The Memoir Land Author Questionnaire #37: Ian Karmel
"I had to strike a balance between being honest about my experiences and not falling into language and themes that have been used to bully fat people since the invention of fat people and bullying."
Since 2010, in various publications, I’ve interviewed authors—mostly memoirists—about aspects of writing and publishing. Initially I did this for my own edification, as someone who was struggling to find the courage and support to write and publish my memoir. I’m still curious about other authors’ experiences, and I know many of you are, too. So, inspired by the popularity of The Oldster Magazine Questionnaire, I’ve launched The Memoir Land Author Questionnaire.
Here’s the thirty-seventh installment, featuring comedian, actor, and writer Ian Kamel, author of T-Shirt Swim Club: Stories from Being Fat in a World Full of Thin People. -Sari Botton
Ian Karmel is an Emmy award winning LA-based stand-up comedian, actor, and writer originally from Portland, Oregon. Ian was head writer for the Emmy award winning The Late Late Show with James Corden, and was one of the founding writers in the show’s 2015 re-creation. Previously he was a staff writer and round table regular on E!’s Chelsea Lately.
Ian’s debut memoir, T-Shirt Swim Club, co-written with his sister Alisa Karmel, was released by the Penguin Random House imprint Harmony & Rodale Books, on June 11th 2024. His stand-up has been featured on Conan, The Late Late Show, Comedy Central, Netflix’s The Comedy Line Up: Part 1, and as Just for Laughs New Face in 2013. His debut comedy album, 9.2 on Pitchfork, was released in 2015. Ian hosts the weekly podcast All Fantasy Everything, from Headgum studios. Featured on many best of lists, it’s a lighthearted show where funny people and experts come together to fantasy draft pop culture.
Hometown hero, Ian played an instrumental role in Portland’s comedy renaissance and was voted Portland’s Funniest Person in their inaugural contest. He is also beloved for his appearances on IFC’s Portlandia, the Blazers wrap-up show Talkin’ Ball, and long running weekly column in the Portland Mercury, Everything as Fuck. With roots in improv and theatre, Ian’s training includes The Groundlings and the Upright Citizens Brigade.
Ian currently tours as much as possible and regularly performs around Los Angeles.
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How old are you, and for how long have you been writing?
39. This is my first book, but I wrote for TV for the last ten years. I wrote for the Portland Mercury, an alt-weekly in Portland, Oregon, for three years in my late 20s.
What’s the title of your latest book, and when was it published?
T-Shirt Swim Club: Stories from Being Fat in a World Full of Thin People. June 11, 2024 from Rodale Books.
What number book is this for you?
This is my first book.
How do you categorize your book—as a memoir, memoir-in-essays, essay collection, creative nonfiction, graphic memoir, autofiction—and why?
It’s a memoir-in-essays.
What is the “elevator pitch” for your book?
A stand-up comedian and lifelong fat kid writes about his life as a fat person, and his experiences losing weight. His sister, a life-long fat person, nutritionist and doctor, responds to each of those essays with her own experiences and expertise.
This book came from a lifetime of experiences of being a fat person and an urgent need to share those experiences with other people. I was super fat, to the point where it was very, very unhealthy. You can be fat and healthy, but I wasn’t. Not only were my eating habits terrible, I was also drinking, doing drugs, having reckless sexual relationships, trying to throw anything into the unfillable hole.
What’s the back story of this book including your origin story as a writer? How did you become a writer, and how did this book come to be?
I always loved writing in school. Math and science had definite, concrete answers but with writing anything could be correct as long as you could persuade the reader. That was such an exciting thought, I could take all these little threads of my life and all these little things I’d learned, and turn them into one (hopefully) cohesive piece.
From there, I sought out more opportunities. I started writing for the school paper in high school and continued in college. That turned into stand-up comedy, which turned into a column in the local alt-weekly, which eventually turned into writing for late night television.
This book came from a lifetime of experiences of being a fat person and an urgent need to share those experiences with other people. I was super fat, to the point where it was very, very unhealthy. You can be fat and healthy, but I wasn’t. Not only were my eating habits terrible, I was also drinking, doing drugs, having reckless sexual relationships, trying to throw anything into the unfillable hole. It was bad. I lost weight, I was living a much healthier life, and I started to take stock. I felt like I had just crawled out from a car wreck.
