Mr. Yay: A Novel

Part speculative adventure, part suburban mystery, totally hilarious and delightful. Rappers, dogs, detectives, children’s shows—and second chances to embrace your true self.

Enter the Branches multiverse of Emily Jane, the Queen of Quirk and USA Today bestselling author of On Earth as It Is on Television.

"Whimsical and completely chaotic. This book is for those who loved Everyone, Everywhere, All At Once" —Flair Magazine

Budding musician Fatty Bratty wakes up in his terrible Ohio apartment to a random dog. A dog that acts like he belongs there. Except Bratty doesn’t own a dog. He always wanted to but never did. So maybe this random dog is a sign: screw his parents’ expectations. Forget business school. Goodbye, Midwest. Hello Los Angeles. Over a manic week, Bratty and his best friend write and record their first rap album. They call themselves Mr. Yay.

Bratty’s therapist, Miriam, remembers a different Mr. Yay, the one from the old children’s TV show, the washed-up actor turned first mate who sailed a boat captained by a dog and taught people to be themselves. To just be. But strangely, her husband, Jack, has no memory of the old show at all.

As Mr. Yay headlines Vegas shows and climbs the charts with his rap songs, Miriam watches her life unravel. Jack is increasingly absent, more secretive, reckless—he hardly resembles the man she married. Their friends start acting weird, too: drinking excessively, splurging on motorcycles, quitting their jobs, not washing their hair, harboring raccoons. Jack also doesn’t remember things he should about his relationship with Miriam. But he suspects his memory hole is more than it seems. It’s not just that he’s forgotten the Mr. Yay show—it’s that, on the internet, and according to the studio and half the population, there is no Mr. Yay. There never was.

Witty, heartfelt, deeply weird, and utterly original, Mr. Yay explores how we grapple with inexplicable sudden shifts in the world around us and how to live when the past is different than what you remember.
(And don’t forget to check out the other books in the Branches multiverse, including Here Beside the Rising Tide, American Werewolves, and Give the People What They Want; or, How Our Dad Caused the Funpocalypse.)