CULTURE | Victoria Zackheim Wants You to Exit Laughing!

On May 8, Victoria Zackheim’s fifth anthology, Exit Laughing: How Humor Takes the Sting Out of Death will go on sale in paperback and ebook wherever books are sold. Taking on the difficult subject of death and grieving for lost loved ones, Exit Laughing features 24 essays sharing how some of the most gifted writers of our time found healing from their grief through humor and came to understand just how normal death really is to life. Here, Zackheim shares what inspired her to create this book, and what she hopes readers will look forward to on May 8.

What made you decide to create this anthology?

I was with my mother day and night, during the last year of her life. We found ourselves using humor to open conversations about her death. After she died, this book was such an important way to help me work through the myriad emotions we feel when we’ve lost a parent.

What is the greatest influence on your writing?

My desire to explore those areas in our lives that change who we are, how we live, and the decisions we make. Also, as I’m getting older and feel the old Grim Reaper breathing against my neck, I’m compelled to take risks in my work life. At this stage, the only way I can fail is if I don’t take the risk. Trying and not succeeding isn’t failure…it’s giving it my best shot and moving on.

Is there any particular story to tell concerning this book?

The most important element is that it evolved from the humor I shared with my mother in the eighteen months leading up to her death. We had very complicated relationship, and I was often frustrated by her unwillingness to talk about important end-of-life issues: finances; wills; medical emergencies. While I wrote the introduction and one essay in this book, many authors touched on some of these same issues.

What is the one thing that you want readers to take away from your book?

That laughter can be the door to our emotions, especially when dealing with the grief of death.

How do you write? Do you have a daily routine? What’s good about it? What do you hate about it?

Because I teach writing and seem to always be editing anthologies, there are few days when writing does not guide my life. If I’m teaching, I start my day by logging into the course and responding to students’ questions, editing essays, posting lectures, etc. After that, I turn to my own writing, whether it’s an essay, screenplay, stage play, or documentary script. I also do occasional editing, so that’s on the list as well. I love all forms of writing and editing. The only thing I hate are author questionnaires!

What are you working on next?

I’m struggling with my novel. (Yeah, the same one I’ve been trying to write since 1995!) Also, I’ve just been given another screenplay to write, so I’ll start that the minute contracts are signed. I’ve also got a script to write for a Women in Science series produced by On the Road Productions. We’ll be doing a film on Frances Kelsey, an FDA scientist who single-handedly blocked the distribution of Thalidomide in the US. I’ve wanted to do this film for years and I’m thrilled that On the Road has taken it on.

Exit Laughing is more than a collection of twenty-four personal stories, written by some of our country’s finest authors, on the subject of death and humor. It’s a reminder that all of us approach death in very different ways. Exit Laughing reminds us that in death there is a place for humor. Ellen Sussman writes of flying home her mother’s body and watching her mother’s burial wardrobe spill out on the baggage carousel. Kathi Kamen Goldmark regales us with memories of playing the kazoo at Jessica Mitford’s funeral. Broadway and television actor Richard McKenzie shares the riotous story of a funeral procession led by a lost hearse. Bonnie Garvin writes about her parents’ double suicide attempt (and yes, it’s funny!). These stories, along with seventeen other memorable essays, constitute a book whose purpose is to remind readers that when dealing with illness, dying, and death, there is an important place for laugh-out-loud humor.

Catch Victoria Zackheim and the Exit Laughing contributors on tour, starting May 20!