June Bloom, 29 years old, was a writing assistant for "Stay Up with Hugo Best", a late night comedy show. June lived with a roommate in a Brooklyn neighborhood both "charmless and in flux". She had slowly worked her way up from audience page to writers assistant for her childhood crush, Hugo Best. This "beloved" TV comedian and womanizer unexpectedly announced his last show and upcoming retirement.

June is now unemployed. It will be back to open mics in shady environs, playing to mostly empty chairs or customers ignoring her presence on stage. "The Birds and the Bees" is one such establishment. Hugo Best happens upon June Bloom at this club. Surprisingly, Hugo realizes that she has worked on his show and invites her to spend Memorial Day Weekend at his Connecticut mansion. He promises "no funny business". What are June's expectations for this special weekend with an iconic comedian?

June was trying to discover her niche. Approaching 30 years of age, she hadn't found her true direction in life. "Being in a chauffeured car all of a sudden was a shock to the system akin to jet lag. I felt transported across time zones". This must be the good life!

Hugo Best, seemingly magnetic and charismatic, had planned a Memorial Day/Retirement Party to be attended by his friends including comedy people, actresses, models and neighbors. Who will be in attendance?

"Stay Up with Hugo Best" by Erin Somers is the story of two individuals striving for self worth. June feels she "should have arrived". Stand up comedy is arguably lonely and unsettling. Hugo is unsettled as well. Life as he knew it has changed.


Thank you Scribner and Net Galley for the opportunity to read and review "Stay Up with Hugo Best".

I moved Stay Up With Hugo Best to the top of my list when I was approved to read it, as it sounded like the perfect thing for me, as a woman in entertainment with an affinity for comedy. I wanted to like it, I really did-- and perhaps the issue was that my expectations were too high? To me, almost every attempt at humor or cleverness fell just short of being truly humorous or clever. It was actually frustrating, how many times I felt that "this is going to be it!" during the set up, only to be let down by the punch line. Despite the promising plot and characters, the story roams about, with nothing of import really happening. There was a lot of 'tell' here, rather than 'show', like an extended obituary-- not even as interesting as a New Yorker profile. 

Now, with all of that being said, Somers is a capable writer. There's nothing truly bad here, and she's actually quite good at constructing concise, clear sentences, and telling a story. It's just that this particular story is like watching paint dry. Her writing actually makes the overall even worse, because, coupled with the overall concept, there's so much potential here. A has-been, millionaire late night television host and his young, impressionable writer's assistant spend the weekend together? That is a great hook! Give me something more! Give me the 'wit' and 'hilarity', the 'enigma', the 'less predictable', as promised in the description! After being thoroughly confused, I returned to the description to see whether I had mistaken the book; was this meant to be funny? YES. THEY PROMISED. I wanted more debauchery, more scandal, more romance, or at least more searing commentary from June about Hugo, or from Hugo, about the cultural climate. If it was meant to just reflect a sad reality, I think the description should reflect that and not use words like "hilarious", because that sets the reader up for something... Well, HILARIOUS; not an understated, slow-burn character study. I've witnessed this same bad-branding/poor marketing in films, with Our Idiot Brother (starring Paul Rudd) and Funny People (starring Adam Sandler), which were both portrayed as being comedies in the trailers, but were ultimately more about the melancholy side of humor.


Rating: 2.5/5

I was not interested in this book from the start. I really did try to get into it. Maybe it was just not my type of read!

Many thanks for the ability to read and review!

I wanted to love this book but ended up just sort of liking it. I was frustrated with the characters and their behavior and ultimately disappointed in June's behavior. The book was well-written but the topic depressed me in light of the #metoo movement publicity of late.

Thanks to Scribner and NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I found this novel to be evocative but ultimately very frustrating. Somers' ability to capture a very specific tone is really quite remarkable; she somehow is able to precisely nail that horrible feeling that one gets during a social gathering where one doesn't really belong, is trying to fake it anyway, and is wretchedly and mercilessly called out on this fact. To be frank, I absolutely loathed getting this feeling while reading. I was very uncomfortable and for this reason, had to give it two stars. Stay Up with Hugo Best was also not at all humorous, as advertised, but instead full of gravitas and at times bordered on depressing.

I would be interested in reading Somers' approach to a different topic.

I couldn’t get interested in this book. I tried but I never got hooked. I’ve finally given up.

I received Stay Up with Hugo Best as an ARC from Netgalley. I enjoyed this book but I thought it was going to be more of a humorous story. June is a writer's assistant on a late night talk show that gets cancels. She runs into the host at a comedy club and he invites her to spend the long Memorial Day weekend with him at his house in Greenwich. I felt sorry for Hugo Best as his life was pretty depressing but I enjoyed the character of June and the other side characters. This book addressed the timely issue of sexual harassment in the entertainment industry. Definitely a good read!

Didn't like the beginning with the choice of her topic at the comedy club and it continued to fall flat from there. Not my style.

I thought I would love this book about an aging late night talk show host and a young writer who works on his show. Although "funny" at times, I wanted it to be more lighthearted and less serious. No doubt it was well written, and if you are a fan of old comedy acts, you may very well enjoy it more than I did. But for me it was sad and a little depressing.

STAY UP WITH HUGO BEST is just a really fun read. Hugo Best is the host of a late night talk show and now he is retiring. Through a strange set of events, June Bloom, one of the writer's assistants on the show, is invited to spend the weekend at Hugo's Connecticut mansion (but no funny business). June is an aspiring comedian who has adored Hugo since she was a girl, so of course she accepts. Hilarity ensues! And although the novel is very funny, it is also a poignant exploration of June's past, her insecurities and her decisions about how she really wants to show up in this world. Great vacation read.

When June’s job ends on “Stay up with Hugo Best” the last thing she expects is to meet him in a dive bar on the opposite end of town, with an invite to spend the weekend with him at his house in Connecticut.

Hugo is also in his late 60s. She is not sure what his intentions are, she goes anyways. He promises work only.

It wasn’t my favorite, but I would still recommend. The novel is very up to date in today’s world.

Hugo Best is somebody I think I would enjoy meeting! I loved how Erin Somers wrote about fame, office politics, how tough it is to get a job right out of college and other topics. I would recommend this book to anybody and everybody. My grandma, father, best friend, teachers, coworkers. Everybody would find something they would enjoy about this.

I did enjoy this book. I found it a little odd, it took place over a very short period of time and felt like we knew virtually nothing about the main character or pretty much anyone by the end of it. Some insight into working in TV was there. I’m not quite sure what the point of the story was exactly, it kind of just touched on subjects like substance abuse, #metoo, aging and a lot more without fleshing it out.

Meeting the iconic Hugo Best, lifelong crush and former boss, June is invited to his home in Connecticut for a weekend. It is there she learns that idols do have clay feet, but sometimes sensitive souls.

She spends the days unraveling his his life and learns his secrets. She befriends his son and meets his neighbors. Sadly, she is also a witness to the passing of fame and adulation., and the rapidity of its’ demise.

From there life moves on and June returns to the dingy world of Bushwick, Brooklyn and her struggle to become a stand up comedian.

I felt I needed more, I liked June too much to leave her without more closure. I enjoyed the book and know that reading groups will enjoy the discussions and guessing who is Hugo Best and the question, do we like him?

I read this book straight through! The comparisons to Letterman are unavoidable and I wonder if the author worked at Late Night. The plot twists keep one very involved in the characters, not only Hugo and June but Hugo's extended family as well. The dialogue is very believable and the story engrossing. Thanks for having me read and review the book!