Oh, we do love Guy Branum. The openly gay man has written for The Mindy Project and Billy on the Street, as well The New York Times and Slate. We’ve seen him on Chelsea, Lately and is currently the host and star of Talk Show the Game Show on TruTV.
Welcome his debut book, My Life as a Goddess: A Memoir Through (Un)Popular Culture (Atria Books, $26). Branum always felt as if he were on the outside looking in, especially being gay and overweight. While other boys played outside, he stayed indoors reading Greek mythology. In this collection of personal essays, Branum writes about finding his way out of the darkness of his insular upbringing and finding himself as a stand-up comedian and TV show writer.
The book is about “the life I was supposed to lead as a sad, fat,
closeted bumpkin and my decision to be something thoroughly more fabulous,” Branum writes. “My life has not been practical, it has not been meaningful . . . but it has at least stayed interesting. Because a goddess’s job isn’t to be good, it’s to have compelling stories lyre players can tell about her at the courts of kings and princes.”
These essays read like a dance re-mix of Hillbilly Elegy and David Sedaris’ Naked—they’re really, really good. We pissed in our pants reading his trademark comic takes on pop culture phenomenon and sacred cows—from Bewitched to The Devil Wears Prada, Entourage to This is Us.
Others rave about the work:
- Tiffany Haddish: “Guy Branum is one the funniest men I know. He is Smart, Fast, Clever, and Funny! (As Fuck!!) Go ahead and buy his book Cuz….He Ready!”
- Billy Eicher: “Guy Branum not only makes you laugh out loud, his perspective is singular, genuinely ballsy, and essential.”
- Ali Wong: “Empowering, funny and so incredibly different than anything you’ve ever read.”
- Lindy West: “Guy Branum knows everything. A lot of people are funny, though few are as funny as Guy, but his intellectual curiosity and moral sure-footedness make him not just a comic but a lifeline. Long live our Patron Saint of Too Much.
- Jon Lovett “Generous and withering, hilarious and precisely observed, putting his incredible talent toward trying to understand what it means to feel apart from the world. I wish I could give this book to the fourteen year-old version of myself, who probably wouldn’t have appreciated how much he needed it. You’ll devour every story and be struck by how lucky we all are to have Guy’s gay voice. Just buy this fucking book you idiots.”
