Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
A tour-de-force of comedy and reflection about growing up in the 70's and 80's―from the beloved stand-up comic and creator of The Great Depresh
For years, Gary Gulman had been the comedian's comedian, beloved for his delight in language and his bracing honesty. As Jason Zinoman wrote in the New York Times: "Gulman's finest jokes don't hit you in the gut so much as tickle your brain. They have a literary quality, a rhythm, and an ear for language."
But then in 2019, Gulman's HBO special, The Great Depresh, became a cultural sensation, earning Gulman wide acclaim and a huge new audience. He has subsequently appeared as a regular on popular television shows and sold out Carnegie Hall.
In The Great Depresh, Gulman described a mental health crisis so severe that at age 46 it landed him in a psychiatric ward and then back in his mother's house and his childhood bedroom. And that's where Misfit begins.
But this is no ordinary book on growing older and growing up. Gulman has an astonishing memory and takes the reader through every year of his childhood education with obsessively detailed stories that are in turn alarming and riotously funny. As we meet his neighbors, teachers, heroes, and antagonists, we get a portrait of a young comedian who is often his own worst enemy. It is also chock-full of 70's and 80's nostalgia that will appeal to those who lived it and those who are fascinated by it.
This is a portrait of a comedian as an awkward young man, written as only Gary Gulman could write it.
Synopsis
A tour-de-force of comedy and reflection about the perilous journey from kindergarten to twelfth grade and beyond―from the beloved stand-up comic and creator of The Great Depresh
For years, Gary Gulman had been the comedian's comedian, acclaimed for his delight in language and his bracing honesty. But after two psych ward stints, he found himself back in his mother's house in suburban Boston--living in his childhood bedroom at age forty-six as he struggled to regain his mental health.
That's where Misfit begins. Then it goes way back.
This is no ordinary book about growing older and growing up. Gulman has an astonishing memory and takes the reader through every year of his childhood education, with obsessively detailed stories that are in turn alarming and riotously funny. We meet Gulman's family, neighbors, teachers, heroes, and antagonists, and get to know the young comedian-in-the-making who is his own worst--and most persistent--enemy.
From failing to impress at grade school show-and-tell to literally fumbling at his first big football game, in settings that take us all the way from the local playground to the local mall, from Hebrew School to his best (and only) friend's rec room, young Gary becomes a stand-in for everyone who grew up wondering if they would ever truly fit in. And that's not all: the book is also chock-full of '80s nostalgia (Scented Markers, indifference to sunscreen).
Misfit is a book that only Gary Gulman could have written: a brilliant, witty, poignant, laugh-until-your-face-hurts book about childhood that speaks directly to the awkward child in us all.
Synopsis
"Gary Gulman's Misfit is one of my favorite books of all time and you will feel the same. Laugh out loud funny and heartfelt." ―Amy Schumer
A tour-de-force of comedy and reflection about the perilous journey from kindergarten to twelfth grade and beyond―from the beloved stand-up comic and creator of The Great Depresh
For years, Gary Gulman had been the comedian's comedian, acclaimed for his delight in language and his bracing honesty. But after two psych ward stints, he found himself back in his mother's house in Peabody, MA--living in his childhood bedroom at age forty-six as he struggled to regain his mental health.
That's where Misfit begins. Then it goes way back.
This is no ordinary book about growing older and growing up. Gulman has an astonishing memory and takes the reader through every year of his childhood education, with obsessively detailed stories that are in turn alarming and riotously funny. We meet Gulman's family, neighbors, teachers, heroes, and antagonists, and get to know the young comedian-in-the-making who is his own worst--and most persistent--enemy.
From failing to impress at grade school show-and-tell to literally fumbling at his first big football game, in settings that take us all the way from the local playground to the local mall, from Hebrew School to his best (and only) friend's rec room, young Gary becomes a stand-in for everyone who grew up wondering if they would ever truly fit in. And that's not all: the book is also chock-full of '80s nostalgia (Scented Markers, indifference to sunscreen).
Misfit is a book that only Gary Gulman could have written: a brilliant, witty, poignant, laugh-until-your-face-hurts memoir that speaks directly to the awkward child in us all.
Synopsis
"One of my favorite books of all time ." ―Amy Schumer
A tour-de-force of comedy and reflection about the perilous journey from kindergarten to twelfth grade and beyond―from the beloved stand-up comic and creator of The Great Depresh
For years, Gary Gulman had been the comedian's comedian, acclaimed for his delight in language and his bracing honesty. But after two psych ward stints, he found himself back in his mother's house in Peabody, MA--living in his childhood bedroom at age forty-six as he struggled to regain his mental health.
That's where Misfit begins. Then it goes way back.
This is no ordinary book about growing older and growing up. Gulman has an astonishing memory and takes the reader through every year of his childhood education, with obsessively detailed stories that are in turn alarming and riotously funny. We meet Gulman's family, neighbors, teachers, heroes, and antagonists, and get to know the young comedian-in-the-making who is his own worst--and most persistent--enemy.
From failing to impress at grade school show-and-tell to literally fumbling at his first big football game, in settings that take us all the way from the local playground to the local mall, from Hebrew School to his best (and only) friend's rec room, young Gary becomes a stand-in for everyone who grew up wondering if they would ever truly fit in. And that's not all: the book is also chock-full of '80s nostalgia (Scented Markers, indifference to sunscreen).
Misfit is a book that only Gary Gulman could have written: a brilliant, witty, poignant, laugh-until-your-face-hurts memoir that speaks directly to the awkward child in us all.