Author Carrie Courogen couldn’t get the comedian to cooperate, but “Miss May Does Not Exist” is still packed with great material.
Elaine May tends to shy away from accepting awards, but when she does, she gives great acceptance speeches. It is a testament to her prolific creativity and tireless work ethic that when she received the Governors Award for lifetime achievement at the 2022 Oscars, the then-90-year-old said, “I do believe that for this award, you should add the words ‘for now’ at the end of it. Because it’s really scary if you don’t.
But “Miss May Does Not Exist” is revelatory scholarship that gives full measure to this artist who despite obstacles and setbacks is an exalted figure in the comedy pantheon, a distinct voice whose outlier creative life Courogen captures through original research, archival material and scores of interviews with those in the privileged orbit of the May-verse .Very little in May’s life, career and comedy is conventional. She had, Courogen writes, an erratic upbringing and eccentric family.
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