Tag Archives: comedy

Dec7

Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld

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Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld

Sittenfeld, Curtis. Romantic Comedy. Random House, 2023. 320 pp. ISBN 9780399590948$28.00

*****

Comedy writer Sally Milz is curious why gorgeous female celebrities date average dudes, but hot dudes don’t date average girls. On the popular late night sketch show she writes for, several funny but fugly dudes have pulled major leading lady and pop sensation superstars, while single-by-choice with a steady hookup Sally can’t find a cute nice guy in NYC. When pop superstar Noah Brewster is the musical guest AND featured performer, he brings a sketch draft that she copyedits in a brilliant and fascinating scene that greatly improves his draft and gives insight into how to craft a piece of writing and deliver feedback. It’s clear to the reader they have chemistry, but Sally, who swore off romantic relationships after an ambivalent divorce and disappointing encounter with a co-worker, doesn’t even recognize she has a crush at first… and then is stunned to feel jealousy when he partners with someone else in a sketch. Long-dormant feelings are reawakening, she panics and sabatoges, not willing to let herself believe Noah might actually like her. And that’s all just in chapter one, which is half of the book.

Chapter two opens almost two years later, four months into pandemic lockdown. In a fit of loneliness and still rueing the unresolved tension between them, Noah reaches out, Sally responds, and a few weeks of witty banter and flirting with timestamps at all hours become an email correspondence that is also a snapshot of the early pandemic. They get real, and the section ends with them agreeing Sally (back home in the midwest with her stepfather and his dog) will drive out to California to reconnect. Will they make the leap from friends to lovers and break the cycle of hot guys only dating hot girls?

This smart, funny novel addresses beauty standards, feminism, science, politics, social justice, fame, and trauma in a contemporary and believable way. The fast pace, riveting details, and dramatic tension of a potential opposites attract love match was unputdownable–I tore through Romantic Comedy on my day off this week–and if you love Saturday Night Live, this novel has the feel of an insider glimpse into how the sausage gets made.

I received a free advance reader’s review copy of #RomanticComedy from #NetGalley.

Oct26

When Franny Stands Up by Eden Robbins

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When Franny Stands Up by Eden Robbins

Robbins, Eden. When Franny Stands Up. Sourcebooks Landmark, 2022. 400 pp. ISBN 978-1728256009 $16.99

****
I am a huge fan of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. HUGE. By 20 pages in, this felt at first like a disappointing rip-off in a magical realism/urban fantasy setting. Like Midge, Franny is Jewish, uncensored, has a posturing lesbian mentor, and her idol, the infamous Boopsie Baxter, is a takeoff on Moms Mobley. Unlike Midge, Franny doesn’t have a husband or ex, but she does rails against some of the same 1950s era women’s rights issues in terms of labor and cultural expectations. This speculative fiction novel, grounded in a post WWII Jewish setting, quickly hits its stride.

Franny, in her late teens, escapes downtown in 1940s Manhattan to catch Boopsie’s act. Intrigued by an interview in which the comedianne talked about the IT quality that kills in the business that the paper doesn’t name, Franny sets out to discover just what a “Showstopper” is.

Fast forward a few years, and after an unsavory incident with her best friend’s brother in a back of car, Franny is so traumatized at being made to dance with him at wedding that she runs out, lands at a comedy club, and heckles until she’s tossed out (very similar to Midge’s showing up in her negligee after her husband asks for a divorce). One thing leads to another and soon she has been taken under the wing of a group of (possibly lesbian) stand up comics, trying to break into a career.

The food, slang, fashions and hairstyles of the WWII era add so much to the setting, and the writing is dreamy. The process of joke writing as emotional and physical catharsis for trauma is compelling and I cheered when Franny found her voice, took risks, defied convention and her parents, and spoke her truth. The novel addresses redlining, anti-Semitism, feminism, and family alongside the War.

I received a free advance reader’s review copy of #FrannyStandsUp from #NetGalley.

Apr3

The League of Extraordinarily Funny Women: 50 Trailblazers of Comedy by Sheila Moeschen

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The League of Extraordinarily Funny Women: 50 Trailblazers of Comedy by Sheila Moeschen

Moeschen, Sheila. The League of Extraordinarily Funny Women: 50 Trailblazers of Comedy. Running Press Adult, 2019. ISBN 978-0762466641 232 pp. $20

*****

I just finished binging The Marvelous Mrs Maisel, and have been wondering who she was based on and who her real-life influences were besides Lenny Bruce and Moms Mabley. While neither question is addressed in this collective biography, it was a nice transition from the the show.

Self-proclaimed comedy nerd Sheila Moeschen presents this browseable, humorous and highly readable overview of fifty famous female comics: their start, their breakout roles, their signature jokes, their often! acclaimed and award-winning work, their influences, and for some, their legacy. Ladies are grouped by ten in no particular order in each section: intellectual comics, character comics, controversial comics, misfit comics, and trailblazers. The book showcases Lucille Ball, Phyllis Diller and Moms Mabley; Gilda Radner, Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy; Tina Fey, Mindy Kaling and Amy Poehler, among others.

Each section opens with an overview to introduce the category, and includes additional names that couldn’t included with full bios due to limited space. Icons are mixed in with up & comers. The cast of characters is refreshingly diverse by age, location, ethnicity, and sexuality. Best of all, while occasionally partners are identified, most of the bios focus on career only, and the merit of the woman’s achievement.

Moeschen is quick with a quip and funny in her own right, and so are YOU, evidenced by the YOU that is the last person listed in the book under the “Extra Extraordinaires” block that lists even more funny women in the final chapter, and the afterword reiterates to the reader no, really! YOU are funny, too!

No sources are cited, and a short, non-annotated reading list follows. A timeline and index are lacking, and would be helpful to include if there is indeed, a sequel.