A Muscatine native has written his first book.

Mike Bridenstine has written a book called “The Perfect Amount of Wrong” with a foreword by Pete Holmes. The topic of his book is a history of a comedy scene in Chicago that produced a number of now-well-known stars like Kumail Nanjiani and Pete Holmes.

Mike Bridenstine holding his book.

“I loved the nostalgia of rehashing all these old memories with comedians,” Bridenstine said. “And it made me appreciate the hard work put into these comedy shows by people like Mark Geary from the Lincoln Lodge.”

Bridenstine has worked as a stand-up comedian for over 20 years. He lived in Chicago for four years then moved out to Los Angeles. He is employed as a manager at a comedy theater in Los Angeles called “The Lyric Hyperion.”

“When people find out I was in Chicago in the 2000s, they always seem fascinated by that scene,” he said. “I’d been putting off writing about it until we had a COVID lockdown in L. A. and decided to start interviewing people and writing some of this stuff down.”

He had help from various sources to produce this book.

“My friend (and fellow comedian) Robert Buscemi helped me edit the book,” Bridenstine said. “My mom helped me edit the book. And a nice guy named Phillip Hollingsworth who listens to my podcast helped me edit it. Then once I turned in the manuscript the people at The History Press did the rest of the formatting.”

Bridenstine graduated from Muscatine High School in 1998.

“I have great memories from MHS, especially of friends and teachers who encouraged my creativity, particularly Mr. Kitchen, Mr. Deason, Mrs. McCoy, and Mr. Chalstrom,” he said.

His advice to those wanting to write a book is to “just write it.” When asked whether or not he would consider writing another book, he answered “Yes.”

The book is available to purchase through Amazon.