At times, Nice Try is a book about failure. Josh Gondelman chronicles his struggles as as up and coming comedian, love woes and awkward teenage attempts to be cool — all topics that might be a touch too painful had things not worked out so well. When he meets up with me, he’s just come from his gig writing on the Showtime series for the beloved Bronx duo, Desus and Mero. It’s a gig he left John Oliver’s equally beloved Last Week Tonight for. Like I said, things are going just fine for the Brooklyn-based comedian. Indeed, when “the nicest guy in comedy” is what people call you behind your back, things are probably going pretty well. In the wake of his new collection of essays, Gondelman joined us to talk about standup, teaching preschool and reliving one’s awkward youth. Oh, and here’s Josh’s curated reading list for the inaugural and almost certainly finally RiYL book club.

Reading Syllabus:

One Day We'll All Be Dead and None Of This Will Matter by Scaachi Koul

The Sellout by Paul Beatty

We Are Never Meeting in Real Life by Samantha Irby

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