‘Good on Paper’ True Story: Iliza Shlesinger’s Dating Horror Story Inspired the Netflix Movie

If you take one lesson from Good on Paper, the new Iliza Shlesinger comedy that began streaming on Netflix today, let it be this: Never, ever talk to strangers on an airplane.

Shlesinger, who wrote and starred in Good on Paper, learned that lesson the hard way when she dated a dude she met on a plane and discovered he was lying about nearly everything he had told her. Directed by Kimmy Gatewood, who you might know as Stacey from GLOW, Good on Paper stars Shlesinger as a stand-up comic named Andrea who meets a man on a plane named Dennis (Ryan Hansen), who claims to be a Yale graduate, with a model girlfriend and high-paying job in finance.  But Andrea starts to suspect Dennis is too good to be true, and her love story takes a turn from “cute” to “cautionary tale.”

It’s all the more harrowing when you realize Good on Paper is an expansion of a stand-up routine from Shlesinger’s repertoire—the story of a guy who lied to her about who he was. Read on for the Good on Paper true story, based on Shlesinger’s “Lying Brian” bit.

Is Good on Paper based on a true story?

Yes. Sort of. Fans of Shlesinger will recognize the premise of Good on Paper from one of her stand-up routines, “Lying Brian,” which she told on Comedy Central’s This Is Not Happening. The show features stand-up comedians telling long-form stories, and the only stipulation is that story has to be true.

In 2015, Shlesinger told a story about a guy she met on an airplane named Brian, who said he was a Yale graduate who worked at a hedge fund. She said she became friends with the guy, but it was obvious that he had a crush on her, though she didn’t feel the same way. But one day, Brian called to tell her that his mom had cancer, and Shlesinger felt her heart open up to the guy. They started going out, and, according to Shlesinger, she fell in love.

“We dated for about a week, and things were great,” Shlesinger says. “And then things got weird.”

The comedian explains that her mom started researching her daughter’s new boyfriend, and began to get suspicious that he was lying about who he was. His work bio says he went to the University of Ohio, not Yale. She finds out that his house is not in Beverly Hills, as he said, but in Hollywood. It’s also not a house, but a duplex, and he lives there with roommates.

When Shlesinger confronted Brian, he told her his mother was staying in his real house while undergoing cancer treatment. He gave her the address of that house, but told her to respect her mother’s privacy. When Shlesinger ultimately did go to the address, she found a Black family living in the house. Finally, Brian admitted he was lying about going to Yale, about buying a house, and about his mom having cancer. None of it was true. He has just wanted to impress her.

Shlesinger’s story is not exactly what happens in Good on Paper, but it is very similar, with a few additions and changes. Shlesinger’s mom is not a character in the film, and Brian’s name is now Dennis. The movie contains several new scenes, like a golf outing in which Dennis fakes a back injury. It also features new characters, like Shlesinger’s on-screen friend, a bar owner played by Margaret Cho. And, of course, most comedians tend to exaggerate when telling “true stories” in their act. So while you should not assume that everything that happens in Good on Paper happened to Shlesigner in real life, it is clear that the real-life Brian was the inspiration for the fictional Dennis.

If you ever happen to be on a plane with Shlesinger and she gives you the cold shoulder, now you know why.

Watch Good on Paper on Netflix