Angela Nissel, writer for Scrubs and The Boondocks and author of The Broke Diaries, has a new memoir: Good Grief, Pass the Bread, Mom Is Dead. It is about watching a parent die. It is also, by design, funny.
Nissel built her voice on economic hardship and survival humor, first in a college blog, then in a book, then in two television writers rooms. That same voice carries the weight of terminal illness caregiving here, which is either a strange fit or the only honest one, depending on your experience with grief.
The Verge interview goes deeper than the book's premise, into how Nissel constructed the tone, why gallows humor is a legitimate grief response, and what her career arc from broke blogger to prestige TV writer actually looked like. Read it for the craft argument, not just the punchline.
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