Stand-up comedian Guy Branum brings his hilarious new memoir, "My Life As a Goddess: A Memoir Through (Un)Popular Culture," a candid look at growing up, coming out and what it means to be a man to "Salon Talks." Branum, best known for appearing on shows with Chelsea Handler, Kumail Nanjiani and Larry Wilmore, and his writing on shows like "Billy on the Street" and "The Mindy Project," gets real about everything from his country bumpkin upbringing to fat shaming in Hollywood.

The best thing that happened in Branum's career was not becoming an attorney. After attending the University of Minnesota's Law School, he forged a path in stand-up, and became the creator and host of truTV's "Talk Show The Game Show," the host of the Pop Rocket podcast, and more recently, a memoirist. "Everybody to some extent is told, 'This part of you is wrong,' or 'You're not welcome in this aspect of the world,'" Branum shares with SalonTV, "and you have to figure out how to manage that for yourself. It's a job we all have to do."

For Branum, that has meant spending his life challenging the idea that a man with his frame should be playing football instead of telling jokes. "Masculinity has been interrogating me my entire life," he says. "We take for granted how much all of us are challenged and questioned by masculinity. I'm sure there's some form it could take where it would be great, where it wasn't constantly trying to shove other people into their place, but as it is right now, I'm not a huge fan."