Jonathan Ames (; born March 23, 1964) is an American author who has written a number of
novels and
comic
a medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically the form of a sequence of panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, captions, and onomatopoeia can indicat ...
memoirs
A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based on the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autobio ...
, and is the creator of two television series, ''
Bored to Death
''Bored to Death'' is an American comedy series that ran on HBO from September 20, 2009, to November 28, 2011. The show was created by author Jonathan Ames, and stars Jason Schwartzman as a fictional Jonathan Ames—a writer based in Brooklyn, ...
'' (
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 ...
) and ''
Blunt Talk'' (
Starz
Starz (stylized in all caps as STARZ; pronounced "stars") is an American pay television network owned by Starz Entertainment, and is the flagship property of Starz Inc. Launched in 1994 as a multiplex service of what is now Starz Encore, ...
). In the late '90s and early 2000s, he was a columnist for the ''
New York Press
''New York Press'' was a free alternative weekly in New York City, which was published from 1988 to 2011.
The ''Press'' strove to create a rivalry with the ''Village Voice''. ''Press'' editors claimed to have tried to hire away writer Nat Hento ...
'' for several years, and became known for self-deprecating tales of his sexual misadventures. He also has a long-time interest in boxing, appearing occasionally in the ring as "The Herring Wonder".
Two of his novels have been adapted into films: ''
The Extra Man'' in 2010, and ''
You Were Never Really Here'' in 2017. Ames was a co-screenwriter of the former and an executive producer of the latter.
Early life
Raised in
Oakland, New Jersey, Ames is Jewish. He attended
Indian Hills High School. Ames graduated with an English degree in 1987 from
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...
, and where he authored his senior thesis entitled ''Eye Pity Eye: (The Collected Writings of Alexander Vine)''. He also holds a
Master of Fine Arts
A Master of Fine Arts (MFA or M.F.A.)
is a terminal degree in fine arts, including visual arts, creative writing, graphic design, photography, filmmaking, dance, theatre, other performing arts and in some cases, theatre management or arts admi ...
degree in fiction from
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...
. He has been an infrequent faculty member at Columbia,
The New School
The New School is a Private university, private research university in New York City. It was founded in 1919 as The New School for Social Research with an original mission dedicated to academic freedom and intellectual inquiry and a home for p ...
, and the
Iowa Writers' Workshop
The Iowa Writers' Workshop, at the University of Iowa, is a graduate-level creative writing program. At 89 years, it is the oldest writing program offering a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree in the United States. Its acceptance rate is between 2 ...
.
Print
Ames's novels include ''I Pass Like Night'' (1989), ''The Extra Man'' (1998), and 2004's ''Wake Up Sir!'', described by ''
The 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 ...
'' as "laugh-out-loud funny". In September 2008, Ames released ''The Alcoholic'', his first foray into
graphic literature, illustrated by
Dean Haspiel
Dean Edmund Haspiel (born May 31, 1967, in New York City) is an American comic book artist, writer, and playwright. He is known for creating Billy Dogma, The Red Hook, and for his collaborations with writer Harvey Pekar on his '' American Splendo ...
; an excerpt was included in ''The Best American Comics 2010''.
[Neil Gaiman, ed., The Best American Comics 2010 (Boston, New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2010), 317] In 2009, he published a new collection of essays and fiction with Scribner, titled ''The Double Life Is Twice as Good.'' In 2018,
Vintage
In winemaking, vintage is the process of picking grapes to create wine. A vintage wine is one made from grapes that were all, or primarily, grown and harvested in a single specified year. In certain wines, it can denote quality, as in Port wine ...
released an expanded version of Ames's first thriller novel, ''You Were Never Really Here'', which was originally published at
Byliner as an e-book in 2013.
While at the ''
New York Press
''New York Press'' was a free alternative weekly in New York City, which was published from 1988 to 2011.
The ''Press'' strove to create a rivalry with the ''Village Voice''. ''Press'' editors claimed to have tried to hire away writer Nat Hento ...
'', his columns were often recollections of his childhood
neuroses and his unusual experiences, written in the gritty tradition of
Charles Bukowski
Henry Charles Bukowski ( ; born Heinrich Karl Bukowski, ; August 16, 1920 – March 9, 1994) was a German Americans, German-American poet, novelist, and short story writer. His writing was influenced by the social, cultural, and economic ambien ...
