30 Rock Star autographs books at Penn Bookstore

Comedian Judah Friedlander claimed this weekend that he has written “the most important book in karate history.”

Friedlander, a star of NBC’s acclaimed sitcom 30 Rock, came to the Penn Bookstore on Saturday to greet fans and sign copies of his new book, How To Beat Up Anybody.

This was not Friedlander’s first trip to Penn — he performed with Mask and Wig in April 2009.

The book is advertised as “an instructional and inspirational karate book.” In the book, Friedlander teaches his readers how to emulate his “exceptional” martial arts skills with 208 pages of humorous photos, commentary and jokes. Everything in the book is a creation of Friedlander’s own comedic mind. “I directed all the photos myself,” he said.

As he read excerpts from the book and answered questions, Friedlander was eager to pass on his knowledge. “You’re already better at karate just by coming out today,” he said to the crowd of about 50.

While some students found Friedlander, in his signature trucker hat, to be an unlikely figure to be giving martial arts advice, he explained how he actually got the idea for the book in an interview after the show — it was born out of his stand-up comedy act.

Over the past seven years, he explained, he has been compiling jokes that he thought would work better in a book. “Stand-up is number one,” he said, but he wants to experiment with “comedy in all mediums.”

Friedlander also said he has to schedule his book tour around filming his role as Frank Rossitano on 30 Rock, as it takes about six days to film one episode.

For now, Friedlander is focusing on promoting his book and his image as the self-proclaimed “World Champion.” Friedlander recommended his book for anyone who wants to learn how to protect oneself against ninjas and Bigfoot, create instant male pattern baldness with one punch or beat someone up on a unicycle.

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