Comedian Gary Gulman stopped by Late Night With Seth Meyers to discuss his memoir, Misfit: Growing Up Awkward in the ‘80s.
Gulman’s book, published in September by Flatiron, tells the story of his childhood and adolescence in Boston. A critic for Kirkus called it “a good-natured, hilarious memoir from a gifted comedian.”
Meyers asked Gulman how he came up with the title for his memoir.
“I’m a big Rush fan,” Gulman said. “They had this song that brought me great comfort in the ’80s, in my adolescence, called ‘Subdivisions.’ And there was a line in there where they said—it’s about the suburbs—it says, ‘Nowhere else is the dreamer or the misfit so alone.’When I decided to write a book, I said, I want to make these misfits, these people who felt uncomfortable in high school… feel a little bit better than that.”
Meyers said he was impressed by Gulman’s recall of past experiences. “Did it all come flooding back to you…or did you have to dig to find them?” he asked Gulman.
“No, it didn’t have to flood back, because these were stories that had haunted me since they happened,” Gulman said, to laughter from the audience. “You never forget being in first grade, and it was in September, and I said to my first grade teacher, who was also my next door neighbor…‘Who am I going to have for second grade, Mrs. Burns?’ And she said, ‘Your father hasn’t told you?’ And I was repeating the first grade.”
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
