With the success of Fey's Bossypants, more comedians take to writing memoirs.
From a piece in the New York Times...
“Bossypants,” her 2011 memoir, isn’t just a commercial success or a
critical darling. It’s a blockbuster, a staple of the New York Times
best-seller list (27 weeks on the hardcover list; 19 and counting on the
paperback one). But its impact can’t be measured solely in numbers.
Comedy has become a growing and diverse publishing genre. Published this week was "The Lowbroad Reader Reader”
an excellent anthology of a 10-year-old comedy zine, and essays by the
comedian Dave Hill called “Tasteful Nudes: ... And Other Misguided
Attempts at Personal Growth and Validation.” The first week in June
brings “I Hate Everyone ... Starting With Me,” an encyclopedia of kvetches by Joan Rivers, with more punch lines per paragraph than any book I’ve read in years.
But the most popular literary form in comedy is the memoir, perfectly
suited for beach and bathroom reads. These are typically around 250
breezy pages that mix “Can you believe I’m writing a book?” jokes with
shoptalk and self-deprecating confessions. The ambitions are somewhere
between a long magazine piece and a talk show interview.
What made “Bossypants” a book likely to be imitated is its seemingly
effortless balance of genuine insight with candid personal vignettes.
It’s light comedy without guilt, which is much harder to pull off than
it looks.
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