Over the last few weeks I have indulged in a comedian book binge. It all started when I read Bossypants by Tina Fey a couple of years ago, four times in a row.
Parenthesis: The Audiobook Defense
I feel the need to make a quick stop here and say that my husband would like me to clarify that I did not actually READ these books, but had the author read them to me via audible.com. Somehow I do not get reading credit for audiobooks, even though I firmly believe they are a better way to experience a biography or memoir as long as it is read by the author themself. You see, it’s not like I am having Macbeth read to me by some random dude with a booming voice just because I’m too lazy to read (which, admittedly, I would totally do). When an entertainer writes something, it is a disservice to you as the “reader” to not have them read it to you in their own voice.
There are many neat perks to listening to an audiobook instead of reading the book. Here are a few:
- You can hear the author make adjustments to the writing just because it’s an audiobook. For example, they can’t say “as you read these pages,” instead, they change it to “as you listen to this audiobook.” This reminds you that the person reading to you is not just reading verbatim, but instead it gives the effect that they are talking to you.
- The performer/author/reader injects the actual intended tone to the writing. You won’t know what I mean until you hear Tina Fey impersonating Lorne Michaels’s slow low timbre, or Rachel Dratch making alien voices to her agent on the phone, or Kathy Griffin actually saying “um” in the middle of a sentence (unless you are reading along with her, it would be impossible for you to know whether she’s actually reading or if she lifted her eyes from the page to tell you the story as she remembered it).
- Audiobooks don’t require you to find a quiet spot to read them, or to find the motivation to pick up the book when you should be cleaning the kitchen instead. They are actually handy to have when you are driving to/from work, waiting in line, or taking a shower (yes, I have a bluetooth water resistant speaker that I hook up to my phone and bring into the shower to listen to my shows).
I may not get “reader” credit, but I definitely WIN in the “drawing entertainment from books” category.
End parenthesis
As I was saying, I have been binging on books written by comedians, and it all started with Tina Fey’s book. I downloaded it when I went back to work after having a baby a couple of years ago as a means to give me that uplifting talk I needed to get back into the swing of work. I liked it so much that I listened to it over and over again. Then a couple of months ago, in a lull of good audible material, I decided to re-listen to it and it got me curious about comedians in general. Here were my findings, in order from BEST to WORST.
Before you sit down to read (ok ok ok, before you take a drive with this audiobook), you should be at least somewhat aware of the humongous powerhouse that this woman represents in the entertainment industry. What’s that? You’re not aware of this? Have you been living in a shoebox for the past 10 years?
For the purposes of this review, here’s the 411 on Ms Fey: first ever woman head writer to Saturday Night Live and to man the Weekend Update desk (no pun intended), head writer/exec producer/star of the hugely popular sitcom 30 Rock (100% her brainchild), brilliant impersonator of 2008 VP candidate Sarah Palin, accomplished screenwriter of the incredibly funny movie “Mean Girls” and star of many other comedies. You can find her on Twitter at @TinaFey123, but she only posted 7 tweets the day she joined (5/27/2009) and never posted anything again.
You’re up to date now. You’re welcome.
In this book, Ms Fey walks you through her childhood as a precocious teenager, wise beyond her years (no matter how much of a dork she will have you believe she was). She was insightful, compassionate (although not very patient), and most of all confident. She took risks in her life and career choices as if nothing was ever going to go wrong.
So, where does one get such drive? She spends a whole chapter talking about the most important authority figure in her life: her father, and I firmly believe he had a lot to do with this. With a strong male presence in her life, Ms Fey grew up knowing that failure was not an option; not because she was afraid (which she probably was), but because she was wired this way. In her mind, you do or do not, there is no “try” (there’s your Star Wars reference, Ms Fey).
As you dive deeper into this book, you can’t help but get filled with ambition, hope, and the assertion that women can do and be many things all at once. To channel the feeling, I can say: I’m the boss, I’m mommy, I’m really busy, I’m so tired, I need to spend 5 more minutes in the car when I get home before I go in, I totally should hire help because I can’t do it all, I want my son to fear my wrath, I want my son to love me, I enjoy pedicures and manicures, I love my husband, I enjoy doing my hair before I go to work in the morning, I look good in make-up, I deserve a good salary for what I do, I don’t NEED my husband’s help but I sure want him to WANT to help, I will go out to do something new with my girlfriends, I love taking my son out for waffles. I can keep going and going, but I hope you get the point: Ms Fey makes you feel like this is the way life is supposed to be: complicated. You love, you hate, you want, you need, you don’t want, you don’t need, you demand, you regret, you give. That is life. Being a celebrity has nothing to do with this book, it’s all about work as an integral and fulfilling part of life, not an unavoidable burden. On the other hand, her impression of Sylvester Stallone is definitely worth the listen.
