50 pages • 1 hour read
Curtis SittenfeldRomantic Comedy
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2023A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Prologue-Chapter 1Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Prologue Summary: “February 2018”
Sally Milz, a 36-year-old divorced comedy writer, wakes up one morning to the news that her colleague Danny is dating a famous actress named Annabel Lily, one of many relationships between an average comedy guy and a gorgeous female celebrity. Sally is annoyed about it because she knows the reverse situation—a gorgeous male celebrity and a basic female comedy writer—would never happen. She channels her frustration into her writing.
Chapter 1 Summary: “April 2018”
“Weekly Schedule for The Night Owls” Summary
A tight schedule maps out how The Night Owls is written, pitched, and rehearsed for live performance within a week.
“Monday, 1:10 P.M.” Summary
A large group of writers, cast members, and producers of the live televised comedy-sketch show The Night Owls gather in the office of their creator and executive producer, Nigel Petersen. The week’s celebrity host is Noah Brewster, a good-looking singer-songwriter in his late 30s. The writers pitch some ideas for jokes, and Sally’s pitch is to do a spin-off from Danny’s real-life romance with Annabel Lily. She wants to write a sketch about men from TNO dating women who are wealthier and more famous than them, while women from the show don’t or can’t have the same experience. The idea is that Noah would play himself and one of the other women from the show, Henrietta or Viv, would play a less-attractive version of themselves. Sally believes that, as is typical of women in comedy, Henrietta’s and Viv’s beauty is masked by their humor. Noah turns down the pitch because he knows it will look better to make fun of himself rather than the women on the show. Sally suspects it’s also because Noah, who is 36 years old but dates 20-year-old models, doesn’t want to pretend that he’d date a woman less attractive than him, even for a sketch.
“Monday, 4:47 P.M.” Summary
Danny enters the small office he shares with Sally while she’s working. They discuss her potential screenplay and the meager amount she’d earn for it. Sally suspects that Danny makes a similar salary to hers (around $250,000 per year), despite the fact that he’s been on the show less time than Sally, because he also performs in their satirical news-anchor skit. Danny confides to Sally that Annabel is upset because her astrologist told her that Danny’s horoscope sign is incompatible with hers. Although Sally was wary of Danny when she was first moved into an office with him, they’ve become close friends.
“Monday, 7:32 P.M.” Summary
Because of TNO’s quick weekly turnaround and late-night hours, Monday is the only day Sally can leave work at a reasonable time. On Mondays, Sally orders takeout and calls her stepfather, a man she’s become even closer to since her mother’s death three years prior. She gets some texts from Viv, who’s going out to dinner with Nigel for his weekly guest-host and cast outing. Nigel is well-beloved in the comedy world, and ever since creating TNO in 1981, he is well regarded as a comedy career maker. Even so, Sally doesn’t feel the need to get closer into Nigel’s circle. Then she gets a text from Gene, a guy she’s hooking up with. Sally isn’t interested in a serious relationship, but she’s also not in the mood to see Gene, who is fine enough to hook up with but not particularly interesting.
“Tuesday, 12:10 P.M.” Summary
Sally is at work in the iconic 66 building, working on her jokes. Even though most writers work overnight, Sally enjoys some time alone during the day to write. Viv texts her about her eye doctor, who is good-looking and whom she thinks was also interested with her.
“Tuesday, 10:08 P.M.” Summary
Viv, Henrietta, and Sally work on a skit together about dogs. They make each other crack up as they come up with jokes.
“Tuesday, 11:29 P.M.” Summary
Danny arrives at the office, FaceTiming with Annabel. She’s feeling self-conscious about her body, and they quickly turn to sexy talk. Danny leaves immediately to meet up with Annabel to have sex.
“Wednesday, 1:14 A.M.” Summary
Noah Brewster wakes Sally up from a nap. He wants help on the sketch he’s writing. Sally reads the script and marks it, then helps him rewrite the structure and pump up the jokes. The skit is based on Noah’s own life and is about an eccentric choreographer hired by a record producer to ramp up a musician’s stage presence. Noah and Sally write and laugh, then chat about music. Sally is surprised that Noah is also a fan of the Indigo Girls because most men would dismiss them as a band for women. Noah asks Sally thoughtful questions about her career, which impresses her because most guest hosts are nice but standoffish. As a writer, Sally rarely has meaningful conversations with the celebrities who visit. Sally tells Noah about her dream to write “non-condescending, ragingly feminist screenplays for romantic comedies” (45). She confesses to Noah that she’s thinking of leaving after the next season, her 10-year anniversary, a thought she hasn’t even shared with Viv and Henrietta.
