SpeakEasy’s flagship program is an acclaimed series of literary cabarets, Seriously Entertaining, where authors take the stage to riff and ruminate informally, dinner-theater-style, on the evening’s theme. The Wall Street Journal calls it “Think-y entertainment for New York’s book-loving crowd.”
“A literary mixtape [with] perfect flow and variety.”
— The New York Times, March 2016
Upcoming shows
ALL SHOWS HELD AT JOE’S PUB at The Public Theater at 425 Lafayette St, NYC 10003. If a show is sold out, check our website again in a few days, as extra tickets sometimes become available closer to show date. Join our mailing list for further information.
› 4.21.20 @ 7pm – DO OR DIE
› 5.27.20 @ 7pm – ALL IN DUE TIME
Past shows
JANUARY 2020: FEAST YOUR EYES
In January, House of SpeakEasy dipped into the fine arts with the theme “Feast Your Eyes.” Using imagery from her graphic memoir Good Talk, Mira Jacob told the story of her arranged courtship gone awry. Artist Ken Buhler took a trip to London with his son, where unknowingly, they honored the memory of his late wife. Writer Nancy Princenthal looked to the artists of the 1970s to see how they approached and reimagined themes of sexual violence. Artist Rachel Feinstein told the origin story of her tattoo and how it became a testament to femininity, decay, and the cyclicality of life.
NOVEMBER 2019: FOR GOOD MEASURE
In November, House of SpeakEasy ending the fall 2019 season with an eclectic cast of speakers riffing on the theme “For Good Measure.” Journalist James Geary meditated on the root meanings of our daily metaphors, arguing that “the way we get to the bottom of things is through metaphor.” “We all remember where we were the night of November 8, 2016,” said reporter and author Nina Burleigh, as she recounted her night covering the Republican election party. At age 7, Monique Truong thought if she ate American food, she could become American. So she taught herself, via Fannie Farmer, how to bake the American way. Maggie Paxson is an anthropologist by day and a big band singer by night. In the intersection of these two paths, she learned how to cure her fear of lightning.
View photos from the show.
OCTOBER 2019: INTO THE SILENCE
In October, House of SpeakEasy dove “Into the Silence” to explore stories both personal and universal in nature. The evening’s program featured the groundbreaking author of a new superhero series Kwanza Osajyefo, who talked about how, after years of working in the comics industry, he learned to tell the story no one else was telling; award-winning novelist Roxana Robinson dove into the silence of her family history, asking how could decent people have been complicit in slavery; former President of the ACLU Nadine Strossen shared her family’s immigration story, and how it sparked her own crusade against censorship and hate; astrobiologist and Scientific American writer Caleb Scharf looked back in time to the British countryside when he first looked up to the stars in search of answers about the universe.
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SEPTEMBER 2019: NO SLEEP TIL
In Septemeber, House of SpeakEasy kicked off its fall season with a special Brooklyn Book Festival-theme “No Sleep Till.” The evening’s program featured Award-winning historian William Dalrymple, who shed light on the first corporate empire: The East India Company; Lambda Literary Award-winning novelist Nicole Dennis-Benn recounted her turbulent immigration story and why she came to America to live and not to die; Brooklyn-born and raised Torrey Maldonado discussed the duality of life living in the projects and his college education at Vassar; and Rona Jaffe Award and Italo Calvino Award–winner Helen Phillips shared how she turned her Achilles’ heel into a superpower.
View photos from the show.
JUNE 2019: THE SONG SINGS ITSELF
For our final show of the spring season, House of SpeakEasy took its theme from William Carlos Williams’ line “the song sings itself.” Activist and journalist Michael Bronski recalled his journey to become a historian, observing “history is many things, including how we use the past to inform how we deal with today.” Emmy Award–winning journalist Trish Hall revealed how she dealt with the Twitter rage she got as the Times’ op-ed editor. Novelist and screenwriter John Burnham Schwartz told the story of the Red Daughter (Joseph Stalin’s daughter) who spent her whole life proving that she was not her father’s daughter. Memoirist and novelist Darcey Steinke reflected on going through menopause, and how her research led her to a powerful encounter with a female killer whale.
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MAY 2019: THE ROOT OF IT ALL
In May, the House of SpeakEasy’s speakers travelled into the past to try to get to “the root of it all.” Eve Ensler spoke on the power of imagination and compassion as grounding forces in the face of trauma. Boris Fishman asked tough questions of his grandparents, attempting to get to the root of his mysterious family tree. Kevin Young took us back to the road trip at the root of his poetry career. Damian Barr moved through the intersecting histories of the three photographs that sparked the material of his new book.
