5 Reasons to Read Jessi Klein’s You’ll Grow Out of It
Photo by Robyn Von Swank
A handful of years ago, I saw Jessi Klein on a comedy showcase at South by Southwest. I’d waited in line for an hour to get into this stand-up show despite griping that there were only two women on the lineup — Klein and Amy Schumer, neither of which I’d heard of at that point. It was crowded and hot and I was grumpy and hungry. But when Klein began her set, I immediately had a new favorite comic. It was like a comedian had been Weird Scienced precisely to appeal to me, a fellow awkward lady nerd, which is to say that her set felt like a much funnier version of my own feelings.
Years later, I started watching Inside Amy Schumer, largely because I discovered that Klein was the show’s head writer and executive producer. So when I saw that Klein had put out a book of humorous personal essays (a book genre of which I am also a big fan), I jumped to read it. Here are five reasons her book is worth the trek to your local bookstore, even though (let’s just be honest) you’re really gonna trek across your grimy apartment to order it online, because that’s what we all do now.
1. It’s heartfelt and funny in the same breath
Usually the accepted viewpoint is that feelings are anathema to comedy, but Klein quickly and easily disproves this. Cracking jokes has gotten her through the worst moments in her life, and her descriptions of them along with the wisdom she gained never fail to be both insightful and funny at once.
2. It’s self-help-y without ever being maudlin, saccharine or smug
Likewise, You’ll Grow Out Of It functions like a sneaky self help book. Klein starts with all her sardonic wit and comedy writer grumpiness, but comes to genuine revelations even from things that might otherwise repulse anyone who considers themselves a proper feminist smartypants. Like when she heads to Taos, New Mexico with her friend Becky in large part because they saw it on Oprah. But she also enumerates her comedy origin story, a path she didn’t start on until she was almost thirty, where we learn that even Jessi Klein, winner of Emmys, whip smart writer behind Inside Amy Schumer, and now a writer on Transparent, doubts herself, and in this gives assurance that such doubt is normal and okay.