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Lynnee Breedlove's One Freak Show
" Breedlove has talent coming out of her ears. ” —Dodie Bellamy, San Francisco Chronicle " Uninhibited humor lends tender insight and perspective to a gender politics debate that often takes place in a fiercely contentious atmosphere. ” —Billy Tania, The San Francisco Bay Times " ...Offers hilarious, gender-bending comedy that will spread much mirth among your LGBT friends. ” — Tucson Weekly Through the unusual vehicle of gender-bending comedy, Lynn Breedlove asks his audience, " Who truly owns and defines the self, family, or community? ” Based on his critically acclaimed comedy performances, this laugh-out-loud collection of outrageous writing celebrates a lifelong defiance of categorization. With universal appeal, aimed at " Everyone who wants to be able to laugh at their preconceptions about themselves and others, ” the distinctive humor in Lynnee Breedlove's One Freak Show delightfully enlightens while challenging societal norms about love, identity, and community. "Am I a man or a woman? What are you askin' me for . . . Do I look like I know? ” Lambda Literary Award finalist Lynn Breedlove is known as lyricist and front thang for the queer punk band Tribe 8, and he is the author of the speed-driven bike messenger novel Godspeed . He has toured throughout the United States and Europe as a musician and comic performer. Winner of a Heritage Award for Creativity, Breedlove currently resides in San Francisco.
120 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 2009
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
June 2, 2010
I had read about this book on Manic D Press's website but wasn't interested in it; I think I feared that it would lose a lot of value because it attempts to move a live show to the page. After Gottlieb mentioned him in an interview I bought the book, and became more happy to do so after he is mentioned in the afterward of Cunt.
I am so happy I bought this! This book is for people who already have basic knowledge about queer/trans issues, as Lynnee explores them in more depth than someone without training could fully appreciate. I particularly loved the section "Alphabet City" which explores the evergorwing LGBQT acronym and the different meanings behind each letter.
Breedlove does not bring up these issues in a dry academic format, or as another commenter here has noted, the typical angsty biographical one. She blends theory, cultural observations, and personal experiences with humor to craete a marvelous text. It is rare for a book to make me cry but even rarer for it to make me literally laugh out loud. I began reading this when I was exhausted and still couldn't help laughing. Yet, the humor does not undermine the importance of this work at all. It is a great way to acknowledge and provoke thought about the queer community.
Many people, including myself, had fear that this book wouldn't be as good as the live act. I have never seen Breedlove's live act, so I can't make an accurate comparison. Most of the selections were successful on the page and those that didn't quite make it obviously had performance potential. Breedlove begins the boook with a history of his show, which aids in understanding those pieces even more. After reading this book, seeing the show is now a must!
My only complaint with this book, besides the stage to page aspect, is that it was too good. I was enjoying myself and laughing so much that I could not put it down, and I fear that I may have lost some important aspects in doing this. There are obviously worse complaints to make about a book. I plan on rereading this both as a full text and in sections in the future not only to make up for that, but because it was so funny.
I am so happy I bought this! This book is for people who already have basic knowledge about queer/trans issues, as Lynnee explores them in more depth than someone without training could fully appreciate. I particularly loved the section "Alphabet City" which explores the evergorwing LGBQT acronym and the different meanings behind each letter.
Breedlove does not bring up these issues in a dry academic format, or as another commenter here has noted, the typical angsty biographical one. She blends theory, cultural observations, and personal experiences with humor to craete a marvelous text. It is rare for a book to make me cry but even rarer for it to make me literally laugh out loud. I began reading this when I was exhausted and still couldn't help laughing. Yet, the humor does not undermine the importance of this work at all. It is a great way to acknowledge and provoke thought about the queer community.
Many people, including myself, had fear that this book wouldn't be as good as the live act. I have never seen Breedlove's live act, so I can't make an accurate comparison. Most of the selections were successful on the page and those that didn't quite make it obviously had performance potential. Breedlove begins the boook with a history of his show, which aids in understanding those pieces even more. After reading this book, seeing the show is now a must!
My only complaint with this book, besides the stage to page aspect, is that it was too good. I was enjoying myself and laughing so much that I could not put it down, and I fear that I may have lost some important aspects in doing this. There are obviously worse complaints to make about a book. I plan on rereading this both as a full text and in sections in the future not only to make up for that, but because it was so funny.
May 17, 2010
probably the only trans narrative i've ever read that's totally angst-free, which is an interesting perspective. plus, it's fuckin funny. i wish i could see this live.