Mindy Kaling
Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns)
Mindy Kaling got her big break as the only woman writer in the successful sitcom The Office (American version) and moved onto create her own show, the hilarious The Mindy Project. You can find her on twitter at @MindyKaling, and she’s HILARIOUS. She posts all the time!
I’ll start by saying I love Mindy. I won’t call her Ms Kaling because she’s so close to my age (she-34, me-32) that I think we could actually be friends in real life. However, this review is not all Xs and Os. I have to admit that I seriously considered stopping the “tape” half way through the first chapter because I did not know if I could stand her voice for a whole 4.5 hours. Oh my goodness, her voice can seriously be piercing. She also speaks very fast, so the piercing tone plus the lack of enunciation made for a painful listen at first. Fortunately, it grew on me and I was able to continue (after I made myself do it).
One of the best moments in the book, which makes it stand apart from all the rest, was when I heard Mindy say “I’m sorry I’m not obsessed with 60s, 70s, 80s comedy, […] or obsessed with Caddy Shack.” O.M.G. THANK YOU FOR SAYING THIS. This was the moment when I realized I was listening to someone who is MY AGE. Perhaps it is her youth and inexperience that made her voice be so mumbled and shrieky. If you listen to everyone else’s book (that’s being reviewed here) you can hear them say each word individually, and pronounce every single syllable. Sorry, Mindy, I love you much, but you could have used some book reading lessons. Anyways, I still thought that listening to someone who was so close to me in longevity of life experiences was a huge selling point that stayed with me through the rest of the book.
Putting that aside, I found Mindy’s book refreshingly honest. I loved her stories from high school and the way she explained how she got her start and big break in show business. It was in enough detail to understand, but general enough to keep the book moving. I couldn’t help but love her a little bit more every time she mentioned food (I happen to have an oral fixation I can’t shake, and food is my friend), or being star struck, or how she gets easily distracted. I couldn’t help but feeling like I was there with her and we could be chatting together like old friends. I saw myself in her New York apartment, lounging on the futon with Judge something-or-other on TV, laptops on our laps, and bonding over our favorite cupcake and ice cream flavors.
Mindy has a kind of confidence that I completely relate to. She said that she had spent so much time among tall white girls that, by the time she graduated college, she “carried [herself] with the confidence of a tall person. It’s all in the head. It works out.” I completely relate to this thought. Once I made it to college and people stopped making fun of my height, I started to forget that it mattered. Guys wanted to date me, my girlfriends were just a couple of inches taller than I was, and my height stopped being an issue. To this day, when someone makes fun of my height, it hits a button that has not been touched since 5th grade and I must say it does hurt. It’s like a door that I lost the key to, and all of the sudden someone managed to open it just enough for me to sneak a peak into it. Once the door is shut again, I’m as tall as everyone else. Mindy’s confidence reminded me that it IS all in the head.
The style of the book is in short essays, and it made me realize that writing my own memoir doesn’t have to be a continuous story, it can just be chapters to explain my thoughts on different topics. Mindy has many such chapters, and each one is as funny and memorable as the next. Reading this book is like hanging out with a good friend. Not the kind of friend that we have as adults, but the kind of friend we have in school, where we talk on the phone every day for hours, where we pass notes in class, and where we seek each other’s opinion on everything that matters. I miss those friendships, and I have the feeling Mindy manages to still have this type of relationships in her life. After reading her book, I want to be her middle school friend.
Kathy Griffin
Official Book Club Selection: A Memoir According to Kathy Griffin
Kathy Griffin got her start as a stand up comedian who got her big break when she got cast to play the funny sidekick in the primetime NBC sitcom Suddenly Susan opposite Brooke Shields. She then got her own reality show, which followed her as a D-List celebrity trying to make it in Hollywood called Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List, for which she has earned multiple Emmys. She does HBO stand up comedy specials and still tours the country (and visits troups in war zones). She’s an avid “twatter” at @KathyGriffin.
I have been watching Ms Griffin ever since I saw her stand-up act on TV. I had no idea who she was, but I thought I remembered her from TV (she had made appearances on Seinfeld and other shows), and I just happened to find her particular style of humour appealing. Ok, I’ll say it, I enjoy celebrity gossip, ok? Since that’s what her act is made of, it was a match made in Heaven!