. These columns were collected in four nonfiction books, ''What's Not to Love?: The Adventures of a Mildly Perverted Young Writer'' (2000), ''My Less Than Secret Life'' (2002), ''I Love You More than You Know'' (2006), and ''The Double Life Is Twice As Good: Essays and Fiction'' (2009). Ames was also responsible for the
Most Phallic Building contest which followed an article he wrote for ''
Slate
Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous, metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade, regional metamorphism. It is the finest-grained foliated metamorphic ro ...
'' magazine where he claimed that the
Williamsburg Bank Building in
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...
,
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
New York may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* ...
, was the most phallic building he'd ever seen.
[Ames, Jonathan]
"Entry 4"
''Slate
Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous, metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade, regional metamorphism. It is the finest-grained foliated metamorphic ro ...
'' (July 17, 2003)
Other media
Ames became known as a
raconteur in New York City following his 1999 one-man stage show, "Oedipussy," and continues to perform frequently with the New York-based storytelling organization
The Moth
The Moth is a nonprofit group based in New York City, dedicated to the craft of storytelling. Founded in 1997, the organization presents a wide range of theme-based storytelling events across the United States and abroad, often featuring promine ...
. He has also been a guest on the ''
Late Show with David Letterman
''Late Show with David Letterman'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by David Letterman on CBS, the first iteration of the ''Late Show'' franchise. The show debuted on August 30, 1993, and was produced by Letterman's production com ...
'' several times and played the lead role in the 2001 IFC film ''The Girl Under the Waves'', an on-screen experiment in improvisational acting.
In 2004,
Showtime commissioned Ames to develop a
pilot
An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its Aircraft flight control system, directional flight controls. Some other aircrew, aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are al ...
based on his writings, titled ''What's Not to Love?'' Ames starred as himself, but it was not developed into a series, instead airing as a one time special in the winter of 2007-2008. Ames also appears in ''
The Great Buck Howard'', directed by
Sean McGinly and starring
John Malkovich
John Gavin Malkovich (born December 9, 1953) is an American actor. He is the recipient of several accolades, including a Primetime Emmy Award, in addition to nominations for two Academy Awards, a BAFTA Award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, and ...
, which debuted at
Sundance in 2008.
Ames created the
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 ...
series ''
Bored to Death
''Bored to Death'' is an American comedy series that ran on HBO from September 20, 2009, to November 28, 2011. The show was created by author Jonathan Ames, and stars Jason Schwartzman as a fictional Jonathan Ames—a writer based in Brooklyn, ...
'', which stars
Jason Schwartzman
Jason Schwartzman (born June 26, 1980) is an American actor, musician, and member of the Coppola family. Schwartzman made his film debut in Wes Anderson's 1998 film '' Rushmore'', and has since appeared in six other Anderson films: '' The Darjee ...
as a struggling Brooklyn novelist named Jonathan Ames who moonlights as an unlicensed private detective. The show debuted on September 20, 2009. He also started to guest-star as Irwin during the second season, appearing fully nude in one scene. On December 20, 2011, it was reported that ''Bored to Death'' was cancelled by HBO after airing its third season.
The film adaptation of Ames's novel ''
The Extra Man'', starring
Kevin Kline
Kevin Delaney Kline (born October 24, 1947) is an American actor. In a career spanning over five decades, he has become a prominent leading man across both Kevin Kline on screen and stage, stage and screen. List of awards and nominations recei ...
,
John C. Reilly,
Katie Holmes
Kate Noelle Holmes (born December 18, 1978) is an American actress. She first achieved fame as Joey Potter on the television series ''Dawson's Creek'' (1998–2003).
Holmes made her film debut with a supporting role in Ang Lee's '' The Ice Sto ...
, and
Paul Dano, was released in 2010.
The film adaptation of ''
You Were Never Really Here'' was theatrically released in April 2018. The author produced the movie based on his book, which was directed by
Lynne Ramsay. It premiered at the 70th Cannes Film Festival, where Ramsay won the award for Best Screenplay and
Joaquin Phoenix
Joaquin Rafael Phoenix ( ; ; born October 28, 1974) is an American actor. Widely described as one of the most preeminent actors of his generation and known for Joaquin Phoenix filmography, his roles as dark, unconventional and eccentric charact ...
won the award for Best Actor.
