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.