Notes From the Bathroom Line: Humor, Art, and Low-grade Panic from 150 of the Funniest Women in Comedy

by Amy Solomon

Overview

A collection of never-before-seen humor pieces—essays, satire, short stories, poetry, cartoons, artwork, and more—from more than 150 of the biggest female comedians today, curated by Amy Solomon, a producer of the hit HBO shows Silicon Valley and Barry. 

With contributions from:

Lolly Adefope • Maria Bamford • Aisling Bea • Lake Bell • Rachel Bloom • Rhea Butcher • Nicole Byer • D’Arcy Carden • Aya Cash • Karen Chee • Margaret Cho • Mary H.K. Choi • Amanda Crew • Rachel Dratch • Beanie Feldstein • Jo Firestone • Briga Heelan • Samantha Irby • Emily V. Gordon • Patti Harrison • Mary Holland • Jen Kirkman • Lauren Lapkus • Riki Lindhome • Kate Micucci • Natalie Morales • Aparna Nancherla • Yvonne Orji • Lennon Parham • Chelsea Peretti • Alexandra Petri • Natasha Rothwell • Amber Ruffin • Andrea Savage • Kristen Schaal • Megan Stalter • Beth Stelling • Cecily Strong • Sunita Mani • Geraldine Viswanathan • Michaela Watkins • Mo Welch • Sasheer Zamata • and many more.

More than four decades ago, the groundbreaking book Titters: The First Collection of Humor by Women showcased the work of some of the leading female comedians of the 1970s like Gilda Radner, Candice Bergen, and Phyllis Diller. The book became an essential time capsule of an era, the first of its kind, that opened doors for many more funny women to smash the comedy glass-ceiling.

Today, brilliant women continue to push the boundaries of just how funny—and edgy—they can be in a field that has long been dominated by men. In Notes from the Bathroom Line, Amy Solomon brings together all-new material from some of the funniest women in show business today—award-winning writers, stand-up comedians, actresses, cartoonists, and more.

Notes from the Bathroom Line proves there are no limits to how funny, bad-ass, and revolutionary women can—and continue—to be.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062973641
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	03/16/2021
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	9.30(w) x 7.80(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Amy Solomon is a producer on HBO’s Silicon Valley and Barry. She currently runs Alec Berg’s production company, where she develops content for film and television. She lives in Los Angeles.

Editorial Reviews

01/25/2021

Comedian Solomon gathers dozens of pieces from female comedians in this bland collection of cartoons, one-liners, script fragments, songs, and comic essays. Themes run the gamut of standard stand-up fodder: dating undatable men, insecurities, becoming one’s mother, awkward social encounters, and obsessing over things then obsessing over being obsessed. The results tend toward the underwhelming (“taking my socks off and throwing them on the floor” is Naomi Ekperigin’s answer to the question “What’s a Bad Habit You’ll Never Get Rid Of?”) and common (the punch line of Mitra Jouhari’s “A Time You Sent a Text to the Wrong Person” is she sends a nude selfie she meant to send to herself to her aunt of the same name). There are some amusing pieces, including Alexandra Petri’s parody of a Star Wars novel as written by Ernest Hemingway, but they are outweighed by reams of banal material (“Different groups of people experience different aspects of my personality,” explains Rachel Sennott regarding her multiple social media accounts). Solomon aims high, but too often the pieces fall short. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

Fantastic entertainment worth savoring. — Washington Post

A reminder of the diversity that exists within the world of women in comedy...Solomon proves how an audiobook can be a portal away from the stresses of everyday life. — New York Times Book Review

Features lists, charts, emails, satirical ads, collage, essays, cartoons, letters, self-portraits...There are also annotated scripts, speeches, advice articles, maps, a horoscope: comic art of all kinds thrown into a blender with a soupy base of truth, as lived by a woman in 21st century America. — Los Angeles Times

Entertainment takes the shape of a book in this visually arresting, smart, often hilarious package of thoughts, quotes, scripts, songs, drawings, poems and essays. Producer Amy Solomon deftly engages 150+ women in comedy, including Lake Bell, Lennon Parham and Rachel Bloom, to produce first-rate, original content in this highly gift-able book. — Good Morning America

... the funniest, best, and most important women in comedy of the here and now. Everything in Notes is funny. — Vulture