January 28, 2024
Breedlove is a super interesting person and, I would say based on a single live reading I saw a while ago of some unpublished work, a strong writer and performer... but you'll get only glimpses of that here. The book is as far as I can tell a direct transcription of stage/standup material, just the spoken words, and there are obvious problems with that approach—at least for any performer whose humor isn't 100% verbal: you lose the delivery and the physical performance, which doesn't just affect the tone but sometimes is essential to even knowing what the idea is. There's a fair number of lines in this where if you haven't seen the show, you'll just be getting a mysterious half-joke with an invisible punchline. I actually can enjoy reading stuff like that, because it gives a weird kind of negative-space view of how performing and storytelling works, and because you can be surprised by weird little maybe-unintentional turns of phrase that stand out in print differently than in speech. The most memorable example I've seen of that is The Essential Lenny Bruce; Breedlove mentions Bruce in the preface, and there are bits where I think you can see the influence pretty clearly.
December 28, 2017
Does a good job of setting the scene for the period this book covers. Breedlove coming of age and finding her voice at a time when gender and roles were very much fixed. Breedlove is a well known name in the queer punk scene.
March 26, 2025
Punchy and in-your-face much like Tribe 8’s songs; The author’s humor is unapologetic and crude, so if that’s not your thing this book won’t be for you. The jokes were hit or miss, I feel like this would’ve worked more if I watched the bits instead of reading them. There were whole segments that felt like there were no jokes, but others that were back-to-back. Not knee-slappers, but I definitely got some giggles.
September 15, 2010
This little book’s big impact will continue to grow, along with that of Lynn Breedlove’s previous novel Godspeed. Breedlove’s life is full of drama and scandal and vice and redemption, but what’s important about One Freak Show is the perspective.
Breedlove is the outsider’s outsider – both a beloved figure in several communities and a member of no community on Earth. Think you’ve felt alienated? Next to Lynn Breedlove, the rest of us self-defined weirdos are like lemmings. Try being an angry peacenik, the front person for a dissolved punk band, a cosmic teacher who consorts with sex workers and drug addicts, while your gender identity changes several times a day, you are always a party of one, no matter how lovable you are. Who can relate to your life experiences? Most people would retreat into a hermit’s cave, but Breedlove has chosen instead to create an ever-changing performance called “One Freak Show,” touring Europe with it before capturing it between the covers of this book.
One Freak Show is written in short, energetic bursts, with a page now and then of song lyrics or quotes from very young children. Breedlove is not interested in being Spaulding Gray, pouring out Proustian reams on the merits of choosing a sandwich or taking a walk. I found that I could not just sit down with it and read it all at once, though the whole thing is only 128 pages. I also found resistance within myself about reading the book in order. I felt more comfortable opening the book at random and reading two or three pages, then stopping to process it. The photo illustrations include both historical passage points in the author’s life, and documented ephemera from an ever-changing life in art and music.
My favorite thing about One Freak Show is that Breedlove’s writing is provocative without being hostile. I’ve spent so much time reading and watching work whose sole purpose was to vent the creator’s anger and disgust. Often I’ve felt slimed by someone who had promised edgy insight and then spewed bile all over me after I paid twelve bucks and sat on a really hard plastic chair for two hours. Lynn Breedlove never makes me feel disrespected even when the two of us are as far apart as opposite points on a compass.
And funny? Lemme tell you. Breedlove’s imagining what it would be like if the crew from MTV’s “Cribs” or one of the reality shows came to see a punk artist’s real living space is hilarious. And then there’s this: “Down the middle of my once-perfect abdomen, I have a six-inch scar, though. Chicks dig scars. They want to know what happened. I tell them: I got in a knife fight with a surgeon He won. It was only ‘cause I was asleep.”
One Freak Show isn’t all fun and games. If you can’t stand mentions of pornography, street drugs, or peeing on trees in the woods, this book will be too “outsider lit” for you. It’s not graphic or shocking, but there are two or three perverse things on nearly every page. There’s also plenty of contradiction, with occasional Breedlove vs. Breedlove arguments. Now that’s the work of the outsider’s outsider’s outsider: nobody’s always in your corner, even you.
Lynnee Breedlove’s One Freak Show is honest, entertaining, and sparely written. The chapters are short and separated by topic, so you always know what you’re about to get. Fans of Breedlove’s earlier book, Godspeed, will get a large charge out of this second book by someone who is shaking up the world 128 pages at a time.
Breedlove is the outsider’s outsider – both a beloved figure in several communities and a member of no community on Earth. Think you’ve felt alienated? Next to Lynn Breedlove, the rest of us self-defined weirdos are like lemmings. Try being an angry peacenik, the front person for a dissolved punk band, a cosmic teacher who consorts with sex workers and drug addicts, while your gender identity changes several times a day, you are always a party of one, no matter how lovable you are. Who can relate to your life experiences? Most people would retreat into a hermit’s cave, but Breedlove has chosen instead to create an ever-changing performance called “One Freak Show,” touring Europe with it before capturing it between the covers of this book.
