Live Wire Radio
Fri., September 29 at 7:30 pm
Luke Burbank and Elena Passarello never fail to impress, and their just-announced guest lineup is nothing short of incredible! Comedian, actor, and writer Aparna Nancherla; Oregon Poet Laureate Anis Mojgani; and podcaster and producer Avery Trufelman are bringing riveting topics, pure talent, and undeniable hilarity to the latest live recording of Live Wire Radio at the Hult Center!
About Aparna’s Debut Book:
Annotation:
"A hilarious and insightful collection of essays exploring imposter syndrome, from the inside and out, by the most successful fraud in comedy Aparna Nancherla is a superstar comedian on the rise-a darling of Netflix and Comedy Central's comedy special lineups, a headliner at comedy shows and music festivals, a frequenter of late night television and the subject of numerous profiles, all while co-hosting a regularly sold-out comedy show. She's also a successful actor who has written a barrage of thoughtful essays published by the likes of the New York Times. If you ask her, though, she's a total fraud. She'd hate to admit it, but no one does imposter syndrome quite like Aparna Nancherla"--
Description, Reviews, etc.
Kirkus Reviews (07/01/2023):
An Indian American comedian explores the many faces of impostor syndrome. Nancherla says that she wanted to write a book about impostor syndrome--which she defines as constantly questioning whether or not she deserves her own success--because she wanted to get over feeling like a fraud. Unfortunately, she confesses, "it turns out nothing summons your impostor syndrome like trying to write a book about it." In the chapters that follow, Nancherla traces her mental health history, which includes an anecdote about competing in a Miss India DC pageant while battling an eating disorder; watching her depression grow and change over time; and finding the right medications to treat both depression and anxiety. The author astutely analyzes how systems of power have intersected to create her view of herself and her profession. At one point, she responds to reviews of her colleagues' work during the pandemic by musing, "as if it's not outright violence to rank creative work generated during a period of large-scale trauma." In the epilogue, Nancherla admits that writing about impostor syndrome did not, in fact, cure her feelings of inadequacy. On the contrary, she notes, the one thing she learned from the writing process was that "epiphanies...don't arrive on schedule, and sometimes you're the last to know you're having one." In fact, "epiphanies can take years to sink in." At its best, this heavily researched memoir is refreshingly perspicacious and darkly funny... COPYRIGHT(2023) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Biographical Note:
Aparna Nancherla is a comedian, actress, and writer based in Los Angeles. Her standup has appeared on Two Dope Queens on HBO, The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, Conan, and she's had half-hour specials on both Comedy Central and Netflix. She starred as Grace the HR rep on the critically acclaimed Corporate, was the voice of Hollyhock on Bojack Horseman, and has held roles in many other shows. Aparna also wrote for and was featured on Late Night with Seth Meyers on NBC, Totally Biased on FX, and Debate Wars on Seeso, as well as contributing to Broad City and Paul Feig's Ghostbusters. She has also contributed multiple op-eds to The New York Times.
Review Quotes:
"Comedian Nancherla debuts with an intimate essay collection reflecting on the mental health challenges she's navigated while building a career in comedy...The sardonic humor and candid meditations on mental health resonate. It's a surprisingly funny take on longing to feel comfortable in one's own skin." --Publishers Weekly
"A deeply honest and funny look at how exhausting it can be to live a human life, Unreliable Narrator is a book for anyone who wants to laugh and feel less alone." --Amy Poehler
"Aparna is a breath of fresh air, and I was rooting for her in every page of her hilarious book of essays."--Mindy Kaling
"Unreliable Narratoris the kind of book that will turn you into a fan of Aparna if you weren't already. Funny. Bold. Intelligent. Honest. Vulnerable. You really can't ask for more except that maybe she ought to write another book. Sorry to give you more work, Aparna, but you're brilliant!"--Phoebe Robinson
"I hope she believes it, because it's true: Aparna Nancherla is absolutely brilliant, deeply funny, and--especially when your brain is trying so hard to convince you you're a lonely, singular, fraud-extremely good company. I've never laughed so hard while getting to know myself better."--John Hodgman
"I love every single thing the wickedly hilarious Aparna Nancherla does-as a human being, a comedian and now, author."--Tig Notaro
Publisher Marketing:
"A deeply honest and funny look at how exhausting it can be to live a human life,Unreliable Narratoris a book for anyone who wants to laugh and feel less alone."--Amy Poehler
A hilarious and insightful collection of essays exploring impostor syndrome, from the inside and out, by the most successful fraud in comedy
Aparna Nancherla is a superstar comedian on the rise--a darling of Netflix and Comedy Central's comedy special lineups, a headliner at comedy shows and music festivals, a frequenter of late night television and the subject of numerous profiles. She's also a successful actor who has written a barrage of thoughtful essays published by the likes of theNew York Times. If you ask her, though, she's a total fraud. She'd hate to admit it, but no one does impostor syndrome quite like Aparna Nancherla.
UNRELIABLE NARRATOR is a collection of essays that uses Aparna's signature humor to illuminate an interior life, one constantly bossed around by her depression (whom she calls Brenda), laced with anxiety like a horror movie full of jump-scares, and plagued by an unrepenting love-hate relationship with her career as a painfully shy standup comedian. But luckily, crippling self-doubt comes with the gift of keen self-examination. These essays deliver hilarious and incredibly insightful meditations on body image, productivity culture, the ultra-meme-ability of mental health language, and who, exactly, gets to make art "about nothing." Despite her own arguments to the contrary, UNRELIABLE NARRATOR is undeniable proof that Aparna is a force--as a comedian and author alike--to be reckoned with.