I met John Tottenham in LA because we have the same publisher, Semiotext(e). I was intrigued to read his first novel, Service, because I'm interested in first novels written by middle-aged people. In sport, it's good to be young, but not always in literature. You have to go through some kind of trouble before you can write a book. Service is about a character called Sean - a double of Tottenham - who is in his late forties
Is This Thing On? is much more about a relationship than it is about comedy, which is probably a good thing, given how difficult it is to make movies about stand-up. Fictional comics on screen tend to skew toward being tortured truth-tellers or delusional sociopaths or both, but Alex Novak, played by Will Arnett, is neither. He's a finance guy who recently split from his wife of 20 years, and who stumbles into an open mic night on a whim
The Real Housewives franchise captures a specific sort of midlife reinvention, showcasing women navigating divorce, grief, success, self-discovery, and the pursuit of fame.