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Book Cover for: Miss May Does Not Exist: The Life and Work of Elaine May, Hollywood's Hidden Genius, Carrie Courogen

Miss May Does Not Exist: The Life and Work of Elaine May, Hollywood's Hidden Genius

Carrie Courogen

Reader Score

78%

78% of readers

recommend this book

Critic Reviews

Good

Based on 12 reviews on

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Miss May Does Not Exist, by Carrie Courogen is the riveting biography of comedian, director, actor and writer Elaine May, one of America's greatest comic geniuses. May began her career as one-half of the legendary comedy team known as Nichols and May, the duo that revolutionized the comedy sketch.

After performing their Broadway smash An Evening with Mike Nichols and Elaine May, Elaine set out on her own. She toiled unsuccessfully on Broadway for a while, but then headed to Hollywood where she became the director of A New Leaf, The Heartbreak Kid, Mikey and Nicky, and the legendary Ishtar. She was hired as a script doctor on countless films like Heaven Can Wait, Reds, Tootsie, and The Birdcage. In 2019, she returned to Broadway where she won the Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in The Waverly Gallery. Besides her considerable talent, May is well known for her reclusiveness. On one of the albums she made with Mike Nichols, her bio is this: "Miss May does not exist." Until now.

Carrie Courogen has uncovered the Elaine May who does exist. Conducting countless interviews, she has filled in the blanks May has forcibly kept blank for years, creating a fascinating portrait of the way women were mistreated and held back in Hollywood. Miss May Does Not Exist is a remarkable love story about a prickly genius who was never easy to work with, not always easy to love and frequently often punished for those things, despite revolutionizing the way we think about comedy, acting, and what a film or play can be.

Book Details

  • Publisher: St. Martin's Press
  • Publish Date: Jun 4th, 2024
  • Pages: 400
  • Language: English
  • Edition: undefined - undefined
  • Dimensions: 9.50in - 6.53in - 1.40in - 1.33lb
  • EAN: 9781250279224
  • Categories: WomenFilm - Direction & Production

About the Author

Courogen, Carrie: - CARRIE COUROGEN is a writer, editor, and director. Her work has appeared, in print and video, in publications like Glamour, NPR, Paper Magazine, Pitchfork, Teen Vogue, Vanity Fair, Vice, and more. She lives in New York City.

Critics’ reviews

Praise for this book

"Elaine May is simply one the funniest people to ever live on this planet." -- Phil Rosenthal, creator of Everybody Loves Raymond and star of the Netflix hit Somebody Feed Phil

"I have loved Elaine May ever since I fortuitously saw A New Leaf at age eleven, just as I was discovering my own sense of humor. But I revere her even more now, after reading Carrie Courogen's essential biography Miss May Does Not Exist. I already knew May was a force, but Courogen's no-stone-left-unturned account enlightened me as to just how much her vision and inimitable voice have pervaded the culture for decades. And learning about May's process and trajectory has galvanized me to dive back into my own creative self. Just as Nichols and May brought each other to life on the stage, Courogen and May bring each other to light on the page. And this book might just inspire you as well." -- Wendy Liebman, stand-up comedian, star of Showtime's Wendy Liebman: Taller on TV

"Carrie Courogen has achieved the impossible: she has written the first (and very likely last) full-scale biography of Elaine May, the most beguiling, infuriating, thrilling, comedy genius -- and let's not use that word casually -- of the twentieth century, and she has done it splendidly, with admiration, welcome outrage, and scrupulous attention to detail. We all of us who have loved and wondered at this creature Elaine May owe Courogen our thanks, money, food -- whatever she wants -- for having written this book." -- Sam Wasson, NYT Bestselling Author of The Big Goodbye: Chinatown and the Last Years of Hollywood and Fosse

"Don't miss Miss May Does Not Exist by Carrie Courogen, a brilliant mix of stalker-thriller, quest-saga, and awe-inspiring biography. Drop-dead talented, funny, singular, gorgeous, and imperious, Elaine May is a figure both elusive yet professionally impossible to overlook for women interested in standup, in humor, in comedy, in film, in theatre, in writing--and in the world. Spotlighting the grueling, finally triumphant trajectory of May's inimitable career and strewn with new insights and commentaries from May's friends and colleagues, Courogen's well-researched book is at once hilarious and very, very important. In Miss May Does Not Exist, Elaine May is finally, wonderfully, and delightfully captured by Carrie Courogen." -- Gina Barreca, PhD, Board of Trustees and Distinguished Professor of English Literature at The University of Connecticut, author of They Used to Call Me Snow White, But I Drifted and It's Not That I'm Bitter