Chances are pretty good that if you’ve watched any TV comedy shows over the past 30 years, you’ve laughed at a line written by Nell Scovell. In Just the Funny Parts, Scovell recounts how she came to Hollywood as a bookish, Harvard-educated New Englander and worked her way up from low-level comedy writer to major contributor on some prominent shows, taking on additional roles along the way as creator, producer, and director. While she generally stayed behind the scenes, she stepped forward nine years ago, at the time of the David Letterman scandal, and spoke out about gender bias on late-night TV writing staffs. A couple of years later, she collaborated with Sheryl Sandberg on Lean In, helping to further public debate about diversity in male-dominated work environments. She continues that discussion in her candid, engaging, instructive, and very funny memoir. Nell has compared her book to Unbroken, only “funnier and with slightly less torture.”
