SEMI-FAMOUS

An online comedian, author, and former Paralympian muses on fame and happiness.

Sundquist was tagged in an Instagram story by someone who described him as “this semi famous Internet comedian,” prompting a mix of pleasure at the recognition and discontent with its not entirely complimentary nature. He nonscientifically polled his followers, discovering that a third of them would prefer fame to happiness. His ensuing exploration of celebrity, illustrated with whimsical hand-drawn graphs, journeys from the days of Alexander the Great to present-day social media. After he fulfilled his childhood dream of appearing on MTV—a dream he was willing to repeatedly embarrass himself to achieve—the achievement thrust him into a multiyear depression. Sundquist, a White man who lost a leg to childhood cancer, briefly discusses how fame’s gatekeepers might have excluded or included him solely because he is an amputee. He also describes how contemporary virality exposed him to a TikTok disability truther who claimed he was faking his missing leg. Research studies and interviews with major and minor celebrities pepper this diverting narrative of fame’s traumas and rewards, and the whole is held together by Sundquist’s own journey to semi-fame. The exploration of fame’s darker side includes addiction and suicide but curiously never addresses exploitation or abuse despite Chapter 1’s opening epigraph from Britney Spears, one of the most famously abused celebrities.

Cleverly humorous and extremely timely reading for those who seek renown.