Misfit: Growing Up Awkward in the '80s -- Gary Gulman, Hardcover

"One of my favorite books of all time." ―Amy Schumer

A tour de force of comedy and reflection about the perilous journey from kindergarten to twelfth grade and beyond―from the beloved stand-up comic and creator of The Great Depresh

For years, Gary Gulman had been the comedian's comedian, acclaimed for his delight in language and his bracing honesty. But after two stints in a psych ward, he found himself back in his mother's house in Boston--living in his childhood bedroom at age forty-six, as he struggled to regain his mental health.

That's where Misfit begins. Then it goes way back.

This is no ordinary book about growing older and growing up. Gulman has an astonishing memory and takes the reader through every year of his childhood education, with obsessively detailed stories that are in turn alarming and riotously funny. We meet Gulman's family, neighbors, teachers, heroes, and antagonists, and get to know the young comedian-in-the-making who is his own worst―and most persistent―enemy.

From failing to impress at grade school show-and-tell to literally fumbling at his first big football game―in settings that take us all the way from the local playground to the local mall, from Hebrew School to his best (and only) friend's rec room, young Gary becomes a stand-in for everyone who grew up wondering if they would ever truly fit in. And that's not all: the book is also chock-full of '80s nostalgia (Scented Markers, indifference to sunscreen, mall culture).

Misfit is a book that only Gary Gulman could have written: a brilliant, witty, poignant, laugh-until-your-face-hurts memoir that speaks directly to the awkward child in us all.

Author: Gary Gulman
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Published: 09/19/2023
Pages: 304
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 0.85lbs
Size: 8.20h x 5.70w x 1.00d
ISBN: 9781250777065

Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 07/03/2023
Booklist 08/01/2023 pg. 13
Kirkus Reviews 08/15/2023
Library Journal 09/01/2023 pg. 91

About the Author

Over 25 years in comedy, Gary Gulman has established himself as an eminent performer and peerless writer. His stand-up special for HBO, The Great Depresh, is a universally acclaimed, masterful look at mental illness, equal parts hilarious and inspiring.

Raised in Boston, Gulman has been a scholarship college football player, an accountant, and a high school teacher. He has made countless television appearances as both a comedian and an actor. Misfit is his first book.