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APRIL 2019: THE STRENGTH OF IGNORANCE
This April, House of SpeakEasy speakers examined “The Strength of Ignorance.” Journalist Max Boot delved into his personal ideological journey sparked by the Trump presidency. Poet Ross Gay highlighted the joys in our daily lives that we often ignore. Novelist Andri Snær Magnason told a magical story of why we can’t avoid the changing world around us. Journalist Vicky Ward separates myth from reality on the Kushners.
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MARCH 2019 : SEEING BLINDLY
House of Speakeasy went to the dark side: Journalist Patrick Radden Keefe shed light on a troubled time. Poet Safiya Sinclair shared her voice, unafraid of the consequences. Journalist Aatish Taseer applied logic to magical realism. And novelists and writing partners Elizabeth Keenan and Greg Wands outlined their writing process and how their story and partnership grew from difficult experiences in their lives.
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JANUARY 2019: SECRETS AND LIES
Identity, Revelations, and What We Hide
Lauretta Charlton, editor of the Race/Related newsletter at The New York Times, discussed what we share and what we keep to ourselves. Nora Krug, illustrator and author of Belonging: A German Reckons with History and Home, examined the collective and personal impact the Holocaust has for Germans. Novelist John Wray confronted the lies of war and what inspires one to become a fanatic. And Carl Zimmer, The New York Times science columnist and author of She Has Her Mother’s Laugh: The Powers, Perversions, and Potential of Heredity, looked inside to see the secrets of our DNA.
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NOVEMBER 2018: DIVIDED WE STAND
What do Lies, Liars, Identity, and the Internet have in common?
Kwame Anthony Appiah, renowned philosopher and New York Times Magazine’s “Ethicist,” had no qualms tearing into the ties we depend on to bind us together. Screenwriter and novelist Lea Carpenter examined the emotional cost of spying for your country. The New Yorker staff writer Jelani Cobb confronted the role of race in American politics, and Kathleen Hall Jamieson, author of Cyberwar, pulled back the curtain on Russia’s campaign during the 2016 election and the role social media played.
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OCTOBER 2018: FORGET ME NOT
Ghosts, Legacies, and Fraught Heredity, please join us October 16 for “Forget Me Not.”
House of SpeakEasy’s premier literary cabaret delivers another round of unforgettable speakers. Tony Award–winning playwright Itamar Moses delves into the human condition. Pulitzer Prize–winning poet Gregory Pardlo grapples with the ruinous legacy of masculinity inherited from his father. Novelist Joel Rose remembers his co-author and friend Anthony Bourdain, and historian Laura Spinney exposes the fault lines in historical memory.
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SEPTEMBER 2018: THE LONG WAY
Secrets, Faith, and Chasing Hope Every Day, please join us September 18th for “The Long Way.”
House of SpeakEasy’s premier literary cabaret Seriously Entertaining returns from a summer hiatus with a compelling lineup of speakers. Novelist and decorated veteran Elliot Ackerman illustrates how his faith was challenged. Emmy Award-winning journalist and producer Richard Cohen describing the things ones obscure when living with serious illness. CBS Sunday Morning commentator and “Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me” panelist Faith Salie reveals the lengths she would go for approval. And, far from home, memoirist and “This Alien Nation” founder Sofija Stefanovic becomes obsessed with a culture far different than her own.
View photos from this show.
MAY 2018: NO MAN’S LAND
Revolution, obsession, and taking change by the hand, please join us May 22nd for “No Man’s Land.”
House of SpeakEasy returns with another Seriously Entertaining lineup of writers performing on stage at Joe’s Pub at The Public Theater. Journalist Lauren Hilgers examines the life of Patriot Number One as he discovers that exile can follow you anywhere. Historian Caroline Weber explores the women who made Proust Proust, novelist Meg Wolitzer lights a fuse under feminism and refuses to take cover, and New York Times opinion writer Kashana Cauley tells us exactly what she thinks.
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APRIL 2018: ALSO KNOWN AS
Frauds, jihadists, and the powers one has.
Unleash thrilling powers with screenwriter and novelist Noah Hawley, be dazzled by acclaimed director Barry Levinson, peek behind the mask with YA author E. Lockhart, and explore how two teenage girls joined the Syrian Jihad with Asne Seierstad.
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MARCH 2018: A MATTER OF TIME
Ghosts, crooks, and two lives on the line.
Get spooked by artist Duncan Hannah’s story from the great beyond, delve inside with writer Joselin Linder as she searches for the way to stop a deadly family gene, hear how a life and death situation changed novelist Stefan Merrill Block’s future, and discover the secret international network which perpetrated the greatest financial scandal of all time with New York Times editor David Enrich.