Noah is clearly a little hurt by Sally’s earlier pitch to make a skit about how cheesy his music is. He defends his music as having been written when he was much younger. When he asks Sally what songs of his she likes, Sally has a hard time coming up with any titles besides his most popular hits. She jokes that she attends a fan-club meeting for him in a church. Noah cups her chin and pretends to gaze longingly at her, but it feels intimate, and Noah gets embarrassed. Autumn, the talent coordinator for TNO, interrupts them to get Noah back to his hotel.
“Wednesday, 4:43 A.M.” Summary
Danny returns to the office in the early morning. He asks Sally if it’s weird to celebrate a Jewish tradition at his wedding with Annabel after having left his Orthodox Jewish community for the comedy world as a young man. Danny helps Sally with some dialogue for a skit.
“Wednesday, 2:57 P.M.” Summary
After quickly running home for a nap and a shower, Sally returns to 66 for the table read. Noah waves hello to her, which makes Sally feel strangely awkward. Table reads are fascinating to Sally. At table reads, she can analyze how her colleagues are laughing, acting, and behaving with one another. The absence of an audience makes the testing out of jokes much rawer. Sally acutely observes how the other writers and cast members laugh at the jokes she wrote as a form of feedback. She notes that some of the sketches are funny while others, like the one written by a new writer she’s nicknamed Catchphrase for his obvious desire to make a catchphrase explode into the cultural scene, are not so good.
Meanwhile, Sally’s been texting with a friend of hers who is a doctor to find out if Viv can ethically ask out her hot eye doctor on a date.
“Wednesday, 9:13 P.M.” Summary
After the table read, Sally waits to hear if any of her sketches have made it through. Henrietta and Sally convince Viv to email her eye doctor offering him a free ticket to TNO. Three of Sally’s sketches make it to rehearsals. She’ll have a busy but exhilarating week.
“Thursday, 1:08 A.M.” Summary
Sally runs into the head writer, Elliot. She and Elliot started at TNO at the same time. They had been close friends, and Elliot had given her good advice about taking more risks with her sketches. Sally had fallen in love with Elliot, but he rejected her, and since then they have avoided one another out of sheer awkwardness. When Elliot got married to a popstar who had been a musical guest on the show, Sally had not been invited. Now, Elliot acts condescending to Sally.
“Thursday, 1:51 A.M.” Summary
Sally listens to Noah’s music and looks him up online. She scans his dating history and reads articles about his generosity and good reputation. She finds some songs of Noah’s that she likes because they’re more folky than pop and imbued with deeper meaning.
“Thursday, 1:06 P.M.” Summary
The internet is abuzz with rumors that Danny and Annabel have broken up. Viv receives an email back from her eye doctor, Theo, who writes in a formal tone and tells her that he can’t be her doctor and also socialize with her. He advises her to transfer her care to another doctor. Sally watches Noah’s music rehearsal and feels “both transcendentally alive and immobilized” (Page 71). She senses that he’s singing directly to her.
“Thursday, 1:40 P.M.” Summary
Sally works with the writing team on some editing and rewrites of her sketches.
“Thursday, 6:18 P.M.” Summary
Sally runs into Danny in their office. He’s FaceTiming with Annabel as usual, and they’re discussing their wedding, proving the online rumors false. Sally asks Annabel to be in a sketch subverting the trend of women like Annabel dating guys like Danny.
“Friday, 11:03 A.M.” Summary
Sally watches Noah rehearse one of her sketches. She notes that she’s hyper-focused on Noah, with butterflies reminiscent of obsessive high school crushes. Sally wants to tell Viv about her crush, but can’t because Viv is a beautiful actress who, she feels, is in a different dating league than Sally. Sally doesn’t believe that Noah would date her, but she knows that he flirts with her.
Sally tells Viv that Danny and Annabel didn’t break up. They wonder if Annabel uses social media to create rumors about herself, getting herself publicity. This might mean that Annabel’s relationship with Danny is more real to Danny than it is for Annabel.
“Friday, 2:28 P.M.” Summary
Sally watches another rehearsal with Noah in her sketch. In the sketch, Henrietta balances her hips on Noah’s feet in a yoga pose, and Sally is jealous that her beautiful friend gets to be so physical with Noah. Noah tells Sally he’s worried about his tattoos showing up in a sketch. He lifts up his shirt so Sally can see the Celtic tattoo on his shoulder and Sally can’t help but touch his skin. Sally shows Noah the tattoo she got with her mother. He also touches her, but quickly pulls away. Sally tells him about her mother’s passing.
“Friday, 4:39 P.M.” Summary
Sally asks Danny about the breakup rumor. He tells her that Annabel periodically breaks up with him for small stretches and immediately gets back with him. He’s surprised by her jealousy and insecurity because he knows she’s traditionally out of his league. Sally tells Danny that she had been married in her 20s, and that relationship had been marked by a lack of passion, so maybe Danny and Annabel’s passion will make their relationship work, even if it’s sometimes toxic. Danny asks Sally to be a groomsman in his wedding party.
