Jacqueline Novak

Jacqueline Novak (born September 3, 1982) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and published author. Her off-Broadway, one-woman show Get On Your Knees was a New York Times "Critic's Pick", and her performance was nominated for a 2020 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Solo Performance. In 2024, Get On Your Knees was made into a Netflix special, directed by Natasha Lyonne, for which she received a 2024 Emmy nomination for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Special.

Novak was born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and the family moved to Chappaqua, New York when she was two years old. She attended Horace Greeley High School and then went on to Georgetown University, where she and John Mulaney were in the same college improv troupe, both cast by Nick Kroll. After graduating from college, Novak began doing stand-up in the downtown New York City comedy scene, often hosting shows with comic/actor John Early, and wrote her memoir How to Weep in Public.

Get On Your Knees began as a one-woman show Novak presented at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Scotland in 2018, where it was called How Embarrassing for Her. Mike Birbiglia decided to produce it for a six-week Off-Broadway run at the Cherry Lane Theatre, with Natasha Lyonne presenting and John Early directing. Since 2020, Novak has co-hosted the comedy wellness podcast "POOG" alongside comedian Kate Berlant.