This book is my first novel. I started writing this book when I was 39, wondering whether to continue in comedy or completely change my career. I put it away, but found the first unfinished chapter about five years ago. Despite a lot of fits and starts, I finally finished it. Although it’s about a standup comedian, it’s not an autobiography or memoir, but a story that uses many of my experiences from the world of comedy.
Middle Act is about Terry Flaherty, 39, a Bay Area standup comedian at a crossroads. Frustrated by his lack of upward mobility in the comedy scene plus the pressures as a husband and father, he is reassessing his career. Complicated relationships with his own father, siblings and his Irish grandfather add to his dilemma. A unique opportunity to make it big in the entertainment world could be the break he’s always wanted, but will he get it? Set in the early 90s at the end of the first booming era of standup comedy, this is a coming of middle-age story.