn't say 'Coke,' it says 'Sheryl Crow,' You're a commodity," says Crow. No. Sorry. There is a difference, a flesh-and-blood difference, all the difference in the world.

- from Chapter 7, "SHERYL CROW," beyond the Grammy glamour

Author Scott Raab , Real Hollywood Stories

         CLEVELAND NATIVE SCOTT RAAB (www.scottraab.com), an Esquire Writer-at-Large since 1997, is an Iowa Writers' Workshop grad.

His work has apeared in Best American Sports Writing and Best American Food Writing, as well as in GQ and The New York Times, and his cultural commentary has been featured on NPR, NBC's Today , Court TV and A&E's Biography.

He lives with his wife and son in a northern New Jersey borough 2,788 miles from Hollywood.