In Conversation: A Very Punchable Face

Colin Jost is a head writer at Saturday Night Live, a Weekend Update co-anchor, and a touring stand-up comedian. He has five Writers Guild Awards, two Peabody Awards, and a PETA Elly Award for the sketch “Diner Lobster.” He’s also been nominated for thirteen Emmy Awards and lost every time. From growing up in a family of firefighters on Staten Island to commuting three hours a day to high school and “seeing the sights” (like watching a Russian woman throw a stroller off the back of a ferry), to attending Harvard while Facebook was created, Colin Jost shares how he has navigated the world like a slightly smarter Forrest Gump. You’ll learn how Jimmy Buffett saved his life, Czech teenagers attacked him with potato salad, and how he competed in a twenty-five-man match at WrestleMania (and almost won). You’ll also go behind the scenes at SNL and Weekend Update and experience the life of a touring stand-up comedian — from performing in rural college cafeterias at noon to opening for Dave Chappelle at Radio City Music Hall. A Very Punchable Face (Crown) reveals the brilliant mind behind some of the dumbest sketches on television. Fellow writer and comedian Conan O’Brien clearly was moved, and called it “An inspiring story that reminds us that if you are born with looks and talent, you can still make it.”

David Litt, a speechwriter for President Obama from 2011-2016, is the New York Times best-selling author of Thanks, Obama: My Hopey Changey White House Years. Since leaving the White House, he served as the head writer and producer for Funny or Die‘s office in Washington, with a focus on improving youth turnout in the 2018 election, and is currently developing a sitcom based on his life in D.C.  In Democracy in One Book or Less: How It Works, Why It Doesn’t, and Why Fixing It Is Easier Than You Think (Ecco), David Litt argues that the democracy in which we live in today is different—completely different—from the democracy in which were born into. Poking into forgotten corners of history, translating political science into plain English, and traveling the country to meet experts and activists, Litt explains how the world’s greatest experiment in democracy went awry. Yet despite his clear-eyed assessment of the dangers we face, he remains audaciously optimistic and offers a blueprint for restoring the balance of power in America before it’s too late. Kirkus Reviews called it “A pleasure to read, even in its darkest moments, and refreshingly optimistic about the future of the republic