Rachel Bloom Gets Really Honest About A Bad Writers’ Room Experience

Rachel Bloom confronted her 5th grade bully at Vulture Festival this week, but before all that, she talked to us for a little bit about her upcoming book I Want to Be Where the Normal People Are, and the adult bullies she once dealt with in a comedy writers’ room. But no, she doesn’t name names. “I don’t want to get anyone cancelled,� Bloom said, while also noting that she only felt comfortable opening up about the experience now that she’s an Emmy-winning celebrity. For Bloom, writing about it was a way to explore how the more nuanced interactions that happen in the workplace can feel like something of a grey area in comparison to schoolyard bullying. “No one was actively like ‘You suck! Fuck you!’ it wasn’t that targeted, it’s all just this kind of general aggression, and general assertion of status. And so it’s hard to define and you think you’re maybe making it up,� said Bloom. “Gaslighting’s not the word,� she continued. “Because I don’t think it’s like, on a conscious level on their part, they’re not trying to be dicks and then trick you into thinking they’re not dicks.� She also recounted that it didn’t feel great to be complaining to friends about it, since she was so happy that at 23-years-old, she’d been hired after writing a spec script for 30 Rock. “I knew how lucky I was and I was ashamed that I would have any complaints.�

Re-watch the event in full at VultureFestival.com before the festival ends on November 1 —or spend the rest of your life wondering “what if?