Wow, No Thank You.: Essays

This essay describes the lengthy process of getting Irby’s first book, Meaty, turned into a television series. The narrative is divided among three surreal experiences, tagged in the essay as “seasons” and “episodes.” The first of these revolves around a series of email messages the author received from New York TV personality Abbi Jacobson. Jacobson received a copy of Meaty that Irby had given to Janeane Garofalo when the two had done standup one night at a Chicago comedy club. Jacobson was so impressed with Irby’s writing that she invited Irby to visit her in New York, and when Irby did not go to New York, Jacobson came to Chicago. Being pursued by a world-famous personality astonished Irby, who agreed to work with her to develop a TV series out of her book.

Because she had never conceived of turning her autobiographical essays into a series, had never written dialogue, and had never systematically fleshed out a series of episodes, Irby entered a second surreal experience when she began working with collaborators to map out those aspects of her book that would become episodes of the TV series: her Crohn’s Disease, bisexuality, obesity, unique friendships, personal characteristics, depression, self-sabotage, and coping mechanisms.