EXCLUSIVE: Random House has taken the North American rights off the table to I’m on the Moon, the debut comedy memoir by former Late Show and Late Night With David Letterman producer Daniel Kellison.
The deal was sealed ahead of a scheduled auction that had already attracted offers from several major publishers.
Originally titled The Fuck-Up—a name that reflected Kellison’s own self-perception during those formative years—the memoir now goes by I’m on the Moon. It chronicles Kellison’s darkly funny and wildly unlikely journey from being raised by a four-time-divorced Vermont hippie mom and a one-eyed babysitter, to taking a hit of acid and deciding, with sudden clarity, that he had to work for his hero, David Letterman. “From the ominous glow of the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant to the bright lights of 30 Rock…”
The book charts Kellison’s rise from a chaotic childhood through a near-disastrous internship—where he’s nearly fired three times—to ultimately finding his footing and climbing through the ranks with encouragement from Letterman and others. During his eight-year, against-all-odds tenure on the show, he produced and developed some of its most iconic moments: from Drew Barrymore’s birthday-flash to Madonna’s infamous foul-mouthed tirade to Acapulco cliff divers risking their lives diving off the roof of the Ed Sullivan Theater on 53rd Street.
“This is my version of Almost Famous,” Kellison says, “but instead of music and Rolling Stone, it was comedy and David Letterman.”
“I spent most of my adolescence as an unmotivated, bongs-before-breakfast lump—wallowing in an endless supply of self-doubt,” Kellison says. “My hope is this book finds someone like I once was: on the verge of adulthood, unsure what comes next, but convinced they’re already doomed. This isn’t a celebrity memoir about a charmed life—it’s the opposite. If it resembles a celebrity story at all, it’s like the phoenix tattooed on Ben Affleck’s back: I rose from the ashes and found my way out of the ruins.”
Kellison is a 3x Emmy-nominated TV producer and writer specializing in live, variety, talk and comedy programming. In 2013, he founded JASH, a digital-first comedy company, alongside Sarah Silverman, Tim & Eric, Michael Cera, Reggie Watts and Norm Macdonald. Through JASH, Kellison produced Sarah Silverman’s Emmy-nominated Netflix special Speck of Dust and developed numerous television projects including A Conversation with Norm Macdonald on Netflix (which he executive produced alongside former boss David Letterman), The High Court (25 episodes for Comedy Central) and the talk show Offscript with Jamie Foxx. The company also produced eight Sundance Film Festival selections, including a 2013 winner.
Throughout his career, Kellison has produced and created original content for Quincy Jones, Jimmy Kimmel, Kanye West, Rosie O’Donnell, Andy Milonakis, David Blaine, Eminem in addition to Letterman.
Kellison served as a founding member of President Obama’s Entertainment Advisory Council, collaborating closely with the DNC and Valerie Jarrett. He and Sarah Silverman wrote and produced a video in support of Bernie Sanders that reached over 50 million viewers. Kellison also once split a burrito with Sanders before a big speech.
Kellison contributed to Bill Simmons’ popular ESPN site “Grantland”. He has also written popular celebrity interviews for his series “Dinner with Daniel” and an autobiographical piece, “My Letterman Years,” which was named Best Journalism of 2015 .
Random House Editor-in-Chief Ben Greenberg’s track record for bestselling nonfiction includes acquiring and editing prominent authors such as Prince Harry, Jia Tolentino, Hanif Abdurraqib, Bob Odenkirk, Ali Wong, Lin-Manuel Miranda, David Lynch, Emily Nussbaum, Lisa Marie Presley & Riley Keough, and David Milch.
Greenberg said, “In a publishing landscape filled with submissions that rightly reflect how dark the world has become, Daniel’s proposal stood out as something special—painfully funny, deeply moving and utterly original, but also filled with joy and hope. I knew immediately we had to move quickly and preempt the auction.”
The memoir is repped by Kirby Kim, Literary Agent of Janklow & Nesbit Associates. Kellison is repped by Andy Galker of Jackoway, Tyreman and James Dixon of Dixon Talent Inc.