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JANUARY 2018: DARKNESS FALLS
Secrets, politics, and inside the hallowed halls.
House of SpeakEasy kicked off the spring season with a Seriously Entertaining lineup of writers. Explore the inner workings of one’s mind with Sandra Allen, examine the differences that bring us together and pull us apart with novelist Elif Shafak, delve inside the most controversial presidency of the modern era with journalist Michael Wolff, and attempt to find the heart of a puzzle with novelist Christopher J. Yates.
View photos from the show.
DECEMBER 2017: CAUGHT IN THE ACT
Theater, justice, and a political pact:
Delve into crime and punishment with law professor James Forman, Jr., explore the sexual history of the 90s with David Friend, tease out the clues with thriller writer Laura Lippman, and examine drama on a global scale with playwright JT Rogers.
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NOVEMBER 2017: FEAR ITSELF
Phobias, terror, and looking in the mirror.
Watch as poet and photographer Rachel Eliza Griffiths reveals a moment of artistic bravery in the face of adversity. Get personal about phobias with The Magicians novelist Lev Grossman. Go beyond the headlines with counterterrorism expert David Kilcullen and plumb the depths of human behavior with journalist Julie Scelfo.
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SEPTEMBER 2017: ONE FOR THE ROAD
For invention, a journey, and a touching ode.
Hear how Adam Begley’s biography of photographer and bon vivant Nadar took to the air, and examine how friendships change over time with bestselling novelist Ann Brashares. Take a trip over bridges and into the future with biographer and journalist Erica Wagner, then let Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter Loudon Wainwright III take you on a musical tour.
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JUNE 2017: BY THE LIGHT OF THE MOON
For secrets and tears and toasts at High Noon.
Rumi-nate on the mysteries of love with biographer Brad Gooch, scour the Hollywood Blacklist with author Glenn Frankel, make yourself clear with Sir Harold Evans while journalist Ada Calhoun thinks about wedding toasts she will never give.
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MAY 2017: ALL TOGETHER NOW
Find a unique houseguest with New Yorker staff writer Elif Batuman, debate the historical role of Nixon with writer John Aloysius Farrell, enjoy dinner and a movie with Annabelle Gurwitch, and delve into the past and future with novelist Jason Reynolds.
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APRIL 2017: THE END MY FRIEND
Ancient prophecy told us four great writers would meet at a late-night spot as we take a tour through THE END MY FRIEND.
Lost in a Roman wilderness of pain? #Same. Journalist and Wonkette extraordinaire Ana Marie Cox saw it coming; comedian Travon Free faces it Full Frontal. For poet Brenda Shaughnessy it was always Our Andromeda anyway, while for millennial prophet and Private Citizen Tony Tulathimutte, anything goes.
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FEBRUARY 2017: FAILING UP
Failing to comprehend the failing state of things?
Climb out of your black hole with physicist Janna Levin and kick off The Residue Years with author Mitchell S. Jackson. Novelist and poet Idra Novey will help us all to reappear, while The Daily Beast editor John Avlon takes the Wingnuts off and begins the process of re-assembly. New York’s finest literary cabaret returns for 2017 and a new era.
DECEMBER 2016: AIDING & ABETTING
Will 2016 Man Booker Prize winner Paul Beatty Sellout and drive a bargain, or will memoirist and chef Gabrielle Hamilton cook up an alibi in the nick of time? Novelist and National Book Award nominee Lydia Millett is set to play havoc with the jury, while author and Olympic fencer Richard Cohen demonstrates his greatest defense.
NOVEMBER 2016: RAZOR’S EDGE
Poet and Pulitzer Prize finalist Elizabeth Alexander will give us The Light of the World while National Book Award winner Phil Klay reveals the writer’s secret weapon. Best-selling author James Rebanks will give us The Shepherd’s View and Man Booker Prize-shortlisted Madeleine Thien will show us both sides of the blade.
SEPTEMBER 2016 : THIS IS NOT THE END
Discover not one, not two, but Thirteen Ways of Looking with award-winning novelist Colum McCann. Explore the art of life with biographer and historian Ruth Scurr. Hit the high notes with Queen of the Night author Alexander Chee. And rediscover the meaning of binge-watching with Sense8 and Bablyon 5 creator J. Michael Straczynski.
