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Mohrbooks Literary Agency
Sebastian Ritscher |
| Original language | |
| English | |
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NOT FUNNY
Essays on Life, Comedy, Culture, Et Cetera
From Academy Award-nominated writer, TV host, and acclaimed standup comedian Jena Friedman, this is a smart, wickedly funny collection of essays on feminism, comedy, and the cultural flashpoints of today.
Jena Friedman is an acclaimed writer and performer, with multiple credits to her name in the fields of tv comedy (The Daily Show and The Late Show with David Letterman), film (an Academy Award nomination for writing on Sacha Baron Cohen's 2020 blockbuster Borat Subsequent Moviefilm), humor writing (The New Yorker), and live performance. More recently, her skill for keen social observation is seen in her acclaimed tv series Indefensible - a comedic takedown of the true-crime tv craze.
With incisive cultural criticism, acerbic wit, and an interdisciplinary mind, Jena sheds light on her life as a millennial woman, treated as too smart, brash, and fearless for her own good. We see her at her highest highs and lowest lows. We see her struggle to accept mistreatment in exchange for career advancement. We watch her unpack the roots of humor, and her lifelong goal to change minds through political incitement. And we see a bright-lights big-city version of a classic young women's career struggle; an immensely talented creative who refuses to soften herself for others.
Friedman pushes just past the edge of comfort on matters of gender, politics, decency, and class: Why do we look to celebrities to decide whether other celebrities deserve forgiveness? Why don't we ask men whether their careers might get in the way of starting a family? What does it mean to still hold admiration for a mentor you learn in hindsight to have been a predator? And what's so wrong with telling a dead baby joke? As she notes, one of the first jokes in recorded history was just that.
Friedman challenges us to reconsider why we do and do not laugh, with whom we choose to empathize, and when we decide to grant attention in a world that demands we laugh to keep from crying. At once brainy, insightful, and absurd, NOT FUNNY reclaims power using the sharpest tool in bold satirist's arsenal: humor.
Jena Friedman is a writer, comedian, and filmmaker. She is the host of AMC/SundanceTV's Indefensible, and creator of Soft Focus on Adult Swim. Her writing credits include Borat 2: Subsequent Movie Film, The Conners on ABC and The Late Show with David Letterman. She's a contributing writer to The New Yorker and has appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Conan on TBS, The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore and most recently in the Sundance hit movie Palm Springs, now on Hulu. Her critically acclaimed stand up special, "American Cunt," was named Top Ten Comedy Specials by Paste Magazine in 2016 and is available on iTunes.
With incisive cultural criticism, acerbic wit, and an interdisciplinary mind, Jena sheds light on her life as a millennial woman, treated as too smart, brash, and fearless for her own good. We see her at her highest highs and lowest lows. We see her struggle to accept mistreatment in exchange for career advancement. We watch her unpack the roots of humor, and her lifelong goal to change minds through political incitement. And we see a bright-lights big-city version of a classic young women's career struggle; an immensely talented creative who refuses to soften herself for others.
Friedman pushes just past the edge of comfort on matters of gender, politics, decency, and class: Why do we look to celebrities to decide whether other celebrities deserve forgiveness? Why don't we ask men whether their careers might get in the way of starting a family? What does it mean to still hold admiration for a mentor you learn in hindsight to have been a predator? And what's so wrong with telling a dead baby joke? As she notes, one of the first jokes in recorded history was just that.
Friedman challenges us to reconsider why we do and do not laugh, with whom we choose to empathize, and when we decide to grant attention in a world that demands we laugh to keep from crying. At once brainy, insightful, and absurd, NOT FUNNY reclaims power using the sharpest tool in bold satirist's arsenal: humor.
Jena Friedman is a writer, comedian, and filmmaker. She is the host of AMC/SundanceTV's Indefensible, and creator of Soft Focus on Adult Swim. Her writing credits include Borat 2: Subsequent Movie Film, The Conners on ABC and The Late Show with David Letterman. She's a contributing writer to The New Yorker and has appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Conan on TBS, The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore and most recently in the Sundance hit movie Palm Springs, now on Hulu. Her critically acclaimed stand up special, "American Cunt," was named Top Ten Comedy Specials by Paste Magazine in 2016 and is available on iTunes.
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Published 2023-04-18 by One Signal / Atria |