Mortified: Angst Written

Huge thanks to Mortified superfan Lisa who emailed us to say she spotted our first book, Mortified: Real Words, Real People, Real Pathetic, in the pages of the August 2008 InStyle magazine.

Intrigued, we picked up a copy and sure enough, there it was... displayed on the bookshelf of Entourage actress Constance Zimmer.

We hereby nominate Ms. Zimmer as the newest official member of the Mortified BFF Club.

Also spotted on her shelf? Middlesex (a book about a female teenage outcast) and Ulysses (a book about awkward teenage boys).

Anyone detect a recurring theme?

Labels: Pop Culture, Press

Ever wanted to know what Mortified sounds like not in English? Enjoy this TV news story about Skambyran: Mortified Sweden. The first non-English-speaking production of its kind, Mortified's Swedish production features all the same childhood misery and anguish... as told in a whole new language. While we've dabbled with foreign-language pieces in the past, this is our first attempt to build a complete show around it. So far the results have been excellent, and fans have packed the shows.



The bad news? You likely can't understand a word they are saying.

The good news? You can enjoy a sneak peek of Mortified Sweden without having to pay for airfare.

Congrats to Linda Backlund, Mortified Sweden's chief angstologist, who did a kick ass job in her first TV interview.

Labels: Press

Big thanks to the one and only Judy Blume for making a Mortified milestone.

As many of you know, we've long listed Ms. Blume as the "official patron saint of Mortified". In part, this is because of the influential and progressive work she's done in the world of young adult lit. But it is also because her presence (references to her name or work) looms over many of the old journals, notebooks, and letters submitted by Mortified's contributors raised in the 70s, 80s and even 90s.

So naturally, it was huge thrill to discover the reverse-- that Judy Blume actually wrote about us in her journal. We can think of no more fitting or surreal honor. What began as a simple bit of fanmail many years ago... has grown into a pretty damn unique and surprising friendship. So reading her entry meant a lot.

And yes, we've been pretty much spazzing out like preteen girls in a Judy Blume novel ever since.

By the way, she has a new children's book out, and we highly suggest buying it for someone much shorter than you.

Labels: BFF Club, Press

It finally aired and we hope you liked it. The people at This American Life (on both radio and tv) have been supportive of Mortified for many many years now, and I'm thrilled that their foray into tv has proven to be such a success for them.

In the meantime, here's a mini clip of Sascha Rothchild... who was nice enough to feed a small gathering of people crackers, cheese and Shrek-colored m&ms last night as we watched the airing after work. I wondered what the teenage Sascha would have thought of that.


Mortified as seen on This American Life TV.

Some fans may notice that the full tv clip is a bit shorter than our original radio or stage versions (including the version that appears on TAL's greatest hits CD). But I am happy to say, it still captures the same astonishing portrait of reckless youth at its best/worst. Sascha's piece has long been one of my favorite little excavations to present because it celebrates the range of emotion I love to explore in Mortified-- material that is funny, provocative, disturbing, sincere and sad all at once. For those who express concern about what happened to her, I'm proud to say she not only grew up to be healthy and adjusted, but also a great friend who serves delicious m&ms.

I hope you'll tune in.

- Dave

Labels: Press

Greetings. Mortified's how-to-be-an-amateur-press-whore tour continues. E!
included Mortified on tonight's Daily 10 in their 411 section.

It will air:

-Tuesday Dec 19 @ 730pm and 1130pm
-Wednesday Dec 20 @ 830am and 1230pm

No interviews or clips as far as I know... but it's a good plug & repeats
several times. Thought I'd share the fun.

If you live in St. Louis, listen to KMOX next week too. Onion AV Club also ran a very nice piece on Mortified too that is online. We hope to have our press clip page finally updated in Jan 2007. But for now, enjoy these makeshift updates.

Labels: Press

So it's week 1 of the the book tour. And I can't stress enough how appreciative we are of all the amazing support people are showing. From fans to media and beyond. Here's a rundown of some places you can spot us over the holiday season.

Entertinament Weekly (we made #3 on the Must List!)
Daily Candy
Geraldo at Large
Today Show
Jane
Glamour
Esquire
LA Weekly
Onion AV
NY Post
Talk of the Nation
Here & Now
Reuters
Washington Examiner
CoolHuntings
Boston Globe Magazine
Chicago Tribune
Fox Morning News (detroit)
KLKX
& a bunch more

including... this one...


KQED Writers Block
Listen to their podcast.

All of which is to say thanks again for contantly rocking our world.

Dave & Mortified Staff

Labels: Press

T-minus several minutes for before I leave for ye olde 30 Rock. Or is it Studio 60. I forget these days.

Anyway, a free Mortified shirt goes to the person who correctly predicts just how many seconds in it will take before I accidentally puke on Al Roker due to nervousness. My wager? 6.

See ya on TV.

Dahveed

-
ps: until we update our website's press page, check out the fun that went down here:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15852593
-

Labels: Press

So This American Life has a TV show coming to Showtime in 2007. And they will be taping part of our July 26 Mortified NYC show. The segment will feature Mortified's favorite former debaucherer Sascha Rothchild reading the same super-slutty journals that appeared on their NPR radio show a few years ago. In fact, this same exact journal (plus lots more) will be featured in our upcoming book, Mortified: Real Words Real People Real Pathetic. True tales. Ripped from the pages of real life.

As usual, the event already sold out however there will likely be space for those who want to take their chances @ the door. As addeded incentive, we will have 3 performers from our LA show performing in NYC this month. Beyond Sascha, there's David Nadelberg reading a poem that recently won the coveted title during Mortified's popular Bad Teen Poetry Slam segment in San Fan, where the audience votes for the very worst. But much much better is the holy-shit-hilarious camping journals of Masha Tivyan. Her piece is among our all time favorites. A truly fascinating piece.

Speaking of the west coast, THIS SUNDAY we will doing a FREE (and somewhat more family friendly) mini version of Mortifed at the San Fran Theater Festival. Our first ever outdoor show.

On the Chicago front, we're quietly venue shopping. Any takers? We've found some amazingly strong cast members with some wonderfully lame material for our midwest debut. Very excited to finally share their stuff.

Labels: Press

A while back, we got a call from the nice people at Newsweek saying they wantred to do a piece on Mortified. We replied with something totally mature like "Um, really? Awesome!" The cool thing is that the germ for the story came from one of our die hard fans in LA telling a friend who told friend etc. who happened to be a reporter.

Flash forward: Newsweek just ran the story. We've posted a copy to our website's media section if you want to see. However, if you own a print copy, we can be identified as the story that is not about dead people, starving people or exploding buildings.

And as a clarification, the story also refers to a few other similar-minded shows in a manner that made them sound like they are produced by Mortified. Since a few people have asked, nope, we're not connected. We are the largest and longest running show of its kind. Hope that helps.

Anyway, the fact that this story came about as a direct result of our fans (and not our team's hustling) shows us just how awesome grassroots projects can truly be.

We are forever grateful to our amazing supporters and this is a great example. We hope to continue 'sharing the shame'. You guys rock.

Labels: Press

Angst invades America's airwaves. The always inspiring This American Life will be airing a never before broadcast Mortified clip that was recorded live at our LA show December 2005 at M Bar.

It features the sad/funny/strange/true letters of a then-teeange Will Seymour (www.williamseymour.com) and his then-ailing grandmother. It's one of our more poignant pieces-- the kind of stuff we love to get to do with Mortified. A lot of work went into shaping this piece and we hope you like it.

On a side note, Will is featured in our upcoming book (pre-order yours today) with a totally different but equally amazing submission.

Labels: Press