Bryant Park Reading Room
42nd St. between Fifth & Sixth Aves.
Wednesday, June 9, 12:30
Series continues through September 25
Admission: free
www.bryantpark.org
If Samantha Bee’s debut literary effort, I KNOW I AM, BUT WHAT ARE YOU?, has even a hint of the snarky sarcasm, witty cynicism, and no-holds-barred bawdy humor of her DAILY SHOW reports, her first book is destined for greatness. Over the course of a dozen personal essays, Bee, who is married to DAILY SHOW veteran Jason Jones, takes on “Man-Witch,” “Old Lady Hands,” “Penis Envy,” and “Gurr-Bulls,” among other strange topics. In the opening piece, “Camp Summer Fun,” she dissects her family and their penchant for divorce: “Every once in a while,” she begins, “I think about what my life would be like if my parents had stayed together and not separated while I was still a baby. Obviously, it would involve a regular commute to the maximum-security penitentiary to visit whichever of them had committed the murder that signaled the official end to their marriage.” Bee will be in Bryant Park on June 9 at 12:30 to discuss her book with comedian Ophira Eisenberg as part of the Word to Word series, which also features such upcoming authors as Kelly Cutrone on June 16, Colson Whitehead on June 23, Jennifer Egan and Jane Mendelsohn on July 7, Sebastian Junger on July 14, Gary Shteyngart on July 28, Mona Simpson on August 18, and Rick Moody on August 25.