Must Be the Devil

In this deeply candid memoir, Oscar-nominated writers and comedians the Lucas Bros investigate the life and violent death of their surrogate big brother Kaizen, confronting the unsettling parallels between his demons and their own—and the circumstances and choices that shaped their radically different fates.

Growing up in Newark, New Jersey, in the 1980s, Keith and Kenny Lucas knew poverty, violence, crime, and chaos, but also family bonds, friendship, laughter, and love. At the center of their childhood was Kaizen, their brother in all but blood, who introduced them to Richard Pryor, Redd Foxx, and Wu-Tang, all while teaching them how to make people laugh. But on August 8, 2019, Kaizen shot and killed a young father before dying in a shootout with police outside the brothers’ childhood home.

Determined to understand how the man they knew and loved became capable of committing such horrific violence, the brothers return to Newark in search of answers. Through interviews, police reports, surveillance footage, court records, and Kaizen’s increasingly disturbing Facebook posts, they uncover painful and shocking truths about their family and themselves. Their investigation compels them to reckon with their own struggles with mental illness and addiction and to question their improbable journey from a housing project to the Oscars. As their careers reach new heights, the brothers face an uncomfortable reality: Kaizen’s tragic downfall has helped propel their success.

Weaving their signature deadpan and dark humor with raw honesty, the Lucas Bros examine how family, choice, and moral luck influenced three lives that began in the same place but ultimately diverged in profound ways. The result is a gripping memoir that challenges the stories America tells itself about what it really means to pull yourself up by your bootstraps and “beat the odds.”