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August 10, 2007
Punching In to Punch Lines: Emily Epstein
By: Sara Benincasa
Sara B. continues her quest to find out exactly what comedians are up to all day long. We've already learned that some of them are chocolatiers and others design clothing for kids. Sara spoke with stand up Emily Epstein and asked the most important question ever, "So, what do you do?"
Where do you work during the day?
I work at HarperCollins Publishers as a copyeditor.
What kind of stuff do you copyedit?
I work in children's books--everything from picture books to teen novels. I shape young minds, son! Scary, huh? I work on the Berenstain Bears books (yes, they are still writing new books), lots of books tied-in to movies (Spiderman, Bee Movie--the upcoming Seinfeld animated flick, Robots, Fantastic Four), and a whole slew of other stuff. I read and copyedit so much during the day that it's hard to turn it off.
So do you freak out when a fellow comic uses bad grammar onstage?
Freak out would be a strong term. I definitely notice though--when someone uses 'good' as opposed to 'well' or adds an 's' to something for no reason. I like my dick jokes to be eloquent. Is that so wrong?
How did you get in on the copyediting racket?
I'm still not sure, to be honest. I graduated from college with that fantastically useless liberal arts degree. I started out writing for a newspaper outside of Philly and realized there was no way I could do this job and expect to eat, too. I've always loved to read so I figured I could use my limited skills there. Ended up doing some editing and then took a class to learn all the marks and rules for copyediting. And while publishing is not known for paying particularly well, you get to do a lot of freelance work and some of it's quite weird. I've worked on science fiction erotic (one of the aliens had a forked tongue and a forked, you know), romance novels, and even a few of the street lit books that 50 Cent is now putting out. And that's where I've gotten some good material.
Describe a typical weekday in the life of Emily Epstein.
7:15 AM--alarm goes off. I hit snooze.This happens several more times.
7:50 AM--alarm goes off. I cry a little and get out of bed.
8:20 to 9ish AM--commute to work, all the while cursing the G train, sleep standing up.
9ish to1ish PM--copy edit manuscripts, covers, and all sorts of other fun stuff, email, IM, web surfage, more work
1ish to 2ish PM--lunch, nap face down on desk (the lights are motion sensitive and turn off after 15 minutes which wakes me up), try and get somewhat caught up on news (fail), work on some written pieces and on jokes
2ish to 6ish PM--more work, maybe a meeting, sneak in more joke writing, think about finding a sugar daddy and/or mommy.
6ish to 8ish PM--go to gym. work out aggression. Put machine on incline and pretend it's my comedy career.
8ish to 12ish PM--do a show, go watch a comedy show, or get together with some other comics to write jokes or work on idea for another show
12ish to 1ish--curse the G train. sweat in the subway.
1ish or ?--prepare to rinse, lather, and repeat; go to bed
What's your ultimate non-comedic dream job?
Woman of leisure. Not to be confused, of course, with a woman of the night. In this dream sequence I could afford this lifestyle because I'd also be a best-selling writer/essayist. Like a Bill Bryson or a David Rakoff or, frankly, like an Emily Epstein, because I'd be a literary household name. Well, that or a hip-hop dancer.
Posted by The Apiary at August 10, 2007 12:19 PM