On this week’s podcast, the actor Alex Karpovsky reads the essay “Uh, Honey, That’s Not Your Line,” in which Matteson Perry learns that the Manic Pixie Dream Girl is nothing more than a trope.

Mr. Perry is a screenwriter and performer living in Los Angeles. Find him on Twitter.

Mr. Karpovsky played Ray Ploshansky on the HBO series “Girls.” Stay tuned after his reading for a conversation with Mr. Perry and a reflection from the Modern Love editor Dan Jones.