I reached out to my sister and we started talking. We could talk about these experiences from two different perspectives, but each perspective charged with experience. We could talk about being fat because we’d been very fat and still were (somewhat less) fat.
I asked my stand-up agent for help, they showed me how to write a pitch, my sister and I wrote a pitch, we sold it, and we were off to the races.
What were the hardest aspects of writing this book and getting it published?
Finding the time while writing on a TV show was the most difficult thing from a practical standpoint. The biggest issue overall was trying to strike a balance between being honest about my experiences and not falling into language and themes that have been used to bully fat people since the invention of fat people and bullying.
I needed to talk about hating myself and what that self-hate brought out of me. I needed to talk about how much the doctor sucked, because they can be callous, but I really wanted to make sure I acknowledged my own lack of responsibility, too.
Fat/health/body image is such a personal experience and I wanted to make sure I talked about it in a way that didn’t present my own life as some kind of general truth. At the same time, I didn’t want to let myself off the hook or suppress my actual thoughts because I was afraid of stepping on toes. It was really hard to find that balance, and I’m not sure I always did, but I think the book is better for both the attempts and also for the failures.
How did you handle writing about real people in your life? Did you use real or changed names and identifying details? Did you run passages or the whole book by people who appear in the narrative? Did you make changes they requested?
I used real names. I didn’t run passages by anyone.
Fat/health/body image is such a personal experience and I wanted to make sure I talked about it in a way that didn’t present my own life as some kind of general truth. At the same time, I didn’t want to let myself off the hook or suppress my actual thoughts because I was afraid of stepping on toes. It was really hard to find that balance, and I’m not sure I always did, but I think the book is better for both the attempts and also for the failures.
Who is another writer you took inspiration from in producing this book? Was it a specific book, or their whole body of work? (Can be more than one writer or book.)
Roxane Gay, Chuck Klosterman, Joan Didion, Samantha Irby, and also the stand-up comedy of Gary Gulman.
What advice would you give to aspiring writers looking to publish a book like yours, who are maybe afraid, or intimidated by the process?
I was already something of a public figure, so my advice in getting it published might not be the most universally helpful. I would say that it’s important to find a hook — you know that your story is interesting, but you can’t just plant that emotion in someone else’s head, you have to show it, explain it, demonstrate it.
What do you love about writing?
This sounds so corny, but you can take a blank page, and through the sheer force of effort, create something that helps people feel less alone in the human experience. Or just make them laugh, which is also cool.
What frustrates you about writing?
My editor being right like 99% of the time.
What about writing surprises you?
Sometimes you head off on a thought like you’re going for a lazy summer walk without a particular destination, and then 45 minutes later you’re sitting there looking at something that you didn’t even realize you had inside of you. That’s the best kind of surprise.
Does your writing practice involve any kind of routine or writing at specific times?
I like going to a coffee shop and either turning off the internet or turning on this program I have that makes it so I can’t go on Twitter. The ambient noise helps me zero in and the no Twitter is self-explanatory.I realize this might sound a little strange, like, why can't I just think & know what's going on in my head? But, I really can't. I need the process of writing, of connecting my head to my hand to a pen, to see what I'm feeling, and I love that writing allows me to do this.
This sounds so corny, but you can take a blank page, and through the sheer force of effort, create something that helps people feel less alone in the human experience. Or just make them laugh, which is also cool.
Do you engage in any other creative pursuits, professionally or for fun? Are there non-writing activities do you consider to be “writing” or supportive of your process?
I’m a stand-up comedian and a TV writer. Those definitely help. TV writing helped me get good at hitting deadlines and not letting the perfect become the enemy of the good.
Outside of generating words, I really enjoy gardening and riding my bike. Those help because they let me put my brain in a fishbowl full of whip cream and just use my body for a while.
What’s next for you? Do you have another book planned, or in the works?
It’s an insane departure from my last book, and I haven’t sold it or even tried, but I loved the Redwall books so much growing up and I want to write something like that. A mouse with a sword eating a scone, that kind of stuff.
This book sounds amazing. I'm a big believer in humor, and I think being witty (in some way) can help make a memoir more accessible. And the ramifications of being fat is an important subject.