Jacqueline Novak
She treats pedestrian indignities with the rigor of a thesis defense.
2 specials · 2016–2024
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She marches back and forth in long, assertive strides, the microphone cord draped over her shoulder. She rarely stops moving. She speaks in dense, rapid-fire paragraphs, dissecting a bodily function or a social encounter with the exact intensity of someone defending a thesis. When a joke requires it, she will drop completely to the ground and deliver a punchline straight to the ceiling.
Specials
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A dense, fast-talking philosophical lecture disguised as a blowjob show.
Netflix · 1 h 34 min
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A fast, brainy half hour about awkward bodies and linguistic embarrassments.
Comedy Central · 30 min
On stage
Coming out of the New York alternative scene, she bridges the gap between off-Broadway theater and standard comedy clubs. Peers who favor character and hyper-articulation watch her closely. Her podcast with Kate Berlant gathered an audience that tunes in specifically to hear her spiral over minor inconveniences.
Her sets take a fundamentally vulgar or silly premise and treat it with intense academic seriousness. She will spend twenty minutes dismantling the macho language surrounding male anatomy, offering delicate, floral metaphors in its place. She rarely pauses to check if the room is keeping pace. Instead, she plows forward, using the sheer volume of her sentences to build momentum. A crowd has to listen closely. Missing one sentence means losing the thread of an elaborate ten-minute analogy.
She studied English at Georgetown, performing in an improv troupe alongside Mike Birbiglia and John Mulaney. That background shapes the way she builds an hour. She avoids straightforward storytelling, preferring to arrange her thoughts into meticulous paragraphs and see how far she can stretch a single ridiculous premise before the tension breaks.
Turning points
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Publication of How to Weep in Public
Novak published her humorous memoir and guide to dealing with depression through Crown's Three Rivers Press imprint.
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Off-Broadway Run of Get On Your Knees
After debuting the show at the Edinburgh Fringe, Novak teamed up with Mike Birbiglia and Natasha Lyonne to bring Get On Your Knees Off-Broadway, earning critical acclaim and a Drama Desk Award nomination.
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Netflix Adaptation and Emmy Nomination
Natasha Lyonne directed the Netflix filmed version of Get On Your Knees, which earned Novak an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Special.
At a glance
- Born
- , Winston-Salem, North Carolina
- Style
- storytelling, observational
- Breakout
- Get On Your Knees
- Topics
- Elsewhere
- Website, Wikipedia, Instagram
Fans also like
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Kate BerlantNovak and Berlant co-host the acclaimed podcast Poog and share a neurotically analytical, highly verbal, and surrealist approach to modern absurdities.
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John EarlyEarly co-hosted downtown NYC shows with Novak and served as the director of the original stage production of Get On Your Knees.
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Mike BirbigliaBirbiglia produced Novak's stage run of Get On Your Knees and shares her emphasis on deeply personal, theatrical one-person comedic narratives.
Podcasts
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Poog · co-host
A weekly comedy and wellness podcast where long-time friends Jacqueline Novak and Kate Berlant obsessively discuss wellness products, personal health anxieties, and daily grievances.
Also on screen
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- Inside Amy Schumer
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- Animals
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- The Characters
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- A Big Bold Beautiful Journey
A clip to start with
Jacqueline Novak Stand-Up