“Girls” creator and star Lena Dunham sat in the green room at the Wilbur Theatre on Thursday night looking just a little bit nervous about taking the stage to talk about her new book, “Not That Kind of Girl: A Young Woman Tells You What She’s ‘Learned.’ ” There were more than 1,000 people waiting for her in the sold-out venue. They all got a signed copy of the book with their $38 ticket.
“Right before I go on I’m like, ‘I’m going to barf,’ ” Dunham told us, of her book tour stops. “But then everyone’s so wonderful.”
Dunham, who brought her sister Grace to the Wilbur, had already done similar gigs in Toronto and New York, but said that the Boston event felt like her first real tour date because of the venue (which she said came recommended by Massachusetts-bred comedian Mike Birbiglia ); the involvement of Planned Parenthood, which had reps on-site; and the fact that her moderator for the night was Pushcart Prize-winning poet and memoirist Mary Karr . There was also the opening act, Chordially Yours, an all-female a cappella group from Boston University.
“I’m an a cappella nerd who can’t sing,” Dunham admitted, saying that she chose the act from a pack of submissions because she and her boyfriend, Bleachers and Fun. musician Jack Antonoff , fell in love with the group’s mashup of the Fountains of Wayne song “Stacy’s Mom” and One Direction’s “What Makes You Beautiful.” “Somehow those songs are, like, written to be together,” Dunham said.
Another unexpected opening act during the night was Brookline Booksmith’s head of promotions, Zoe Hyde , who had the audience laughing hysterically with her Dunham intro.
“We were going to let Tom [Wickersham], the events director at Brookline Booksmith, do this intro, but then it was decided that due to his status as a white male in a position of power it may not be safe for him to take the stage,” she said, adding to the audience, “I trust you all brought your menstrual jars . . .”
Dunham responded, after taking the mike, “That introduction was like pure poetry.”
Not far from the Wilbur, Dunham’s friend B.J. Novak , of “The Office,” was at the Brattle Theatre on behalf of Harvard Book Store and 826 Boston promoting his own new release, the children’s book “The Book With No Pictures.” Dunham told us that Novak, a Newton native, actually helped her with “Not That Kind of Girl.” “He read this manuscript very early on,” she said, adding, of Novak, “I texted him. We’re going to try to meet up
after.”
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