"[A] hilarious and much-needed book." --Samantha Bee, Emmy
Award-winning comedian, author, and host of Full Frontal with
Samantha Bee
For fans of the perceptive comedy of Hannah Gadsby, Lindy West, and
Sarah Silverman, Academy Award-nominated and acclaimed stand-up comedian
Jena Friedman presents a witty and insightful collection of essays on
the cultural flashpoints of today.
Growing up, Jena Friedman didn't care about being likable. And she never
wanted to be a comedian, either. A child of the 90s, she wouldn't
discover her knack for the funny business until research for her college
thesis led her to take an improv class in Chicago.
That anthropology paper, written on race, class, and gender in the
city's comedy scene, was, in Jena's own words, "just as funny as it
sounds." But it did lay the groundwork for a career that has seen her
write and produce for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, the Late
Show with David Letterman, and the Oscar nominated Borat Subsequent
Moviefilm.
Friedman's debut collection, Not Funny, takes on the third rails of
modern life in Jena's bold and subversive style, with essays that
explore cancel culture, sexism, work, celebrity worship, and...dead baby
jokes.
In a moment where women's rights are being rolled back, fascism is on
the rise, and so many of us could use a breather as we struggle to get
by, Jena applies her unique gifts to pull a laugh from things deemed too
raw, too precious, and too scary to joke about. She shares her stories
of taking on those who told her she was too brash, too edgy, and too
"unlikable" to make it. She deftly dissects how we get coerced into
silence on the issues that matter most, until they've gone too far
afield to be turned back around again. And she shares her struggles to
make it (-ish) in a world that, more often than not, would rather tune
out than listen to a woman confronting the indignities we've been told
to bear.
