Jacqueline Novak (born September 3, 1982) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and published author. Her off-Broadway, one-woman show ''Get On Your Knees'' was a ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' "Critic's Pick.", and her performance was nominated for a 2020

Drama Desk Award The Drama Desk Awards are among the most esteemed honors in New York theater, recognizing outstanding achievements across Broadway, Off-Broadway, and Off-Off-Broadway productions within the same categories. The awards are considered a signific ...

for Outstanding Solo Performance. In 2024, ''Get On Your Knees'' was made into a

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

special, directed by

Natasha Lyonne Natasha Bianca Lyonne Braunstein ( ; born April 4, 1979) is an American producer, director, comedian, writer, actress, and artificial intelligence film studio head. Lyonne started her career as a child actress before expanding her career taking o ...

. for which she received a 2024

Emmy The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award catego ...

nomination for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Special. Novak's memoir
How to Weep in Public: Feeble Offerings on Depression from One Who Knows
' was published by

Three Rivers Press Three Rivers Press is the trade paperback imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House. It publishes original paperback titles as well as paperback reprints of books issued initially in hardcover by the other Crown imprin ...

, an imprint of

Crown A crown is a traditional form of head adornment, or hat, worn by monarchs as a symbol of their power and dignity. A crown is often, by extension, a symbol of the monarch's government or items endorsed by it. The word itself is used, parti ...

, in 2016. She currently co-hosts a weekly wellness/comedy podcast ''Poog'' with friend

Kate Berlant Kate Elizabeth Méndez Berlant (born July 16, 1987) is an American comedian, actress, and writer. She is known for her surrealist and absurdist style. Early life Kate Elizabeth Méndez Berlant was born in Los Angeles on July 16, 1987, the daug ...

. ''Poog'' was named one of the ten best podcasts of 2021 by

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, as well one of the 10 best comedy podcasts of 2021 by ''Vulture''.

Early life

Novak was born in

Winston-Salem, North Carolina Winston-Salem is a city in Forsyth County, North Carolina, United States, and its county seat. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 249,545, making it the List of municipalities in North Carolina, fifth-most populous ...

, the daughter of Gregory Novak, a retired marketing executive, and Naomi (Wall) Novak. Her mother is Jewish, her father's parents were Christian. She is the youngest of three children. The family moved to

Chappaqua, New York Chappaqua ( ) is a hamlet and census-designated place in the town of New Castle, in northern Westchester County, New York, United States. It is approximately north of New York City. The hamlet is served by the Chappaqua station of the Metr ...

when she was two years old. She attended

Horace Greeley High School Horace Greeley High School is a public, four-year secondary school serving students in grades 9– 12 in Chappaqua, New York, United States. It is part of the Chappaqua Central School District. Distinctions Greeley was ranked No. 46 nationally ...

there and then went on to

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private Jesuit research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic higher education, Ca ...

. Novak and

John Mulaney John Edmund Mulaney (born August 26, 1982) is an American Stand up comedian, stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and producer. Born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, Mulaney first rose to prominence for his work as a writer for the NBC sketch comedy ...

were in the same college

improv Improv may refer to: *Improvisation, an act of spontaneous invention **Improvisational theatre (includes improvisational comedy) **Musical improvisation Musical improvisation (also known as musical extemporization) is the creative activity of im ...

troupe at Georgetown, both cast by

Nick Kroll Nicholas Kroll (born June 5, 1978) is an American actor, comedian, writer, and producer. He is known for the FX (TV channel), FX comedy series ''The League'' (2009–2015), creating and starring in the Comedy Central series ''Kroll Show'' (20 ...

, who himself was cast in that troupe a couple of years earlier by

Mike Birbiglia Mike Birbiglia (; born June 20, 1978) is an American comedian, actor, director, producer and Emmy-nominated writer. He has written and performed a series of award-winning solo shows worldwide. His six solo shows, ''Sleepwalk With Me'', ''My Gi ...

Career

After graduating from college, Novak began doing stand-up in the downtown New York City comedy scene, often hosting shows with comic/actor

John Early John Early may refer to: *John Early (educator) (1814–1873), Irish-American Jesuit educator * John Early (politician) (1828–1877), Lieutenant Governor of Illinois *John Early (bishop) (1786–1873), American Methodist prelate *John Early (comed ...

. During this time, she wrote her memoir ''How to Weep in Public''. She put her efforts next on developing a one-person show, which eventually became the hit Off-Broadway performance ''Get On Your Knees''. Novak has appeared on ''

Late Night with Seth Meyers ''Late Night with Seth Meyers'' is an American late-night news and political satire variety talk show hosted by Seth Meyers on NBC. The show premiered on February 24, 2014, and is produced by Broadway Video and Universal Television. Airing w ...

'' and as well as ''

The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon ''The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by actor and comedian Jimmy Fallon that airs on NBC. The show premiered on February 17, 2014, and is produced by Broadway Video and Universal Television. It i ...