One Freak Show is written in short, energetic bursts, with a page now and then of song lyrics or quotes from very young children. Breedlove is not interested in being Spaulding Gray, pouring out Proustian reams on the merits of choosing a sandwich or taking a walk. I found that I could not just sit down with it and read it all at once, though the whole thing is only 128 pages. I also found resistance within myself about reading the book in order. I felt more comfortable opening the book at random and reading two or three pages, then stopping to process it. The photo illustrations include both historical passage points in the author’s life, and documented ephemera from an ever-changing life in art and music.
My favorite thing about One Freak Show is that Breedlove’s writing is provocative without being hostile. I’ve spent so much time reading and watching work whose sole purpose was to vent the creator’s anger and disgust. Often I’ve felt slimed by someone who had promised edgy insight and then spewed bile all over me after I paid twelve bucks and sat on a really hard plastic chair for two hours. Lynn Breedlove never makes me feel disrespected even when the two of us are as far apart as opposite points on a compass.
And funny? Lemme tell you. Breedlove’s imagining what it would be like if the crew from MTV’s “Cribs” or one of the reality shows came to see a punk artist’s real living space is hilarious. And then there’s this: “Down the middle of my once-perfect abdomen, I have a six-inch scar, though. Chicks dig scars. They want to know what happened. I tell them: I got in a knife fight with a surgeon He won. It was only ‘cause I was asleep.”
One Freak Show isn’t all fun and games. If you can’t stand mentions of pornography, street drugs, or peeing on trees in the woods, this book will be too “outsider lit” for you. It’s not graphic or shocking, but there are two or three perverse things on nearly every page. There’s also plenty of contradiction, with occasional Breedlove vs. Breedlove arguments. Now that’s the work of the outsider’s outsider’s outsider: nobody’s always in your corner, even you.
Lynnee Breedlove’s One Freak Show is honest, entertaining, and sparely written. The chapters are short and separated by topic, so you always know what you’re about to get. Fans of Breedlove’s earlier book, Godspeed, will get a large charge out of this second book by someone who is shaking up the world 128 pages at a time.
April 5, 2010
Basically, this is an attempt to put Breedlove's comedy show into book format, but it doesn't quite manage to totally bridge the gap between the live and printed forms. For example, the cover makes me think that Lynn's puppet skits--in which he uses stuffed animals to act out interactions between various identities within the queer community--are a highlight of the stand-up act, but they come across as one of the weakest parts of the book. There are a couple of songs in the book that come across as sort of lame, too. I bet the songs and puppetry would be pretty funny live, where they'd have Breedlove's voice and body-gestures to help them float, but they're not that funny on page, and they don't give the impression of having been modified to play to the strengths of the printed word. On the other hand, there are a few parts of the book that do manage to provoke a laugh, like the "Wrong Bathroom" section, and I definitely appreciate the light-hearted approach to topics that often burn with anger. At its best, this book can be thought-provoking too, like when it touches on the complications that arise when lesbian-feminist outlooks meet with transman identities ("When we had feminism, we could blame men for all the lousy things...now we're all becoming men..."). In the end, though, I'd probably recommend using your cash to see Lynn Breedlove live, instead of using it to buy this book.
July 29, 2010
Funny, funny funny funny funny -- hilarious! This is an awesome read and I can tell that Breedlove has grown and learned in his/her journey from freak to freak. I mean, one kind of freak to becoming another kind, or maybe more than one other kind. Basically this is, as I understand it, a compilation of Breedlove's live show, "One Freak Show" and it is awesome. Read it, learn, laugh and think.
September 14, 2010
I would love to see Breedlove's standup routine live; I think some of her lines lose their impact on the page. For me, the highlight of this book is the last chapter when she talks about the lives of Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon - a history lesson in American queer activism, delivered in Breedlove's signature heartbreaking and hilarious style.
July 10, 2013
I enjoyed the read, and I enjoyed looking through Lynn's perspective, but I think a lot of the things he was talking about went right over my head. That being said, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to someone. It was quite good.
Read
June 27, 2014Being Lynn Breedlove, there are of course sparks of brilliance that shine through here, but for the most part, this is clearly a performance piece and doesn't translate to the page. Still worth a gander.
January 8, 2015
Some of this was kind of funny, and then a lot of it was transmisogynistic and femmephobic and also there was one rape-y skit. Then I looked up Lynn Breedlove and discovered that Tribe 8 plays MichFest, and he support Kael T. Block, known rapist of many femmes, and so yeah byyyyyye.
December 30, 2009
ha! Made me laugh.
January 9, 2010
pretty funny stuff, don't know if I would have liked it as much if I hadn't seen her perform before reading it.
August 25, 2010
2 and a half stars. While it would probably be great as a performance, the rhythm was a bit off for me as a reader. Some hilarious bits, though.
October 10, 2009
wanted more!
January 21, 2010
So I am queer and I will say this - this book is not funny. At all. I did not laugh even once.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews