Samantha McKiver Irby is an American comedian, author, and blogger. She runs the blog bitches gotta eat, where she writes posts about her personal life and events. Irby also co-hosted the live lit show Guts and Glory in Chicago with Keith Ecker until 2015, when the show ended its run. In 2016 FX announced that they had purchased the television rights to Irby's 2013 memoir Meaty and her blog, with the intent to adapt them into a series.
Early life
Samantha McKiver Irby. Her middle name is her maternal grandmother's maiden name. was born on February 13, 1980 and grew up in Evanston, Illinois. Her mother was a nurse. In several interviews and books, Irby discussed caring for her mother, who had multiple sclerosis, as a teenager. Irby attended Northern Illinois University, but dropped out after her mother's death. Irby began writing in the late 2000s when she started a Myspace blog.
Work
In her blog bitches gotta eat, Irby gives an unvarnished description of the humor she has found in her personal life, and talks about various topics, including her sex life and her battles with Crohn's disease. She began the blog in 2009. She has co-hosted The Sunday Night Sex Show, performed in several shows, including The Paper Machete and Story Club, and her work has appeared in The Rumpus, In Our Words, and Jezebel.
Books and other writing
Irby has published four books: We Are Never Meeting in Real Life; Meaty; New Year, Same Trash; and Wow, No Thank You. Meaty was originally published by Curbside Splendor Publishing in 2013, then republished in 2018 with Vintage Books. It is in development for adaptation as a television show on FX called Guts and Glory, with comedian Abbi Jacobson and writer Jessi Klein. In 2017, Irby's second book We Are Never Meeting in Real Life was published by Vintage Books. It received critical acclaim and made The New York Times best-seller list for paperback nonfiction. A fourth collection of essays, Wow, No Thank You, was released in March 2020. Irby stated on her social media pages that her book tour would be online due to Covid-19. The book debuted in the number one spot for Paperback Nonfiction. In 2018, Irby wrote an episode for the first season of Shrill. The episode, titled Pool, was the fourth episode of the first season, and was released on March 15, 2019.
Personal life
Irby married Kirsten Jennings in 2016. She now resides and works in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Irby has been open about her struggles with Crohn's disease, degenerative arthritis and depression, often discussing her experiences in her writing. She is friends with writers Roxane Gay and Lindy West.
