Sideways Stories from Wayside School with Josh Gondelman

01/27/25 • 64 min

In the first episode of season 1, host Rebecca Thandi Norman welcomes comedian and writer Josh Gondelman to discuss the classic kids' comedy book, Sideways Stories from Wayside School by Louis Sachar. They dive into how to structure jokes for kids that still resonate with adults and to how this book is reflected in Josh's own work. How does a comedian build his comedic sensibility? Books are a pretty good start!

Read Sideways Stories from Wayside School

Subscribe to Josh's newsletter, That's Marvelous!

Read Josh's book, Nice Try: Stories of Best Intentions and Mixed Results

Resources we discussed off-mic:

Labour Notes

How Things Work by Hamilton Nolan

Salvo by Kim Kelly

Jacobin articles by Alex N. Press

Have questions or comments? Get in touch: [email protected]. Follow along on Instagram at @bookimprintpodcast.

This podcast is hosted by Rebecca Thandi Norman, produced by Kate Krosschell, and sound engineered by Winther Robinson. Title music is by DJARTMUSIC.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Read Sideways Stories from Wayside School

Subscribe to Josh's newsletter, That's Marvelous!

Read Josh's book, Nice Try: Stories of Best Intentions and Mixed Results

Resources we discussed off-mic:

Labour Notes

How Things Work by Hamilton Nolan

Salvo by Kim Kelly

Jacobin articles by Alex N. Press

Have questions or comments? Get in touch: [email protected]. Follow along on Instagram at @bookimprintpodcast.

This podcast is hosted by Rebecca Thandi Norman, produced by Kate Krosschell, and sound engineered by Winther Robinson. Title music is by DJARTMUSIC.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Previous Episode

Introducing: Book Imprint Podcast

Book Imprint is a podcast about the books that change our lives before the age of 25; the books that imprint on us.

Host Rebecca Thandi Norman, previously host of Tea & Murder: An Agatha Christie Podcast, interviews each guest about the book that they feel changed their life. From writers to comedians to musicians and anyone else you can imagine, Rebecca takes the perspective that "everyone is interesting," and books affect all of us in deep and specific ways.

Join us for season 1! Have questions or comments? Write to us at [email protected] and follow along at @bookimprintpodcast.

This podcast is hosted by Rebecca Thandi Norman, produced by Kate Krosschell, and sound engineered by Winther Robinson. Title music is by DJARTMUSIC.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Next Episode

The Andy Warhol Diaries with Anne-Marie Guarnieri

Beauty editor and creative director Anne-Marie Guarnieri shares the book that made her want to move to New York City as a teenager - The Andy Warhol Diaries. She and host Rebecca Thandi Norman dive into the format of the diary (it's written by someone else), the tone of the entries, and how reading the diary can change one's perspective on Andy Warhol as both an artist and a human being. It's a nearly-thousand page tome that's just weird and propulsive enough to make you want to read the whole thing!

Read The Andy Warhol Diaries, edited by Pat Hackett

Subscribe to Starving for Beauty

Follow Anne-Marie on Instagram and see her portfolio

This podcast is hosted by Rebecca Thandi Norman, produced by Kate Krosschell, and sound engineered by Winther Robinson. Title music is by DJARTMUSIC.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.