Stop Me If You've Heard This One: A Novel

by Kristen Arnett

Overview

NAMED A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF 2025 BY PEOPLE, VOGUE, THE WASHINGTON POST, THE MILLIONS, AND NBC TODAY

From the New York Times bestselling author of Mostly Dead Things, a sparkling and funny new novel of entertainment, ambition, art, and love.

"Sweet, sexy, sad, articulate, and funny." - Vogue
"As much heart, humor, and gritty realness as can fit between two covers." - People

Cherry Hendricks might be down on her luck, but she can write the book on what makes something funny: she’s a professional clown who creates raucous, zany fun at gigs all over Orlando. Between her clowning and her shifts at an aquarium store for extra cash, she’s always hustling. Not to mention balancing her judgmental mother, her messy love life, and her equally messy community of fellow performers.

Things start looking up when Cherry meets Margot the Magnificent—a much older lesbian magician—who seems to have worked out the lines between art, business, and life, and has a slick, successful career to prove it. With Margot’s mentorship and industry connections, Cherry is sure to take her art to the next level. Plus, Margot is sexy as hell. It’s not long before Cherry must decide how much she’s willing to risk for Margot and for her own explosive new act—and what kind of clown she wants to be under her suit.

Equal parts bravado, tenderness, and humor, and bursting with misfits, magicians, musicians, and mimes, Stop Me If You've Heard This One is a masterpiece of comedic fiction that asks big questions about art and performance, friendship and community, and the importance of timing in jokes and in life.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780593719770
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	03/18/2025
Pages:	272
Sales rank:	23,850
Product dimensions:	6.31(w) x 9.32(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Kristen Arnett is the author of the novel With Teeth, which was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award in fiction, and the New York Times bestselling novel Mostly Dead Things, which was shortlisted for the VCU Cabell First Novelist Award. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, TIME, The Cut, Oprah Magazine, and elsewhere. She lives in Orlando, Florida.

Editorial Reviews

★ 01/13/2025

Arnett (Mostly Dead Things) paints an irresistible portrait of the artist as a clown. In the five years since Cherry’s hilarious and financially successful older brother, Dwight (who was also their mother’s favorite), died, she has sought to always be the funniest person in the room. Now she spends her afternoons and weekends on the Orlando, Fla., birthday party circuit, alternately delighting and terrifying young children as Bunko, an aspiring rodeo clown who’s terrified of horses, and sneaking breaks to seduce the moms, more than a few of whom harbor a secret clown fetish. A stultifying job at a dysfunctional aquarium store pays the bills (sort of), but Cherry is serious about perfecting her art. To that end, she pursues a mentorship (with benefits) with beautiful older magician Margot the Magnificent. Throughout, Cherry’s wisecracking first-person narration masks the sorrow of her mother’s indifference, as well as her irritation with the challenges of being queer in central Florida: “Clowning requires a kind of steeliness that I associate with my coming-out process: the knowledge that there will always be people in life who will hate you for who and what you love.” Despite, or perhaps due to, its absurdity and bittersweet undertones, Cherry’s story makes a powerful case for pursuing one’s art authentically and fearlessly. It’s a riot. Agent: Serene Hakim, Ayesha Pande Literary. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

“Arnett paints an irresistible portrait of the artist as a clown…Cherry’s story makes a powerful case for pursuing one’s art authentically and fearlessly. It’s a riot.”
–Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW

"Sweet, sexy, sad, articulate, and funny." –Vogue

"As much heart, humor, and gritty realness as can fit between two covers." - People

"Arnett grounds the characters and relationships beautifully through her signature style of humor and heart...A funny and tender novel about life's best and worst punchlines." –Kirkus Reviews

"A zany and emotionally resonant book with plenty of tricks up its sleee." –Book Riot

"A tender and funny novel about getting unstuck in making art and living life." –Booklist

“[Kristen Arnett] really outdid herself this time, and Stop Me If You’ve Heard This One is a certified banger. Can't wait to force it into the hands of everyone I ever meet.” –Samantha Irby, New York Times bestselling author of Quietly Hostile

“Is there any more brilliant and singular talent than Kristen Arnett? I cried laughing and ached at the zeniths of tenderness its tragicomic brilliance achieves. This may be the best book I’ve ever read.” –Alissa Nutting, author of Tampa

“Brilliant on the relationship between comedy and suffering, and on the bravado and vulnerability of performance…A dazzling, sexy, and hilarious triumph.” – Laura van den Berg, author of The Third Hotel

“One of the funniest books I’ve ever read.” – Jami Attenberg, author of A Reason to See You Again

From the Publisher