Jacqueline Novak
Jacqueline Novak (born September 3, 1982) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and published author. Her off-Broadway, one-woman show Get On Your Knees is a New York Times "Critic's Pick." Her performance in this show has been nominated for a 2020 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Solo Performance. Novak's memoir How to Weep in Public: Feeble Offerings on Depression from One Who Knows was published by Crown in 2016. She currently co-hosts a weekly wellness/comedy podcast Poog with friend Kate Berlant. Poog was named one of the ten best podcasts of 2021  by Time Magazine, as well one of the 10 best comedy podcasts of 2021 by Vulture.

Early life 
Novak was born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, the daughter of Gregory Novak, a retired marketing executive, and Naomi (Wall) Novak. Her mother is Jewish, her father is Christian.   She is the youngest of three children. The family moved to Chappaqua, New York when she was two years old. She attended Horace Greeley High School there and then went on to Georgetown University. Novak and John Mulaney were in the same college improv troupe at Georgetown, both cast by Nick Kroll, who himself was cast in that troupe a couple of years earlier by Mike Birbiglia.

Career 
After graduating from college, Novak began doing stand-up in the downtown New York City comedy scene, often hosting shows with comic/actor John Early. During this time, she wrote her memoir How to Weep in Public. She put her efforts next on developing a one-person show, which eventually became the hit Off-Broadway performance Get On Your Knees.

Novak has appeared on Late Night with Seth Meyers and as well as The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. She has also been on The Late Late Show with James Corden, HBO's 2 Dope Queens, Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen, and has had her own half-hour stand-up special on Comedy Central's The Half Hour.

Her TV credits include appearances on Inside Amy Schumer (Comedy Central), Animals (HBO), and The Characters (Netflix). She has also written for Broad City (Comedy Central), Good Talk with Anthony Jeselnik (Comedy Central), and Soft Focus with Jena Friedman (Adult Swim).

Get On Your Knees 
Get On Your Knees began as a one-woman show Novak presented at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Scotland in 2018. At the time, the show was called How Embarrassing for Her. After the festival, she workshopped it in Los Angeles. Mike Birbiglia and Natasha Lyonne saw the show, and Birbiglia decided to produce it for a six-week Off-Broadway run at the Cherry Lane Theatre in Manhattan's West Village. Lyonne agreed to present it. John Early was chosen as director. Due to its popularity, the run at Cherry Lane was extended, then moved to the larger Off-Broadway Lucille Lortel Theatre, also in the West Village. Recognized on two New York Times lists, "Best Theater of 2019" and "Best Comedy of 2019", the show was extended several more times.

A U.S. and international tour of the show was scheduled in 2020, but due to Covid-19 it was postponed. The show's tour resumed in 2021 and has continued into 2022.

References

External links 
 Jacqueline Novak Official Site
 

American women comedians
Living people
1982 births
21st-century American comedians
Comedians from North Carolina
People from Winston-Salem, North Carolina
People from Chappaqua, New York
Comedians from New York (state)
American podcasters
American women podcasters
Georgetown University alumni