JUNE 2016: WHEN STRANGERS MEET
Embrace your inner étranger with novelist and essayist Geoff Dyer while exploring life “On the Couch” with novelist Ayana Mathis and special guest host Jessica Strand. For poet-essayist Chris Abani, it may well be written all over The Face, but an encounter with poet-critic Stephen Burt proves that a close call with nonsense can also be a dinner date with the profound. As Frank Sinatra might say: doo-be-doo-be-don’t miss it.
APRIL 2016: WHILE THE MUSIC LASTS
Let’s be Frank: to miss journalist and filmmaker Jon Ronson would alone be cause for public shame. But we also have theoretical physicist Stephon Alexander putting the jazz back in the cosmos and journalist Bryan Burrough on the sounds of the underground. And before we’re done, we’re changing our major to Tony Award-winning Fun Home playwright Lisa Kron. Being Seriously Entertaining is our forte – join us at Joe’s Pub at The Public Theater for a splendidly uncommon time.
MARCH 2016: IT’S NOT YOU
For George Hodgman, if it’s not one thing it’s a mother — so come along with this best-selling memoirist for a life-changing trip to Bettyville. Take a revelatory journey through Negroland with Pulitzer Prize-winning critic and memoirist Margo Jefferson, and a walk on the wild side with The Danish Girl author David Ebershoff. Finally, we call in the VICE squad and practice Drawing Blood with artist and memoirist Molly Crabapple. And all of this from the safety and comfort of the House of SpeakEasy’s brand spanking new home in Joe’s Pub. Who’d dare miss out? It’s Not You.
FEBRUARY 2016: I’LL HAVE ANOTHER
Celebrate two glorious years of New York’s #1 literary cabaret with six shining stars from the cultural firmament.
House of SpeakEasy welcomes special guest host Salman Rushdie and YOU to its second-birthday gala on February 1. You can’t get enough of bestselling nonfiction powerhouse Erik Larson and nor can we. We’d go Bridge or Tunnel to see Tony Award-winning playwright and actress Sarah Jones, and turn 360 for novelist and radio host Kurt Andersen. Are we sated? I’ll Have Another, we cry: the return of Scotland’s finest and SpeakEasy legend Irvine Welsh will do just nicely. But fear not these terrible pawns: Garry Kasparov will keep us in check.
I’ll Have Another — will you?
NOVEMBER 2015: HAPPY NOW
Say aloha to the Paradise of the Pacific with Susanna Moore and feel your troubles slip away. If it’s the Daydreams of Angels that interest you, then sure — we’ve got novelist Heather O’Neill in the mix. Oh I see, it’s poetry? Then you’ll be more than happy with Pulitzer Prize winner Yusef Komunyakaa. Thanks to physicist Lisa Randall, in fact, we’ve got everything from dark matter to the dinosaurs. We’ve even got humorist Annabelle Gurwitch — don’t tell us that’s not better than dinner and a movie! Happy Now?!
SEPTEMBER 2015: ALTERED STATES
“We’re going to get very intimate very quickly,” promised the evening’s first speaker, Tony Award-winning playwright Doug Wright, at the House of SpeakEasy’s Altered States at New York’s City Winery on September 22. And he wasn’t wrong. In the company of Rowan Ricardo Phillips, Joe Klein, Emma Sky and Kelly Carlin, SpeakEasy’s latest #SeriouslyEntertaining foray into the world of literary cabaret got up close and personal with obscure Ken Russell movies, Donald Trump’s dangerous experiment in democracy, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the home life of a comedy legend.
JUNE 2015: SUMMERTIME BLUES
We don’t believe in fate at the House of SpeakEasy but there was something of the pathetic fallacy in last week’s show, Summertime Blues, falling as it did at the start of a gloomily tropical week in New York City. Fortunately, we had all the right ingredients to dispel any seasonal mooning. Our spring/summer finale featured Sarah Lewis, Rebecca Newberger Goldstein, Irvine Welsh, Laura Michelle Kelly, Edward Hirsch, and Steven Pinker, plus a whole lotta painting, philosophy, burger-flipping, poetry, and first dates.
APRIL 2015: ONE SIMPLE RULE
After hearing from our six guest writers in April on the subject “One Simple Rule”, you might think we’d have some pretty solid advice for you. We don’t. Write what you know? Well, sometimes it’s best not to. Everyone should know CPR? Granted; hard to argue. Back up your work? Phew, yes, we’d all have saved ourselves some stress by following that one. Break all of the rules, always? We don’t like to be too prescriptive here… Well, we’ll leave you to judge, as you enjoy the wit and wisdom of Elif Shafak, Tom Rob Smith, Amber Tamblyn, Lisa Robinson, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, and Beau Willimon.
