Rejection isn’t fatal or fair, but apparently should be shared. At least that’s the view of John Friedman, creator of “Rejection Show,” a live New York program offering writers the opportunity to read the stuff that someone else didn’t want. Contributors to “The Daily Show,” “Saturday Night Live,” and “Kids in the Hall” have all shared their experiences of getting the thumbs down for all kinds of material (What heart of stone could have rejected “Stephen Colbert Law & Order Fan Fiction”?)

After a reader trashed one of his magazine articles by calling him “the most obnoxious person alive,” journalist Peter Hyman tells how he put together a PowerPoint slideshow objectively proving that he couldn’t possibly be that obnoxious. (He sent the presentation, complete with Bob Seger music, to the reader.)

“That’s when I lost it,” comedian Jen Kirkman writes about an early crush. “My mom cradled my head and laughed, ‘Aww, let it out. These are happy tears.’ Some things are best left unsaid during a ‘moment.’ There’s never a good way to say, ‘Mom, I’m crying because my best friend is dating the long-haired musician I masturbate to.’ ”

It’s hard not to root for our protagonists as they struggle, always in vain. When Elizabeth Laime tried out for her school’s swimteam she took 40 minutes to complete a race that others finished in minutes, but she earned a huge cheer from the crowd when she did. “In the end, any form of failure or rejection can be turned into something positive – like finding out more about yourself,” Laime writes. “I found comedy. And how, here I am: an unemployed comedic actor writing about past failures. See?!”

Rejected

Tales of the Failed, Dumped and Canceled

Edited by Jon Friedman

Villard