Matthias Clamer/Bravo
Matthias Clamer/Bravo
Fill 1
Fill 1
June 20, 2016
In The Mix

Quirky humor runs in Jill Kargman's family.

Sarah Hirsch

To truly appreciate Jill Kargman's semi-autobiographical comedy Odd Mom Out — set in the world of wealthy Manhattan "momzillas" — it helps to understand the writer's own family.

The creator, executive producer and star of the Bravo sitcom — which returns for season two June 20 — has a storied pedigree: her grandfather, Frank Kopelman, was the youngest judge in the history of Massachusetts; her mother, Coco Kopelman, is a noted fundraiser, and her father, Arie Kopelman, is a former CEO of Chanel who, during his years at Columbia business school, moonlit as a stand-up comedian in Atlantic City and Reno.

Kargman, whose upcoming book of essays is titled Sprinkle Glitter on My Grave, compares her clan to the Addams family. "We're sort of morbid. We talk about death a lot. I called my parents the other day and they were like, 'We're shopping for tombstones.' They tour graveyards the way most people tour colleges. They even went on Pinterest to find the best tombstone fonts."

And so it goes for Kargman, a self-described "atypical Upper East-sider," an embodiment of high (Woody Allen) and low (South Park creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker) comedic influences.

"They're all very cerebral," Kargman says of the writers. "And they make hilarious observations about society, fame and artifice."

Kargman herself graduated from Yale — a year early — after interning at Harper's Bazaar and freelancing at Vogue, among other publications. What followed was her first produced screenplay (Intern, which showed at Sundance), a string of novels — one was Momzillas, a send-up of those Manhattan moms — and an initial collection of frank and funny essays, Sometimes I Feel Like a Nut.

The latter helped Kargman define her voice. "Instead of hiding behind characters, it was me talking as me," she says. "And now I feel like Odd Mom Out is those two books in a blender." A delicious concoction, indeed.

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