MARCH 2015: NO RETURN
The Shroud of Turin. An Ohio ghost story. “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus.” Basketball with Xenophon and Achilles. Things that should or shouldn’t be done with a Philadelphia Eagles hat. Just five of the things that aliens landing at City Winery last Monday might have taken away from their close encounter with humanity. The House of SpeakEasy welcomed six more amazing writers to discuss the theme No Return: best-selling horrorist R.L. Stine, poet A.E. Stallings, author Ben Yagoda, novelist Ian Caldwell, and comedy writer Meredith Scardino. Special guest host Joan As Policewoman was the quizmaster for this month’s Tip of My Tongue competition.
JANUARY 2015 GALA: RUNNIN’ WILD
Undeterred by the Snowpocalypse-that-in-any-
November 2014: No Satisfaction
In a triumphant end to a great first year, the House of SpeakEasy brought you six more writers and performers to muse on the subject No Satisfaction. Writer and comedian Ruby Wax taught us to master our minds; author and journalist Philip Gourevitch examined no-win situations in Rwanda and Abu Ghraib; writer Hooman Majd wondered if there really is no place like home; Christopher Mason returned to break the internet with a fabulous song about Kim Kardashian; future Oscar-winning screenwriter Graham Moore stopped by to talk genius; and Phineas and Ferb creator Dan Povenmire espoused the benefits of delayed satisfaction in comedy. Last but in many ways not, Hari Dhillon was the quizmaster for The Tip of My Tongue.
September 2014: Inside the Lie
As an amber-violet sunset spread across a CinemaScope sky to the west of Manhattan, the House of SpeakEasy returned to City Winery for the inaugural show of its fall season. Almost three hundred guests gathered to listen, to laugh, to share, and to refill their glasses as six writers — Marcelo Gleiser, Natalie Haynes, John Guare, Gary Shteyngart, Gail Sheehy, and Andrew Solomon — took to the stage to ponder this month’s theme, Inside the Lie. This month’s guest stars? Copernicus, RFK, Oedipus, Sophia Loren’s panties, an uncommon family set-up, a Bavarian porn star…
June 2014: Falling for Perfection
The curtain rose on a raucous final edition of the House of SpeakEasy’s inaugural “Seriously Entertaining” series Monday, June 23 at City Winery NYC. There were cartoons and Muppets, breast pumps and seaside sex scenes, moonlight and music and love and romance. Our guests — seven of them; our biggest line-up yet — made us swoon, made us cry, made us laugh, made us beg for one more glass of wine. Featuring: New Yorker cartoon editor Bob Mankoff; playwright and novelist Adam Rapp; Barnard College president and writer Debora Spar; satirical songwriter Christopher Mason; novelist Emma Straub; poet Jeffrey McDaniel; and Daily Show head writer Elliott Kalan.
May 2014: The Ink Runs Dry
Borgesian understatement, Nixonian analysis, Putinian philosophy, and a rediscovered Kodak disc camera. The ink, the wine, and the laughs were all flowing at Tuesday May 20th’s Seriously Entertaining show as another smashing line-up of writing talent mused aloud on the creative process and the terror that one day the ink might just dry up altogether. Writers featured: historian Amanda Vaill; journalist and author Jonathan Alter; satirical songwriter Christopher Mason; author David Gilbert; and author and poet Jay Parini.
April 2014: In Case of Emergency
House of SpeakEasy’s April show, “In Case of Emergency” was a Seriously Entertaining production at NYC’s City Winery featuring the saving powers of Daniel Bergner, J.D. McClatchy, Amor Towles, Maggie Shipstead and Leonard Lopate.
March 2014: Are you for Sale?
“Are You For Sale?” was another Seriously Entertaining production featuring the salesmanship of writer Susan Cheever, author Jeff Kinney, journalist Michael Riedel, Oscar-winning screenwriter Paul Haggis, novelist Kate Mosse and composer Michael Friedman.
February 2014: This Is Not a Man
“This Is Not A Man” was a Seriously Entertaining production featuring the wit and wonder of author Dana Vachon, comedian Steve Coogan, novelist Susan Minot, Hollywood superstar Uma Thurman, writer Tom Reiss and musician Anton Sword.
January 2014: Plays With Matches
House of SpeakEasy’s sold-out gala evening was Seriously Entertaining, drawing a 380-strong NYC crowd with glamour and gravitas, to hear a star-studded line-up riff on the evening’s theme: Plays with Matches. Featuring: comedian Andy Borowitz; writer and critic Adam Gopnik; author Susan Orlean; historian and writer Simon Winchester; Hollywood superstar Uma Thurman; and singer-songwriter Dar Williams.
