Boy Behaves Badly. Girl Dumps Him. Boy Writes Book.

Relationships end. And in most cases, even the most callow among us learn something from the experience. Just ask Ben Karlin (seen here with Jon Stewart).

Karlin, former executive producer of 'The Daily Show with Jon Stewart' and 'The Colbert Report,' offers a new take on an age old subject: heartbreak. In 'Things I've Learned From Women Who've Dumped Me,' he offers insight, sometimes poignant, more often comedic, into that salient something men take away from failed relationships. Insistently not a self-help book, this anthology has contributions from Stephen Colbert, Andy Richter, and many other men you probably thought never got dumped -- or if they did, would never admit it.

Q: What makes you the right person to do a book on getting dumped?

A: I feel supremely unqualified -- if it were not for the fact that I personally had the experience. But as far as advice-giving, no. But that’s why I used the comfort of humor rather than hoping that people will use this book or
Q: So then you are familiar with the subject matter?

A: Oh yeah, lots of personal experience. That’s the great thing about the subject. Just about everyone has gone through that great struggle to find a meaningful partnership. It defines a lot of people throughout their entire life. It certainly has for me.

Q: Entire life, huh? How old are you?

A: I’m 36, the same age as many of the writers. As a natural process, I think that people tend to partner up as they move into their 30’s and 40’s. You'll find that many of these writers come from the point of view of looking backwards, which is nice. When time passes you gain the benefit of perspective, you can put events or relationships into the context of your whole life. Because when something horrible or bad happens to you -- like a break-up -- you’re filled with emotion; you’re just sad or pissed or whatever. There’s no way you can possibly talk about in terms that aren’t purely emotional.

So for me. what was most interesting about this book as an intellectual pursuit was "What do men think now that there’s a little bit of mileage between the bad thing and today? What's the take away, if anything?

Q: As far as takeaway, are any universal themes here?

A: It's that the men on some level usually recognize some bad behavior or lame behavior on their part. It's all about being honest with themselves about their own shortcomings or flaws. I think that’s probably fairly consistent for comedy writers where self-deprecation is such a natural way of being.

Q: So this book is a relationship book by men for men about men.

A: According to stereotypes, the introspective part of the gender equation is usually assigned to women. What I thought would make this book really interesting if it was not coming from a point of view from women. I mean, women are already considered to be the ones who are upfront about their emotions and are willing to deal with them. The classic dichotomy in any relationship is that the woman wants the man to share [his feelings] more, and he is closed off or doesn’t know how.

Q: Or maybe doesn’t have any emotions.

A: Right. In comedy parlance we call that the "old switcheroo." What gave this book a more interesting perspective is that it was from the point of view of men.

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