Photo by Arin Sang-urai
Emma Tattenbaum-Fine is a comedy-leaning writer, performer, and producer who has done so much you will have to read about her here. (Sign up for her Substack, which was named a “Featured Substack of 2022.”) Her latest project is Blood, Sex & Fears, a collection of classic coming of age stories.
Interview conducted by Shreya Sharma.
Describe your podcast in five words or less.
Behold! My glorious, youthful failures!
You will love Blood, Sex & Fears if you like ____.
No One is Talking About This and Priestdaddy by Patricia Lockwood.
David Sedaris. David Rakoff. Mike Birbiglia. The Moth.
What’s one thing you wish you could tell Emma at 20?
“It’s so great that you’re on birth control. Please also start Prozac. It is NOT NECESSARY to be in a permanent state of terror all the time.”
Was there a story you wished you had included in Blood, Sex & Fears? Why didn’t it make it in?
There is a profoundly unhinged story about a time when I hooked up with an Orthodox Jewish man (in a white van…) I met him at a bar after my best friend’s 24th birthday. He continued to court me for a while after that night. We talked about Torah and I pushed him to not be homophobic. He pushed me to take a Hebrew name. The story is simply too much for these tortured times. Michelle Tattenbaum (my director) and I were concerned about caricaturing him and inadvertently portraying Judaism and Jews in a negative light. This story can wait for a different geopolitical climate, BUT… the actual events were definitely peak “tales from my 20s.”
Fill in the blanks: Blood, Sex & Fears is like if _____ met _____.
David Sedaris met Cher from Clueless.
Is there anyone from your past you wish never listens to Blood, Sex & Fears?
I’m a little concerned that my ex-boyfriend will find his way to the episode “Our Lost Cat.” I changed his name and made my respect for him clear in the story, but … the events of the tale are not entirely flattering. He and I are still friends. He might actually LOVE the story! I just don’t know. Let’s let fate handle this one. Better to ask forgiveness than permission.
What’s one thing you learned from your 20’s that you wish you could just transplant in your listeners’ brains?
I want to honor the innocence and pure enthusiasm of that time. I’m trying to hold onto and re-nurture that as I begin my 40s. Part of my impact now is that I can reconnect our listeners to that “childlike sense of wonder,” the joyful mania of being in your 20s.
Which podcast helped you through the creation of your podcast?
Science Vs, Hard Fork, Ezra Klein
None of these are remotely the same genre as my work, but let me explain!
Throughout this process, Michelle’s gifts as a dramaturg have pushed me to improve at crafting story structure. Listening to interviews on my favorite podcasts, I was able to spot these structural storytelling ideas out in the wild! I got better and better as we went at imagining the producer’s notes behind the scenes and how the episodes were scaffolded. I enjoy how my favorite political, tech, and science podcasts guide the listener. I so appreciate when the interviewer says precisely what I was hoping they would say or ask. That ability, to intuit what the listener needs to hear next to more deeply invest in your story – that makes for a good interview and it makes for good storytelling.
Ezra teaches me a lot, what can I say! He’s a smart dude and now he weightlifts, too? So cute, but let’s stay focused on audio.
Do you have a dream collaboration?
I’d love to do a solo show of my stories live at the Minetta Lane Theater in collaboration with Audible. Doing a run would be incredible. I started doing standup comedy when I was 15 and then did sketch comedy all through college. In my 20s and 30s I was performing in improv and sketch comedy groups weekly at UCB and The PIT. I have segued into storytelling and, most recently, into audio, but my roots are as a live performer. Creating a live solo storytelling show for Audible would be a perfect blend of my live comedy background and my current focus on audio and storytelling.
What have I not asked that you want to share with the readers?
Michelle Tattenbaum (the director of Blood, Sex & Fears) is my cousin, and we have been collaborating with one another off and on since I was 18 years old. We are related through my (non-biological) mother, so we’re family, but we share no genetics whatsoever. As we collaborate, there are so many ways that we are alike. Since it can’t be nature, it must be nurture. Our shared values make me feel connected to the home that my mother and her father shared as children. My uncle, her dad, died many, many years ago and I think he would be so absolutely tickled and beyond pleased to see our collaborations over these many years. Although maybe he wouldn’t want to hear the story about how I lost my virginity.
Thanks, Emma!