Colin Jost Virtual Launch: A Very Punchable Face

Murmrr Lit is proud to welcome Colin Jost for the virtual launch of his debut memoir, A Very Punchable Face, with Michael Che

In these hilarious essays, the Saturday Night Live head writer and Weekend Update co-anchor learns how to take a beating.

If there’s one trait that makes someone well suited to comedy, it’s being able to take a punch—metaphorically and, occasionally, physically. In his debut memoir, A Very Punchable Face, stand-up comedian, Saturday Night Live head writer, and Weekend Update co-anchor Colin Jost proves that he knows how to take a beating.

More than a few friends have told Colin he has a very punchable face. (These are friends, mind you. Let alone Twitter…) By his own admission, he looks like the president of the Young Republicans Club or the preppy villain from a John Hughes movie—the kind of guy who seems like he’s always on the verge of asking, “Do you know who my father is?” (Even though his father was a public school teacher on Staten Island).

A witty observer of human behavior (especially his own), Colin writes with razor-sharp comic timing and self-aware vulnerability about everything from the coming-of-age stories that shaped his youth in Staten Island, to Harvard at the dawn of Facebook, to behind the scenes at SNL where he’s written some of the most memorable sketches and characters of the past fifteen years, all while being hurt or humiliated along the way. For every accomplishment (hosting the Emmys), there is a setback (hosting the Emmys). And for every absurd moment (watching paramedics give CPR to a raccoon), there is an honest, emotional one (recounting his mother’s experience as the chief medical officer of the FDNY on the scene of the Twin Towers’ collapse on 9/11).

Written with candor and a healthy dose of self-deprecating humor, A Very Punchable Face reveals the brilliant mind behind some of the dumbest sketches on television, and lays bare the heart and humor of a hardworking guy—with a face you can’t help but want to punch.

COLIN JOST is a head writer at Saturday Night Live, a Weekend Update co-anchor, and a touring stand-up comedian. He has five Writers Guild Awards, two Peabody Awards, and a PETA Elly Award for the sketch “Diner Lobster.” He’s also been nominated for thirteen Emmy Awards and lost every time. He lives in New York and in the hearts of children everywhere.