On the HahaFiction shelf
Romantic Comedy
by Curtis Sittenfeld
Sally Milz writes for The Night Owls, a live Saturday-night comedy show. She has built a sketch around the idea that ordinary-looking male colleagues date glamorous stars while women never get the same chance. Then pop singer Noah Brewster arrives to host, and their collaboration unsettles her theory.
From the author’s blurb
“Sally Milz is a sketch writer for The Night Owls”Read the full description at Curtis Sittenfeld, book description
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What makes it funny?
Sally turns her frustration with a colleague’s celebrity romance into the Danny Horst Rule. The opening also takes readers into the less glamorous business of comedy, where a crowded pitch meeting puts much of the staff on the floor.
The comedy at work
Sally can spot the social rules governing everyone else’s romantic lives while doubting her own prospects. Her jokes about attractiveness and fame become awkwardly personal when she likes Noah.
Try this if…
For readers drawn to workplace detail, a guarded woman’s inner commentary and a romance that asks who gets to be considered desirable.
Good to know
The story moves from television production in 2018 into the COVID-19 shutdown. Kirkus praised its social observations but found the relationship’s resolution quick.
More funny romantic comedy
Sources & further reading
- Kirkus review
Review
- Opening excerpt
Reading sample
- Author
Author commentary
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