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Jacqueline Novakhas spent the past few years meditating on the blow job and the language that surrounds it.
Eliot or Mary Karr do.
I know in your book theres some little bits about blow jobs and on your album, too.
I wanted to be working toward the hour, ideally the hour-long special or the touring hour.
I was doing all this penis material, all this stuff about the cock versus the penis.
I had this sort of blow-job narrative that had been this essay [from college].
It was like this never-ending essay that I had been writing the whole time.
I was considering what I would do if I were to do a narrative thread.
I knew it would be this coming-of-age [story about] sexual concerns.
Its weird to me that youre alone in that journey.
You have friends if you have friends but youre kind of figuring it out on your own.
Its a weird time.
They almost were like, These American comics, they come here and, quote, just do stand-up.
Im going to give them the narrative of my damn life.It was this good-student mind-set.
Its a really specific recurring dynamic.
It just came together in that way.
Hed seen pieces of the show develop and ended up producing it, basically.
We co-hosted a show at Cake Shop for a couple of years every Tuesday to crowds of tens.
We always had such a fun time just talking onstage.
As you might tell from the show, Jacqueline is one of the great conversationalists.
The show is essentially the privilege of being in conversation with Jacqueline Novak.
I feel like we just discovered a very pure conversational dynamic where it was purely about delighting each other.
We were already friends, but that was a really fun thing to discover as collaborators.
I was also like, I dont want to do material, so we talked onstage together.
Almost like a fun hook, like John Early notes Jacqueline.
Because she did this long run of shows, it turned into me genuinely taking notes.
Jacqueline: Johns very concerned about the audience going home with the right bits in their mind.
Hes like, Im going to underscore this now cause how dare they forget.
Do you feel like doing the show so much is coming naturally to you?
I enjoyed that process so much and I actually felt sad when it was ending.
Weirdly, my ADD thing is that when Im in something, Iminit.
Im almost not thinking of the run and its length.
]Jacqueline: For once!
Jacqueline: Well, with every crowd its like,Oh, God, they dont know whats coming.
In my mind its like,Theyre doubting me; theyre afraid; theyre concerned.
John: Well, youre in control.
You dont have to act surprised.
In plays, you have to pretend that all this stuff is happening to you.
With stand-up, youre the one driving.
You dont have to feign surprise.
You have to drum up surprise at the circumstances of the play every fuckin night.
Jacqueline: Or your best impression of it in a pinch!
At this point, are you changing any of the jokes a lot or adding new material?
Theres a little bit of that still.
What youd think of as the set list is the same.
If I was talking to a theater person who was like, Oh, is it just stand-up?
Id be like, Fuck you, youre going to sob.
I was very self-conscious about trying to get laughs through physicality or performance.
Id never go for a laugh with a big gesture or a face.
I worked my way toward it.
Then I was like,No, no, fuck it.
Im going to be upside down with my tongue out.
It made it a spiritual challenge, tricked me into it.