“Friday, 5:07 P.M.” Summary
Viv changes doctors and confirms that Theo will be coming to the show. Theo makes a joke about taking a nap so he can stay up late for the show, making Viv wonder if he’s too old for her.
“Friday, 8:07 P.M.” Summary
Henrietta wakes Sally up from a nap to tell her that it’s been discovered that Noah’s famous wavy blond hair is actually a wig he wears all of the time.
“Saturday, 1:55 P.M.” Summary
The cast and crew do a dress rehearsal of the show. Annabel doesn’t show up for her cameo. Nigel notes that Sally has three sketches in the show, a rare occurrence.
“Saturday, 6:01 P.M.” Summary
Annabel breaks up with Danny. This time is different, as Sally discovers when she finds Danny depressed in their office. He says Annabel freaked out after he made a joke about them divorcing. She’s already released an official statement and blocked him on her socials. Danny wonders if true love is real, and Sally tells him that she believes it is.
“Saturday, 6:27 P.M.” Summary
Sally goes to Nigel and Elliot and requests that they cut her sketch that makes fun of Danny and Annabel’s relationship.
“Saturday, 6:35. P.M.” Summary
Sally wishes Noah good luck ahead of the live show. He introduces her to his sister Vicky.
“Saturday, 11:08 P.M.” Summary
The show goes on at 11:30 sharp. The sketches all perform well. Danny doesn’t feel up to going to the after-party with Sally. Annabel sends Sally a bouquet of flowers with a sorry note.
“Sunday, 1:51 A.M.” Summary
At the after-party, Sally meets Theo. She’s sharply aware of Noah’s presence at the party, but he’s surrounded by other people. Even though Sally doesn’t usually attend the after-after-party, this time she agrees to go.
“Sunday, 3:09 A.M.” Summary
At the after-after-party, Sally and Noah talk at the bar. They discuss music, love songs, and whether love even exists. Noah’s never been in love, but Sally has, though not with her ex-husband. They’re having a deep conversation, and Sally senses that Noah wants to kiss her. When Sally brings up his history of dating young models, Noah gets offended. He tells her he’s glad she showed her true self before things got too far, then walks off.
“The Following Days” Summary
One of Sally’s sketches goes viral. Noah returns to New York City to do a press tour for his new album. He’s photographed with Annabel, fueling dating rumors. Viv and Theo become a real couple. Sally tells Viv about what happened between her and Noah, and Viv assures her that there’s no reason why Noah wouldn’t have been attracted to Sally.
Prologue-Chapter 1 Analysis
In the first chapter of Romantic Comedy, Sittenfeld sets her novel up to structurally and thematically evoke her title, engaging with the traditional tropes of a romantic comedy through a feminist lens. In naming her story for its genre, Sittenfeld implies that hers will be a new kind of romantic comedy. Speaking as Sally, Sittenfeld tells the reader exactly what kind of story it is: a “non-condescending, ragingly feminist” one (45). First among the romantic-comedy tropes Sittenfeld utilizes is a relatable female protagonist who desires love but doesn’t yet have it. Sally sees herself as a woman so devoted to her work and so intwined in the hectic schedule of her job that she doesn’t devote much energy toward her love life. She’s comfortable hooking up with men without needing to consider a future with them. Sittenfeld introduces readers to Sally by positioning her at beginning of her character arc: She’s good to her friends, she’s self-deprecating, and she finds herself surrounded by men and women in her workplace who are, according to Sally, more attractive and more successful than she is. The relatability of this position invites the reader to root for Sally. In Chapter 1, Sittenfeld introduces a second romantic-comedy trope: the “best friend” character. Henrietta and Viv are two of Sally’s best friends, and these close female friendships are a source of mutual support and compassion. Particularly in a romantic comedy that features a straight female character, the secondary role of the best friend often provides a different perspective on the protagonist’s insecurities, unfettered by the protagonist’s personal emotional baggage. For example, Sally spends the first chapter convinced that her flirtations with Noah are all in her head because there’s no way, from her own perspective, that a famous and good-looking musician/actor could be interested in her. Her best friend Viv assures Sally that her perspective is skewed. Sally doesn’t see herself the way others see her.
Noah Brewster, introduced in Chapter 1, embodies a third romantic-comedy trope: the complicated love interest. Noah is simultaneously approachable and unattainable; he has an easygoing personality, but his fame keeps him at a distance. Crucially, Noah makes Sally feel attractive and attracted; Sally assures the reader that she has not felt such visceral desire for a man in a long time, making Noah notably different and special, but Sittenfeld knows that in a romantic comedy, the lovers have lessons to learn and obstacles to overcome. Love cannot happen too easily. Sittenfeld introduces the prospect of love and sex in Chapter 1, but ends the chapter with an awkward parting between the protagonist and her love interest.
