Annabelle Gurwitch

Gurwitch was born to a Jewish family[6] in Mobile, Alabama, and grew up in Florida, graduating from Miami Beach High School in 1980. While there, she took acting classes with Jay W. Jensen. After high school, she attended The Experimental Theatre Wing at New York University.

Gurwitch has one son and lives in Los Angeles. She has written and given talks on how her southern Jewish roots have influenced her family life.[7][8][9][10] On November 14, 2020, the New York Times published her opinion piece "The Coronavirus Saved My Life", describing how she went in for a coronavirus test and came out with a stage 4 metastatic lung cancer diagnosis.[11]

Gurwitch began working as an actress Off-Broadway in New York City, including productions with Theater for a Young Audience at Henry Street Settlement, The Public Theater, the 20th Anniversary production of Uncommon Women and Others at Lucille Lortel. Her first long-running television role was as Gina Daniels on The Guiding Light in the mid 1980s.

Gurwitch's theater credits include: The World Premiere of Donald Margulies' A Coney Island Christmas[12] at The Geffen Playhouse, the West Coast Premiere of Go Back to Where You Are[13] by David Greenspan at The Odyssey, the West Coast premier of Women in Jeopardy[14] at EST Santa Barbara, productions with LA Theaterworks including Sixteen Wounded with Omar Metwally, Our Lady of 121 Street[15] opposite Laurence Fishburn and Adam's Rib[16] with Adam Arkin.

Her performance, off Broadway at the Joe Quintero Theater, in the title role of Murray Mednick's Joe and Betty garnered her a place in The New York Times "Top Ten Performances in Theatre of the Year 2002." She also appeared in the Los Angeles Times "Top Ten Performances of the Year in Theatre 2001."

She developed her solo show based on I See You Made an Effort, in workshops at the All for One Solo Fest, NY and Skylight Theater, Los Angeles, in 2017. It was featured in the subscription offerings at The Scottsdale Center of Performing Arts and The Temple Theater, at The Des Moines Performing Arts Center, amongst other touring locations. Her live appearances include: The Moth, Joe's Pub, House of Speakeasy, New York Comedy Festival, and the Thurber Spring Lecture Series.

Gurwitch co-wrote two episodes of the 1980s children's animated series ThunderCats.[17][18] Gurwitch and Paul Gilmartin were the original hosts of the TBS show Dinner and a Movie, which combined cooking instruction with the viewing of a feature film. Gurwitch served as co-host for six years, departing in 2002.

Other television hosting work included stints on Not Necessarily the News, Syfy's The Dream Team with Annabelle and Michael, VH1's Best Of..., series, Style Network's You're Invited, and Dot Comedy. She was the host of Wa$ted! on Planet Green for three seasons.[19]

Gurwitch has appeared on TV series including Dexter, The Cleaner, Medium, State of Mind, The Minor Accomplishments of Jackie Woodman, Seinfeld and Boston Legal.[20]

In 2002 Gurwitch appeared as the host of Meow TV, along with her cat Stinky, a show distributed on CD inside bags of Meow Mix. Meow TV presented itself as "Television By Cats, For Cats."[21]

In 2007 Gurwitch wrote, produced, directed, and appeared in the documentary film Fired!.[22] It documents the experiences of twenty-five people, including Gurwitch, who were fired from various jobs. They recount their firings through interviews, skits, comedy routines, and filmed excerpts from the previously produced stage play of the same title. David Cross, Jeff Garlin, Bob Odenkirk and Anne Meara were all featured in addition to UAW workers, former US Secretary of Labor Bob Reich, economist Ben Stein and many other job seekers. The film was played at the US Department of Labor and labor film festivals around the country including the DC Labor FilmFest.

Gurwitch's other films include Melvin Goes to Dinner and The Shaggy Dog.[20]

She is the author of four books, most recently, the essay collection, Wherever You Go, There They Are: Stories About My Family You Might Relate To (Penguin Random House) which O Magazine called "a vivacious confessional".[23] Her other books are I See You Made an Effort,[24] which was a New York Times bestseller[25] and Thurber Prize for American Humor Writing finalist. The year Gurwitch was a finalist for the Thurber Prize marked the first time the three finalists were all female.[26] Gurwitch adapted this book as a solo show, first produced at the Skylight Theater[27] and then toured nationally in 2017; You Say Tomato, I Say Shut Up (coauthored with Jeff Kahn) which she and Kahn turned into a play that has run in over 30 cities, and Fired! a documentary which she wrote, produced and starred in and premiered as a Showtime Comedy Special[28] and radio play for LA TheaterWorks. Time Magazine featured Gurwitch and Fired! in their annual 10 Ideas That Are Changing the World.[29]

