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Sarah's Bookshelves Live

Lee Kelly + Jennifer Thorne (Authors of The Midnight Show) | Ep. 222

Sarah's Bookshelves Live

Sarah Dickinson

Arts, Books

4.7 • 785 Ratings

🗓️ 15 April 2026

⏱️ 55 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In Episode 222, Sarah talks with authors Jennifer Marie Thorne and Lee Kelly about their latest co-written novel, The Midnight Show. Set in the world of 1980s late-night comedy, the book is told in a documentary / oral history format that traces the rise of a breakout star — and the mystery surrounding her disappearance. They talk about how they developed a cast of characters shaped by both real-life comedy figures and their own creative instincts, as well as the challenge of writing sketch comedy that actually lands on the page. They also get into the realities of writing as a duo and the novel's exploration of how women in comedy are perceived and defined. Plus, they share what they're working on next and their book recommendations.

This post contains affiliate links through which I make a small commission when you make a purchase (at no cost to you!).

CLICK HERE for the full episode Show Notes on the blog.

Highlights

  • Books by Lee Kelly + Jennifer Thorne:  The Antiquity Affair (2023), The Starlets (2024) and My Fair Frauds (2025)
  • By Lee Kelly: With Regrets (2023), A Criminal Magic (2016), and City Of Savages (2015)
  • By Jennifer Thorne: Diavola (2024), Lute (2022), and Newbourne Park(September 29, 2026)
  • A brief, spoiler-free overview of The Midnight Show
  • The inspiration behind the novel and how they created their characters using a mix of real-life performers and imagination
  • Writing sketch comedy for the page — and how they created it organically for the story
  • The evolution of their collaborative writing process 
  • How society views funny women — and how they're allowed to be defined
  • What this author duo is working on next

Lee's + Jennifer's Book Recommendations [38:42]

Two OLD Books They Love

Two NEW Books They Love

Two NEW RELEASES They're Excited About

Books From the Discussion

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Welcome to Sarah's Bookshelves Live.

0:11.9

I'm your host, Sarah Dickinson.

0:13.9

Join me every other week as we get real and sometimes a bit snarky about books and reading.

0:19.2

Let's get rolling.

0:20.5

I talked about the Midnight Show by

0:22.6

Lee Kelly and Jennifer Marie Thorne in the Spring Preview episode two weeks ago. It was a four and a half

0:27.9

star read for me and it combines so much of what I love in my reading, but is actually really hard to

0:33.1

find. Behind the scenes of a fascinating industry, an intriguing co-ed friend group, a multimedia slash

0:40.1

oral history structure, and a mystery in the background. So I'm thrilled to welcome Lee Kelly

0:46.7

and Jennifer Marie Thorne to the podcast. In addition to the Midnight Show, Lee and Jennifer

0:51.8

are the co-authors of the Novels, The Antiquity Affair, The Starlets, and My Fair Frauds.

0:57.7

Independently, Lee is the author of the acclaimed speculative fiction novels, City of Savages, A Criminal Magic, and With Regrets.

1:04.3

And Jennifer is the USA Today bestselling author of Diavala, Lute, and the forthcoming Newborn Park, as well as several books for younger readers.

1:12.8

And if you all listened to my Best of Horror episode, I did with Meredith Monday Schwartz of the

1:18.4

currently reading podcast a month or so ago, she included Diavala on her top 10 horror of all time list.

1:26.5

Wow.

1:27.0

That's awesome. I know, right? Hello, Lee and Jen.

1:31.5

Hi. Hi. Thanks for having us, Sarah. Thank you so much for being here. And we have got Lee from the East Coast and Jen all the way from England.

1:41.5

I think it would be easier to tell us a part if I actually had a British

1:45.2

accent, but I'm Jen. Hi. And I'm Lee. Hello. And I did ask Jen before we started

1:52.6

recording, you don't sound like you're natively from England. No, there's little things.

1:58.4

Like, I think my Lee's called me out on this. My intonation sort of goes up like, oh, is that difficult?

...

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