This diverse collection finds the funny in nearly every wacky situation ladies can find themselves in. A much-needed dose of delight. — Booklist

The beautiful thing about some books is their time-capsule quality, how they perfectly preserve a cultural moment between two covers. Amy Solomon has created just such a book with Notes From the Bathroom Line, an eclectic mix of writing, art and "low-grade panic," to quote the subtitle, from a large and rowdy cast of very funny women. — BookPage

Amy Solomon (of Barry and Silicon Valley) has assembled an all-star line-up of female comedians...everyone from Rachel Bloom to Cecily Strong to Beanie Feldstein to contribute to this funny, beautiful, important time capsule of our era. Read if you’re into: women in comedy, baby!  — HeyAlma.com

Finally! An anthology of funny women for comedy nerds everywhere. — GOLD Comedy

Laugh out loud.  — Cinelinx

Speaking of funny women, they’re here. They’re real. And they’re funny in at least 150 different ways...[Notes] is a collection of heartfelt, silly, at times serious, and generally affirming pieces. — The Interrobang

Amy Solomon has amassed all-new material from, without a doubt, the funniest womxn in comedy today—award-winning writers, stand-up comedians, actresses, cartoonists, and more. Brilliant women have always, and will continue to, push the boundaries of just how funny—and edgy—they can be in a field that has long been dominated by men and Notes from the Bathroom Line is a testament to – and 250-page explosion of – their limitless talent. — Women Writers, Women's Books

From the Publisher

The beautiful thing about some books is their time-capsule quality, how they perfectly preserve a cultural moment between two covers. Amy Solomon has created just such a book with Notes From the Bathroom Line, an eclectic mix of writing, art and "low-grade panic," to quote the subtitle, from a large and rowdy cast of very funny women.

BookPage

Fantastic entertainment worth savoring.

Washington Post

Finally! An anthology of funny women for comedy nerds everywhere.

GOLD Comedy

A reminder of the diversity that exists within the world of women in comedy...Solomon proves how an audiobook can be a portal away from the stresses of everyday life.

New York Times Book Review

Entertainment takes the shape of a book in this visually arresting, smart, often hilarious package of thoughts, quotes, scripts, songs, drawings, poems and essays. Producer Amy Solomon deftly engages 150+ women in comedy, including Lake Bell, Lennon Parham and Rachel Bloom, to produce first-rate, original content in this highly gift-able book.

Good Morning America

Features lists, charts, emails, satirical ads, collage, essays, cartoons, letters, self-portraits...There are also annotated scripts, speeches, advice articles, maps, a horoscope: comic art of all kinds thrown into a blender with a soupy base of truth, as lived by a woman in 21st century America.

|Los Angeles Times

Amy Solomon (of Barry and Silicon Valley) has assembled an all-star line-up of female comedians...everyone from Rachel Bloom to Cecily Strong to Beanie Feldstein to contribute to this funny, beautiful, important time capsule of our era. Read if you’re into: women in comedy, baby! 

HeyAlma.com

This diverse collection finds the funny in nearly every wacky situation ladies can find themselves in. A much-needed dose of delight.

Booklist

Laugh out loud. 

Cinelinx

... the funniest, best, and most important women in comedy of the here and now. Everything in Notes is funny.

Vulture

This diverse collection finds the funny in nearly every wacky situation ladies can find themselves in. A much-needed dose of delight.

Booklist

Fantastic entertainment worth savoring.

Washington Post

Features lists, charts, emails, satirical ads, collage, essays, cartoons, letters, self-portraits...There are also annotated scripts, speeches, advice articles, maps, a horoscope: comic art of all kinds thrown into a blender with a soupy base of truth, as lived by a woman in 21st century America.

Los Angeles Times

Speaking of funny women, they’re here. They’re real. And they’re funny in at least 150 different ways...[Notes] is a collection of heartfelt, silly, at times serious, and generally affirming pieces.

The Interrobang

Amy Solomon has amassed all-new material from, without a doubt, the funniest womxn in comedy today—award-winning writers, stand-up comedians, actresses, cartoonists, and more. Brilliant women have always, and will continue to, push the boundaries of just how funny—and edgy—they can be in a field that has long been dominated by men and Notes from the Bathroom Line is a testament to – and 250-page explosion of – their limitless talent.

Women Writers