LGBT+ Comic Memoirs

On his popular podcast “Everything Iconic,” Danny Pellegrino recaps reality shows like The Real Housewives and interviews “iconic” pop culture figures, including Rosie O’Donnell and Cameron Diaz. In between all that, Pellegrino regales listeners with hyper-specific stories of growing up gay in small-town Ohio in the 90s where his love of talk shows and female pop stars made him stand out more than was always comfortable. In his first book of biographical essays, he shares stories full of humor and nostalgia.

Musical comedian Randy Rainbow’s song parodies have garnered a huge fanbase over the years. In his first memoir “Playing with Myself,” Rainbow (yes that is his real last name) provides fans with an intimate look at his life journey from an overly imaginative little boy to a Broadway-obsessed viral video creator.

Growing up, Cameron Esposito wanted to be a priest when she grew up. She went on to attend a Catholic university—a place where homosexuality was rarely discussed and was certainly not widely accepted. As she began the process of coming out amid those conditions, Esposito also discovered the joy of performing comedy in her newly found voice.

From summers in his twenties searching (unsuccessfully) for the perfect man to the horror of having a bad hotel room on what could otherwise be a perfect trip, the essays in “Start Without Me” deal with the indignity of the everyday. Fans of his first book, “Do You Mind if I Cancel?” will find more to love in this collection of similarly acerbic essays.

Gadsby stormed onto the international comedy scene in 2018 with her stand-up special Nanette. The raw set eschewed traditional jokes for a more confessional storytelling structure, including her own complicated relationship with the art of comedy itself. In her memoir, Gadsby provides readers a deeper look into her life, including her upbringing in Tasmania, where homosexuality was illegal until 1997.

Grace Perry grew up as a teenager in the mid-2000s, a time when gayness was still largely absent from the pop culture landscape. In this collection of essays, Perry looks back on an era that may have seemed bereft of LGBT representation actually hyper-developed her gay sensibility.