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On October 24, 2025, the comic performers Kate Berlant and Jacqueline Novak graced the platform for a chat with the New Yorker staff writer Rachel Syme, as a piece of the 26th annual New Yorker Festival, a weekend overflowing with dialogues, showings, acts, and the like. The Festival, the magazine’s hallmark affair, unfolded in New York City, uniting prominent figures from the spheres of letters, cinema, humor, broadcasting, governance, and healthcare.
Kate Berlant is a comedian, an actress, and an author. Her solo theatrical piece, “Kate,” helmed by Bo Burnham, garnered praise over four sold-out engagements. She has launched a pair of stand-up specials, “Cinnamon in the Wind” and, collaborating with John Early, “Would It Kill You to Laugh?,” which secured nominations for a Critics’ Choice Award and a Primetime Emmy Award. Berlant’s acting portfolio features the movies “Dream Scenario,” “Don’t Worry Darling,” “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” and “Sorry to Bother You.” On the small screen, she features in programs such as “A League of Their Own,” “Search Party,” “The Other Two,” and “The Characters,” among others.
Jacqueline Novak is a performer, a humorist, and a podcaster, residing in Los Angeles. Her acclaimed one-person show, “Get On Your Knees,” premiered in 2018 and obtained a Drama Desk nomination for Outstanding Solo Performance in 2020. The play’s Off-Broadway duration was lauded as a Critic’s Pick by the New York Times. Novak’s Netflix special adaptation of “Get On Your Knees,” steered by Natasha Lyonne, was nominated for an Emmy Award. Novak guested on the podcast “2 Dope Queens,” and is slated to appear in Kogonada’s feature film “A Big Bold Beautiful Journey.” She co-anchors a comical wellness podcast, “POOG,” together with Kate Berlant. Her personal account, “How to Weep in Public,” saw publication in 2016.
Rachel Syme, a staff scribe for The New Yorker, has reported on Hollywood, style, television, books, stagecraft, melodies, metropolitan life, and further cultural topics dating back to 2012. Her cultural assessments and reported segments, predominantly addressing women’s experiences, artistic creation, history, and renown, have similarly graced the pages of the New York Times Magazine, GQ, New York, Vogue, Rolling Stone, and Vanity Fair, among diverse publications. She is the pen behind “Syme’s Letter Writer,” which debuted in January of the current year, and is presently crafting a nonfiction compilation for Knopf.
Sourse: newyorker.com
