arts & life

books

Jessi
Klein

Kylie Ora Lobell | Jewish Journal of L.A.

Amy Schumer’s head

writer riffs about

life — and being a

woman in it — in a

new book of essays.

I

n Jessi Klein’s eyes, there are
two kinds of women: those
who are poodles and those
who are wolves.
The poodles are delicate, hyper-
feminine women who always
wear matching bras and under-
wear and lose their virginity in
high school. Then there are the
wolves. They’re funny, sweat a lot,
own two bras total and don’t have
sex until at least their junior year
of college.
Klein is a member of the latter
group. In her new book, You’ll
Grow Out of It (Grand Central
Pub.), the stand-up comedian and
former writer for Saturday Night
Live — who is currently head
writer and executive producer of
Inside Amy Schumer — talks all
about her wolf status, mother-
hood and going from what she
calls a tomboy to a “tom man.”
In the book, a collection of
24 short “confessional” essays
released in July, Klein reveals her

vulnerability, especially in situa-
tions where she was confronted
with the idea of womanhood. She
writes about trying on more than
100 wedding dresses before get-
ting married and pumping breast
milk at the Emmys after winning
an award for Inside Amy Schumer.
Though she’s written for many
other shows, Inside Amy Schumer
is where Klein can get personal
and incorporate her real-life expe-
riences, she says. In one sketch
that aired this past May, Schumer
goes shopping for a black T-shirt
in a size 12. The thin sales associ-
ate shows her doll-size tops and
then takes her out to a pasture
with two other shoppers — Lena
Dunham and a cow.
The sketch, which pokes fun
at body shaming in retail stores,
is similar to the time Klein went
into an upscale French linge-
rie store and ended up crying
because nothing fit, an episode
that is related in her book.

“All of the writers [go per-
sonal],” she says. “The voice of
the show is very intimate, and
our process involves the writers
embarrassingly kicking around
the more awkward details of their
lives.”
Though Klein, Schumer and
Dunham point out societal stereo-
types about women and fighting
back against sexism, Klein says,
unfortunately, it continues to be
difficult for women.
“Feminism has made great
strides when comparing today to
my mother’s generation. On the
other hand, it’s still a challenge
in many ways for lots of women,
if not all of them, on a cultural
level. If you look at things like the
backlash to female Ghostbusters
or the horrific, misogynistic,
racist Twitter avalanche that
[Ghostbusters’ star] Leslie Jones
experienced, in some ways, it’s
less safe.”
Though the Saturday Night

PHOTO BY ROBIN VON SWANK

Inside

Live, Michael and Michael Have
Issues and Samantha Who? writer
didn’t have aspirations to pen a
memoir until her manager sug-
gested it, she is now a New York
Times and USA Today bestselling
author. Throughout the writing
process, Klein aimed to churn out
one chapter a week. She’d sit down
with a glass of wine or a piece of
cake at a cafe near her home in
New York City and write by her-
self — a much different process
than she was used to.
“Writing a book is way longer
and lonelier than TV or standup,”
Klein says. “With those, you’re in
this constant feedback loop with
people while you’re working on
it. With a book, you’re not getting
a ton of feedback. You have to
bet on yourself that you’re doing
something that’s OK. There are
a lot of struggling moments of
thinking, ‘Maybe this sucks.’”
A new mother, Klein still finds
time to write, produce and be
with her family. She said that her
schedule involves “some attempt
at creativity, some amount of baby
drool getting all over my body, at
least one poopy diaper and a glass
of wine. I could lie and say exer-
cise, but that hasn’t happened.”
Klein grew up in Manhattan,
where her parents still live. Her
mother was a teacher, her father
was a probation officer and Klein
would celebrate the Sabbath and
holidays with them. “Both of my
parents are Jewish and strongly
identify culturally and spiritu-
ally with it,” she says. “We would
light Shabbat candles, observe the
High Holidays and get excited for
bagels and lox.”
While’s she not currently prac-
ticing, she said that as her almost
2-year-old son gets older, she
wants him to be engaged with
Judaism. “Now that I have a child,
I’m actively plotting how to create
more practice so he grows up with
something that feels fulfilling and
comforting,” she says.
Klein plans to write more about
marriage (her husband is TV
executive Michael Engleman)
and motherhood, and may even
write a second book. Even though
she’s trying to balance her fam-
ily and work life — and the two
often collide — Klein said she is
determined to continue putting
her heart into everything that she
does.
“I want to make [creative]
material that I care about and
like,” she says. “And, hopefully, I’ll
get paid something.”

*

November 3 • 2016

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