The Extra Man (1998)

A hilarious novel from one America's funniest living writers – like a New York Withnail and I Meet Louis Ives: well-groomed, romantic, and as captivating as an F. Scott Fitzgerald hero. Only this hero has a penchant for ladies' clothes, and he's just lost his teaching job after an unfortunate incident involving a colleague's brassiere. Meet Henry Harrison: former actor, brilliant but failed playwright, and a well-seasoned escort for New York City's women of means. What can this ageless Don Quixote of the Upper East Side have to offer a young gentleman such as Louis? What, indeed... The Extra Man is a story of friendship and frustration, of cocktails and cross-dressing, a hilarious tale for our times from America's most versatile wit. Jonathan Ames is the author of nine books including Wake Up, Sir! and You Were Never Really Here, both published by Pushkin Press. He also created the hit HBO comedy Bored to Death,... Jonathan Ames, whose debut novel I Pass Like Night was enthusiastically praised by Philip Roth and Joyce Carol Oates, has followed up with a brilliant and comic second novel. Louis Ives, the narrator of The Extra Man, fancies himself a young gentleman fashioned after his heroes in the books of F. Scott Fitzgerald. He dresses the part -- favoring neckties, blue blazers, and sport coats. But he also has a penchant for women's clothing, a weakness that causes him to lose his job as a teacher at a Princeton day school after a bizarre incident involving a colleague's brassiere. Thrust out of Princeton, he heads to New York where he rents a cheap room in the madly discombobulated apartment of Henry Harrison, a failed but brilliant playwright who dances alone to Ethel Merman records, sneaks into Broadway shows, and performs with great style the duties of a walker -- an escort for the rich widows of the Upper East Side. The two men, separated in age by more than forty years, develop a relationship that is irascible mentor and eager apprentice, and they form a bond the depths of which neither expected. But Louis, when he's not with Henry, has fascinations that lead him to an unusual community on the fringes of the sex world of Times Square. He develops a secret life there, which he fears will be his undoing and which he must keep hidden from Henry at all costs. A hilarious yet moving story about friendship and longing, The Extra Man is an original and unforgettable novel by one of America's most talented young writers. A hilarious novel from one America's funniest living writers – like a New York Withnail and I Meet Louis Ives: well-groomed, romantic, and as captivating as an F. Scott Fitzgerald hero. Only this hero has a penchant for ladies' clothes, and he's just lost his teaching job after an unfortunate incident involving a colleague's brassiere. Meet Henry Harrison: former actor, brilliant but failed playwright, and a well-seasoned escort for New York City's women of means. What can this ageless Don Quixote of the Upper East Side have to offer a young gentleman such as Louis? What, indeed... The Extra Man is a story of friendship and frustration, of cocktails and cross-dressing, a hilarious tale for our times from America's most versatile wit. Jonathan Amesis the author of nine books including Wake Up, Sir! and You Were Never Really Here, both published by Pushkin Press. He also created the hit HBO comedy Bored to Death, starring Ted Danson, Zach Galifianakis and Jason Schwartzman, and Blunt Talk, starring Patrick Stewart. He has fought in two amateur boxing matches as "The Herring Wonder". He lives in Los Angeles. Meet Louis Ives: well-groomed, romantic, and as captivating as an F. Scott Fitzgerald hero. Only this hero has a penchant for ladies clothes, and he's lost his teaching post at Princeton's Pretty Brook Day School after an unfortunate incident involving a colleague's brassiere. Meet Henry Harrison: former actor, failed but brilliant playwright, and a well-seasoned escort for New York City's women of means. He dances alone to Ethel Merman records, second-acts operas, and performs his scrappy life with the dignity befitting a self-styled man of the world. What can this ageless Don Quixote of the Upper East Side have to offer a young gentleman such as Louis? What, indeed. Well, the answer lies somewhere between the needs of an irascible mentor and the education of his eager apprentice...between cocktails on the Upper East Side and an even more intoxicating treat along the secret fringes of Times Square...and between friendship and longing. A comedy on an aging playwright who works as a male escort. He is Henry Harrison, an eccentric New Yorker, and he is seen through the eyes of his younger roommate, Louis Ives, a teacher fired from a Princeton prep school for cross-dressing. By the author of I Pass Like Night After unexpectedly losing his job, former Princeton private school teacher Louis Ives is forced to take a room in the dank, cluttered New York apartment of one Henry Harrison, a failed playwright some forty years his senior. Reprint.