Her essays and satire have been published in The New Yorker - Shouts & Murmurs (Please Unsubscribe]),[30] The New York Times (Death Without Dignity]),[31] Wall Street Journal (After 'Wonder Woman,' Let's Cast More Women in Bit Parts Too],[32] The Los Angeles Times (Annabelle Gurwitch on family — the one you're born with, and the one on your book cover),[33] McSweeney's (Book Publicity in the Age of Trump),[34] O Magazine (The Conversation You Need to Have with Anyone You Love),[35] Time.com (I Was My Mother's Drug Mule),[36] and Lena Dunham's Lenny Newsletter, amongst other publications. She was a regular commentator for NPR's All Things Considered[37] and Day to Day on KPCC.[38] She frequently makes appearances on NPR including on The Moth,[39] Ask Me Another[40] and Marketplace.[41] An excerpt from Wherever You Go, There They Are about how multi-level marketing companies exploit the need for community to recruit female sales associates was featured on the website in 2017. Her frequent media appearances include commentaries on The PBS News Hour,[42][43] Real Time with Bill Maher,[44][45] CBS Early Show, and The Today Show.

Gurwitch's memoir, I See You Made an Effort: Compliments, Indignities and Survival Stories From the Edge of 50, was published by Blue Rider Press on March 7, 2014.[46] Gurwitch talked about her experiences writing the book on the podcast GluckRadio, starring executive life coach Errol Gluck.[47]

Gurwitch once worked for Woody Allen, but was fired during an encounter in which he said that she looked "retarded" among other insults. In 2006 she published a book of essays inspired by that dismissal called Fired!: Tales of the Canned, Canceled, Downsized, and Dismissed.[48] Gurwitch also based a number of live performances on the Fired! theme, and in 2007 completed the Fired! documentary film.[22]

Gurwitch is a contributing writer for NPR's Day to Day, The Los Angeles Times Magazine, The Nation, and the website Freshyarn.com. She has written for Child, Publishers Weekly, Marie Claire, More, Men's Health, Glamour, Cooking Light, Premiere, Penthouse and Los Angeles Magazine.

Her essays have appeared in two anthologies: Note to Self: 30 Women on Hardship, Humiliation, Heartbreak, and Overcoming It All[49] and Rejected: Tales of the Failed, Dumped, and Canceled.[50]

Gurwitch and husband Jeff Kahn signed a six-figure deal with Crown to publish a memoir. The book, published in February 2010, is You Say Tomato, I Say Shut Up. The two adapted the book into a theatrical production, in association with Off-Broadway Booking.

In November 2012 Gurwitch published an eBook short called Autumn Leaves with Zola Books that recounts an erotic fantasy she once had about one of the staff members at an Apple Genius Bar.[51] The short is included in her memoir I See You Made an Effort: Compliments, Indignities, and Survival Stories from the Edge of 50 which was published March 6, 2014.

In April 2017, Gurwitch published Wherever You Go, There They Are: Stories About My Family You Might Relate To.[52][53][54]

• Fired! : tales of the canned, canceled, downsized and dismissed, New York: Touchstone, 2006. ISBN 9780743289856, OCLC 974417816
• You say tomato, I say shut up : a love story, New York: Crown Publishers, 2010. ISBN 9780307463777, OCLC 419797211
• I see you made an effort : compliments, indignities, and survival stories from the edge of 50, New York : Blue Rider Press, 2014. ISBN 9780399166181, OCLC 952009094
• Wherever You Go, There They Are: stories about my family you might relate to. Penguin Books, 2018. ISBN 9780399574894, OCLC 994426415

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Annabelle Gurwitch.

• Official website
• Annabelle Gurwitch at IMDb
• NPR Audio Commentary by Annabelle Gurwitch "Myth-Busting in the Journey to Save Our Planet"
• NPR Audio Commentary by Annabelle Gurwitch "Cell Phones, Relativity, and Tardiness"
• NPR: Annabelle Gurwitch Tells the Story of "The 17-Hour Brisket"
• Los Angeles Times Article: "Flee the Fire, Pack the Panties!"
• The Nation Articles by Annabelle Gurwitch
• HoboTrashcan.com interview with Annabelle Gurwitch
• Annabelle Gurwitch on Bill Maher
• Baraka Kaseko Annabelle Gurwitch had strong last words after a TBS executive fired her, AV Club, 5/14/17
• Kai Ryssdal and Molly Wood Annabelle Gurwitch is afraid of the gig economy, Marketplace, May 15, 2017