Ames has also appeared in HBO's ''
Curb Your Enthusiasm
''Curb Your Enthusiasm'', also known colloquially simply as ''Curb'', is an American television comedy of manners created by Larry David that premiered on HBO with an hour-long special in October 17, 1999, followed by 12 seasons broadcast from Oc ...
'' in the Season 8 episode "Car Periscope," playing a brief role as
Larry David's business manager.
In 2015, Ames teamed up with
Patrick Stewart
Sir Patrick Stewart (born 13 July 1940) is an English actor. With a career spanning over seven decades of Patrick Stewart on stage and screen, stage and screen, he has received List of awards and nominations received by Patrick Stewart, variou ...
and
Seth MacFarlane
Seth Woodbury MacFarlane (; born October 26, 1973) is an American actor, animator, writer, producer, director, comedian, and singer. He is best known as the creator and star of the television series ''Family Guy'' (since 1999) and ''The Orvill ...
to create ''
Blunt Talk,'' which aired on the STARZ network for two seasons. For his performance in the starring role, Patrick Stewart was nominated for a
Golden Globe award for Best Actor in a Television Series Musical or Comedy and a
Critics' Choice TV Award for Best Actor in a Comedy Series.
Bibliography
Novels
*''I Pass Like Night'' (1989)
*''The Extra Man'' (1998)
*''Wake Up, Sir!'' (2004)
*''You Were Never Really Here'' (2013 and expanded version in 2018)
Happy Doll series
*''A Man Named Doll'' (2021)
*''The Wheel of Doll'' (2022)
*''Karma Doll'' (2025)
Essays
*''What's Not to Love?: The Adventures of a Mildly Perverted Young Writer'' (2000)
*''My Less Than Secret Life'' (2002)
*''I Love You More Than You Know'' (2006)
*''The Double Life Is Twice As Good: Essays and Fiction'' (2009)
Anthologies
*''Sexual Metamorphosis: An Anthology of Transsexual Memoirs'' (2005)
Comics
*''The Alcoholic'', with
Dean Haspiel
Dean Edmund Haspiel (born May 31, 1967, in New York City) is an American comic book artist, writer, and playwright. He is known for creating Billy Dogma, The Red Hook, and for his collaborations with writer Harvey Pekar on his '' American Splendo ...
(2008)
Television
*''
Bored to Death
''Bored to Death'' is an American comedy series that ran on HBO from September 20, 2009, to November 28, 2011. The show was created by author Jonathan Ames, and stars Jason Schwartzman as a fictional Jonathan Ames—a writer based in Brooklyn, ...
'' (creator/writer/producer, 2009–2011, as well as a cameo appearance as "Irwin")
*''
Blunt Talk'' (creator/writer/executive producer, 2015–2016)
*''
Drunk History
''Drunk History'' is an American educational comedy television series produced by Comedy Central, based on the Funny or Die web series created by Derek Waters and Jeremy Konner in 2007. Will Ferrell and Adam McKay are the show's executive p ...
'' (as
Junius Booth, 2013)
References
External links
*
Profile in the
Village Voice
''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture publication based in Greenwich Village, New York City, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Ma ...
(September 23, 2008)
"For a Grown-Up, a Few Growing Pains"The Interrogation of Jonathan Ames, by Mistress YinExclusive interview: The Scope Weekly speaks with Jonathan Ames, book author and film producer, and co-star Judith Roberts] (April 20, 2018)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ames, Jonathan
1964 births
Living people
20th-century American essayists
20th-century American Jews
20th-century American male writers
20th-century American memoirists
20th-century American novelists
21st-century American essayists
21st-century American Jews
21st-century American male writers
21st-century American memoirists
21st-century American novelists
American comics writers
American male essayists
American male novelists
Columbia University faculty
Columbia University School of the Arts alumni
Indian Hills High School (New Jersey) alumni
Iowa Writers' Workshop faculty
Jewish American comics writers
Jewish American essayists
Jewish American memoirists
Jewish American novelists
The New School faculty
New York Press people
Novelists from Iowa
Novelists from New Jersey
Novelists from New York (state)
People from Oakland, New Jersey
Princeton University alumni
Writers from Bergen County, New Jersey