''. She has also been on ''

The Late Late Show with James Corden ''The Late Late Show with James Corden'' (also known simply as ''Late Late'') is an American late-night talk show that aired on CBS from 2015 to 2023. It is the fourth and final iteration of '' The Late Late Show'', and aired in the United Sta ...

'',

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

's ''

2 Dope Queens ''2 Dope Queens'' was a podcast hosted by Jessica Williams and Phoebe Robinson that aired between April 4, 2016, and November 14, 2018. For the first seven days following the podcast's launch, it was number one on the iTunes podcast charts. I ...

'', ''

Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen ''Watch What Happens Live! with Andy Cohen'' (abbreviated ''WWHL'', previously named ''Watch What Happens Live!'') is an American pop culture-based late-night talk show hosted by Andy Cohen, that premiered on Bravo on July 16, 2009. It is availab ...

'', and has had her own half-hour stand-up special on

Comedy Central Comedy Central is an American Cable television in the United States, cable television channel, channel owned by Paramount Global through its Paramount Media Networks, network division's Paramount Media Networks#MTV Entertainment Group, MTV Ente ...

's '' The Half Hour''. Her TV credits include appearances on ''

Inside Amy Schumer ''Inside Amy Schumer'' is an American sketch comedy television series created and hosted by Amy Schumer. The series aired on Comedy Central from April 30, 2013, to June 16, 2016, and was revived in 2022 for a fifth season on Paramount+. Schumer ...

'' (

), ''

Animals Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms in the biological kingdom Animalia (). With few exceptions, animals consume organic material, breathe oxygen, have myocytes and are able to move, can reproduce sexually, and grow from a ...

'' (

), and '' The Characters'' (

). She has also written for ''

Broad City ''Broad City'' is an American television sitcom created by and starring Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson. It was developed from their independent web series of the same name, which was produced between 2009 and 2011. The sitcom, like the web serie ...

'' (Comedy Central), ''Good Talk with Anthony Jeselnik'' (Comedy Central), and '' Soft Focus with Jena Friedman'' (

Adult Swim Adult Swim (stylized as

dult swim Dult is a village in Batala in Gurdaspur district of Punjab State, India. It is located from sub district headquarter, from district headquarter and from Sri Hargobindpur. The village is administrated by Sarpanch an elected representativ ...

and s is an American adult-oriented television programming block that airs on Cartoon Network which broadcasts during the evening, prime time, and Late-night television, late-night Dayparting, dayparts. T ...

). Since 2020, Novak has also co-hosted the comedy wellness podcast "POOG" alongside comedian

''Get On Your Knees''

''Get On Your Knees'' began as a one-woman show Novak presented at the

Edinburgh Festival Fringe The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as the Edinburgh Fringe, the Fringe or the Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest performance arts festival, which in 2024 spanned 25 days, sold more than 2.6 million tickets and featur ...

in Scotland in 2018. At the time, the show was called ''How Embarrassing for Her''. After the festival, she workshopped it in Los Angeles. Mike Birbiglia and

saw the show, and Birbiglia decided to produce it for a six-week Off-Broadway run at the

Cherry Lane Theatre The Cherry Lane Theatre is the oldest continuously running off-Broadway theater in New York City. The theater is located at 38 Commerce Street between Barrow and Bedford Streets in the West Village neighborhood of Greenwich Village, Manhattan, ...

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

West Village The West Village is a neighborhood in the western section of the larger Greenwich Village neighborhood of Lower Manhattan, New York City. The West Village is bounded by the Hudson River to the west and 14th Street (Manhattan), 14th Street to ...

. Lyonne agreed to present it. John Early was chosen as director. Due to its popularity, the run at Cherry Lane was extended, then moved to the larger Off-Broadway

Lucille Lortel Theatre The Lucille Lortel Theatre is an off-Broadway playhouse at 121 Christopher Street in Manhattan's West Village. It was built in 1926 as a 590-seat movie theater called the New Hudson, later known as Hudson Playhouse. The interior design is large ...

, also in the West Village. Recognized on two ''New York Times'' lists, "Best Theater of 2019" and "Best Comedy of 2019", the show was extended several more times. A U.S. and international tour of the show was scheduled in 2020, but due to COVID-19 it was postponed. The show's tour resumed in 2021 and continued into 2022. ''Get On Your Knees'' was released as a Netflix comedy special directed by

on January 23, 2024. She received a 2024

nomination for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Special for the

special.Emmys.co

/ref>

References

External links

Jacqueline Novak Official Site
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Novak, Jacqueline American women comedians Living people 1982 births 21st-century American comedians Comedians from North Carolina People from Winston-Salem, North Carolina People from Chappaqua, New York Comedians from New York (state) American health and wellness podcasters American women podcasters Georgetown University alumni American comedy podcasters