The emphasis the opening chapter places on the sexist double standards between men and women in the modern American workplace lays the groundwork for what Sittenfeld make overtly clear through the novel: This is a feminist romantic comedy. It will deliver all the classic elements of a romantic comedy while simultaneously commenting on and subverting them. Danny is a nice guy, intelligent and funny; he’s an average-looking late-night comedy writer engaged to a glamorous superstar. The juxtaposition of Danny’s economic and social standing with that of his fiancée’s can at first be construed as a subversion of traditional relationships in which men have more money, power, and social influence. But, in Danny and Annabel’s relationship, which is paralleled in other relationships between average men and their extraordinary and famous female partners, the subversion of these traditional gender roles serves to exacerbate Sally’s feelings of inadequacy as a woman low on the ladder of power, influence, money, and beauty. As a comedic writer, Sally believes she can’t attract men who are more famous or influential than she is because famous, wealthy men seek out women who are young, beautiful and glamorous. Sally is an intelligent, observant, sharp-witted comedy writer, but these are not qualities she believes men necessarily look for in a woman—a perspective influenced by her internalization of societal misogyny. Sally references the dating lives of Henrietta and Viv, who are actors on TNO, as evidence. They are both beautiful, hilarious women, but they don’t date mega-famous popstars or actors like their male costars do. Implied in this double standard is the insidious idea that a man who dates a woman of a lower social status would do his career and public image harm, making himself less attractive to the public, while a woman who does the same simply imbues her partner with status by osmosis.
The double standard between a man’s dateability and a woman’s is highlighted in this novel as both an external and internal conflict. Although Danny is an average man in a nontraditional relationship with a woman far more glamorous, wealthy, and famous than he, he’s not necessarily buoyed by a new sense of self and ego. Danny’s relationship with Annabel is difficult precisely because of her fame. She had so many choices, so many ways of leaving a relationship, that she can use Danny when she needs him. For Danny, the relationship with Annabel is much more serious and necessary to his sense of self because he doesn’t have the kind of love from fans that makes Annabel truly happy. This is another important trope in romantic comedies: highlighting how relationships that look good on the outside are often a facade for unhappiness, which in turn emphasizes that relationships come in different forms and are always difficult no matter what the narrative looks like.
But the comedy workplace remains a male-driven culture. The dynamics of the female friendship between Henrietta, Viv, and Sally are crucial to Sally’s well-being because as women in comedy, they are minorities. They must play by the rules of masculinity in order to be seen as remotely equal in talent and status to their male counterparts, which, in comedy, often means playing ugly. Sally has found her niche writing feminist comedy in a clever way, but she wants more. She doesn’t have the ambitions of moving up the ranks of her television show, but she does aspire to write a new kind of romantic comedy for the modern woman.
The time-code structure of the novel helps the reader experience the urgency of Sally’s job, one that leaves little time for anything other than thinking about work. Each section of the chapter is divided into specific time stamps over the course of the week leading up to the live TNO show. This structure is based on the famous comedy-sketch show Saturday Night Live, in which writers work around the clock to produce a culture-influencing live show each Saturday. The pressure each writer and actor faces is augmented by this urgency. The structural emphasis on the frenetic TNO schedule illuminates how easy it is for Sally to get bogged down in the grueling pace of her work and become personally stagnant, setting the stage for her arc: breaking out of that stagnation and finding personal fulfillment and, ultimately, romantic love.
Sally cares more about the quality of her work and her colleagues’ feelings than she does about her professional status or fame. When a sketch she wrote mocks Danny and Annabel’s relationship, she advocates to cancel the sketch when Annabel and Danny break up to protect their feelings despite the fact that the sketch would likely be a success. Sittenfeld positions this characteristic as unusual—against the grain of TNO’s (and comedy's) professional culture—foreshadowing the idea that Sally and TNO are not a perfect fit and seeding the tension Sally will ultimately feel between remaining stagnant at TNO and risking going her own way both personally and professionally.
At the start of her arc, Sally has no faith in the idea of a woman in comedy Having It All, which reflects not only the double standards and discrimination she experiences in her environment but also her battle with the insecurities that environment creates. Her reaction to Noah’s attention is to insult him, pushing him away. Sally doesn’t believe herself worthy of a man like Noah. She fears her genuine connection with him, feeling a need to self-protect against inevitable rejection, which introduces a running theme of Female Desire and Its Relationship to Insecurity. Chapter 1 sets Sally up to grow throughout the novel and arrive at a more expansive vision of the kind of love and career of which she is worthy.
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By Curtis Sittenfeld
