Josh Kornbluth

  RED DIAPER BABY
Three Comic Monologues
       
 

RED DIAPER BABY
Fiction/Performing Arts
176 pages
Paper, $14.95
1-56279-087-0
World

 

  FINALIST, 1997 JAMES THURBER HUMOR PRIZE

Comic and moving autobiographical monologues
from a rising star.

"Always a fan of Josh's live performances, now I'm enjoying his disembodiment. He's a great read."
— Spalding Gray

"These monologues have a performer's personality even on the page. They read the way they play: with a delight in neurosis that turns it into intellectual slapstick."
— Pauline Kael

"Hysterically funny and absolutely fascinating.... Pithy, pure, and very funny stuff."
— Booklist

"Vivid, funny, even poignant.... Sublime passages.... Nobody has ever captured and catalogued the mood, look, and hidden humor of office life quite like this.... ['Haiku Tunnel'] takes a world we ignore, or barely observe, and brings it into brilliant comic relief."
— San Francisco Chronicle

Red Diaper Baby includes three comic autobiographical monologues by performer Josh Kornbluth: "The Mathematics of Change," "Haiku Tunnel," and the title piece. Together, and with the author's introduction, the monologues compose a bildungsroman that is both comic and poignant.

Kornbluth shows a deep affection for the wild, eccentric characters who people his universe. With a few deft strokes he paints unforgettable portraits, as true as they are funny. Together the monologues achieve real literary form and depth, as we witness a young man coming of age in a world that is anything but conventional.

       
       
 

  JOSH KORNBLUTH was raised in New York City and attended Princeton University. After working as a journalist in Chicago and Boston, he moved to San Francisco. He lives in Berkeley, California, with his wife, Sara, and little Guthrie. After the success of their film "Haiku Tunnel," Josh and his codirector brother Jacob followed up their debut with a second film, "The Best Thief in the World." Josh then returned to the title piece, "Red Diaper Baby," to make a Sundance Channel performance film. Recent monologues include "Ben Franklin: Unplugged" and "Love & Taxes." Josh performs throughout the year; keep up with his calendar of live appearances by visiting his website at www.joshkornbluth.com.