Zach Zimmerman on using magic to score a date and exorcising demons through his hilarious new book
all of his stories quite yet. In fact, he’s saved some of his best, funniest, and most profound tales for his brand-new collection of essays, delightfully titled Is It Hot In Here (Or Am I Suffering For All Eternity For The Sins I Committed On Earth)?Candid, insightful, and laugh-out-loud hilarious, the book leaves no cast stone unturned, with Zimmerman sharing stories about finding common ground with his Bible-thumping pastor father, that time he got dumped on an airplane, and the unforgettable saga of “the twink on the fire escape,” which must be read to be believed.Ahead of Is It Hot In Here?‘s April 18 release, we invited Zimmerman toour “hot seat” as the latest guest in the rapid-fire Q&A series, Dishin’ It.
In our free-wheeling conversation, the author touches on exorcising his demons through the written word, the surprises of crowd work, and why he has a hard time dating comedy fans.A post shared by Chronicle Books (@chroniclebooks)Is there a piece of media—whether a movie, TV series, book, album, games, etc…—that you consider a big part of your own coming-out journey, or that has played an important part in exploring your own queerness?
Why does it stand out to you?I feel like so much of the early media I was consuming were straight white male comedians.
When people asked me for my influences, it’s: Jay Leno, Conan O’Brien, Patton Oswalt, Jim Gaffigan—like, kind of people that are some version of my dad?
