This funny, bravura memoir describes life as a young actress, and all the "head-banging frustration, demoralizing options, and bewildering compromises" that come with it. Balbirer begins with her time as an undergrad at New York University, using just the right combination of humor, embarrassment and righteous indignation, with just a touch of name dropping: in David Mamet's course, for instance, the playwright's first lecture posited that "Bill Cosby was a whore." A star student, Balbirer was unprepared for the real world, where work is scarce even for the very talented; working the avant-garde circuit led her to become known in "certain fringe theater circles" as "the Chick Who's Willing to Show Her Tits in the Show If Need Be." Her adventures in television include a humiliating stint on MTV's first original program, traveling cross-country for a meeting with Lorne Michaels that never materializes, and a part on Seinfeld that gets whittled down to a one-liner. Other misadventures include demoralizing casting calls, conniving friends and a string of callous boyfriends. Turning her poor-little-L.A. girl material into a read this witty, reflective and charming takes real talent; if there's any justice, that talent will find the fame it deserves among the book buying public.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review
“It is a fact of life seldom discussed in our celebrity-mad media: most actors do not become either rich or famous. Balbirer revels in her failure in this witty, poignant, exceedingly well-written memoir chronicling the ups and downs (mostly downs) of a trained, hardworking actress who always seems on the cusp of greatness but who nevertheless always fails to make the grade. Starting with her glory days in NYU's theater program, Balbirer charts her many adventures in off- and off-off-Broadway, on television (where, for a time, she appeared on MTV's popular Remote Control), and later in Hollywood. Gossipmongers will find her stories of life in la-la land especially fascinating, and among them, in particular, her heartbreaking tale of being cast as a guest star and then cut from an unnamed popular 1990s sitcom (not Seinfeld; she was on Seinfeld several times) at the insistence of her friend "Jane," one of the show's highly paid stars. The irony is that, if Balbirer's book proves as popular as her autobiographical one-woman show I Slept with Jack Kerouac and Other Stories, she may find fame and fortune by recounting the myriad ways she failed to achieve them.” —Booklist, starred review
“Balbirer's debut recalls her scrappy formative years as a serious thespian scraping by on the margins of America's empty, celebrity-worshipping culture... Feisty and observant.” —Kirkus
“For every Jennifer Aniston... there are a thousand Nancy Balbirers: actors who studied hard, toiled away, went in for audition after audition, but found that decades of work failed to yield more than an unreliable paycheck. Balbirer's new memoir follows her from 18 to 38, through praise and small triumphs, professional anxiety and disappointment. Honest and funny... Take Your Shirt Off and Cry is the kind of book anyone, regardless of their interest in Hollywood or lack thereof, can appreciate and enjoy.” —Buffalo News
“Sexy and wise are qualities that don't always go together, but they perfectly describe Nancy Balbirer's extremely funny and boldly honest memoir.” —Charles Busch, actor, playwright, novelist
“I never thought I'd get to read a memoir about a life in show business that is not only funny and dishy, bursting with heartbreak and joy, but also—is it possible?—completely honest. Take Your Shirt Off and Cry is a lovely book, and Nancy Balbirer is a wonderful writer.” —Mark Childress, author of One Mississippi and Crazy in Alabama
“This book is crazy funny. Finally, an honest memoir of the acting business. Take Your Shirt Off and Cry belongs in the canon of Hollywood Truth-Telling Greats.” —Mike Albo, author of the novels Hornito: My Lie Life and The Underminer: The Best Friend Who Casually Destroys Your Life
“For anyone who has ever been this close to landing that big jump to success only to find themselves flailing on the ice with a caboose full of pain and humiliation, Nancy Balbirer—the lost love-child of Augusten Burroughs and Anaïs Nin—is the new BFF you've always wanted. A wise, hilarious, seen-it-all, been-there-done-that-and-I'm-all-better-now Hollywood confessional, Take Your Shirt Off And Cry packs enough wit, chutzpah, humanity and karmic Krazy Glue to convert your old shattered hearts and dreams into an attractive lamp—one that illuminates a real, unimpeachable human destiny.” —Cintra Wilson, author of Caligula for President and A Massive Swelling: Celebrity Reexamined as a Grotesque, Crippling Disease and Other Cultural Revelations
“A knock-out, truthful peek into what it's like to be an actress. It's funny, chatty, smart, and wonderfully human.” —Isabel Gillies, author of Happens Every Day