Her book is many things at once: funny, introspective, honest. Much like her act. She gets pretty personal and raw in a full confessional about her alleged child molestor brother, Kenny. He never molested her per se, but she was the only one who cut all ties with him as soon as she found out what he was up to. He ended up dying at some point, and the whole story is quite depressing, but I’m sure many people will relate to it. Perhaps not relate to the exact details of the story, but with the cathartic effect of putting it out there and talking about such a difficult topic out loud. You might not think it’s that big a deal (after all, she did not get physically hurt by Kenny), but when you realize that she is a HUMAN person with family and friends, and saying things like these in the public light will cause people to react, you might start to get how brave it was of her to share her story.
She also gets very personal about her sister-like relationship with Brooke Shields, and how much she looked up to her, and how she got to see her real side. The parts of the book where she talks about Brooke actually make me like Brooke Shields a lot more than I did. I was under the mistaken impression that Ms Griffin was the ugly duckling reject of the Suddenly Susan cast, when in reality she was the glue. She was friends with everyone, although she would not put it in those terms (as I’m sure she pissed enough people off along the way). The bottom line was: she was a hard worker, she cared about her peers, and she loved being on that show. From the start she has been completely sober (no alcohol, no drugs, no NOTHING), she shows up to work on time, and she does not reject a job. I’ve always admired that in someone who doesn’t have it easy: when they are down in the dumps, they will not complain or blame anybody else; they take full responsibility and ownership of their situation and work hard to get out from the bottom.
Along the same lines, you would be surprised at all the incredibly ballsy and creative ways she managed to kickstart her career more than once. Every single time it was all based on her knowing her strengths and putting them to work. She did not have it easy, but never gave up. Right there where you see her, making fun of other people for a living, she has much more integrity than any druggie alcoholic actor that makes $20M per film and shows up late every day. Ms Griffin is a professional, and you want to root for her and see her succeed. If there’s anybody who deserves it is her.
Rachel Dratch
Girl Walks into a Bar: Comedy Calamities, Dating Disasters, and a Midlife Miracle
Rachel Dratch got her fame from being a cast member in Saturday Night Live for 7 years. You might remember her as Debbie Downer, a character she made famous in her third season on the show. She also made guest appearances in 30 Rock alongside Tina Fey, not to be seen or heard from since. You can follow her at @TheRealDratch. I didn’t know she was on, so I just started following her myself.
This was probably the strangest book I “read.” Rachel is an absolutely delightful, funny, and likable actress of whom I would definitely like to see more. But, for some reason, she’s not getting good offers. That’s how the book begins: her agent calls her up and offers her such outlandish day jobs that Rachel has no choice but to decline.
I’m going to stop right here and tell you something. I firmly believe Ms Dratch has the talent and contacts to make it in comedies in Hollywood. What I’m not so convinced she has is the smarts. Not that she’s not smart, she did go to an IV league college and is lucid enough to put this book together and to tell a compelling story. However, she does not seem to have the kind of drive that Ms Fey has when she wakes up in the morning. You know what Ms Fey did WHILE she was working a full time job at SNL? Write, produce and cast a pilot for a new show, AND had a baby. What did Rachel do? Go out partying, and claim she’s too busy for even a relationship. I know this might not be a fully fair assessment. After all, I already mentioned what a powerhouse Ms Fey is, and she is most certainly one of a kind. All I’m saying is that nowhere in Ms Dratch’s book she mentions even the possibility of creating her own roles and writing her own parts. That was one of the biggest take-aways from Ms Fey’s book: “if you want a part, you’ll have to write it yourself.” Ms Dratch seems to have missed that memo. (Edit: after posting this I re-read this and realized it was a bit harsh. Everyone is different, and I may have been projecting feelings of inadequacy on Ms Dratch. I still admire her a whole ton, and I guess she would just write her own stuff so I can see her on TV more. I miss her.)
That was my rant. Now that I’ve made my point, I can tell you that Ms Dratch’s story is quite the guilty pleasure to listen to. She talks about her experiences at SNL, and explains her involvement in 30 Rock. Originally Ms Dratch was cast in the role of Jenna, the high-maintenance star of the fictional show within the sitcom, but was later replaced by “leggy and blond” (to quote Ms Fey) Jane Krakowski. Now, I must confess that as much as I love the 30 Rock show, I have always found Jane (as Jenna) to be the most annoying character of all. I have to say that I would have loved to see a version of the show where the star was Ms Dratch. She is much more normal looking, she has ACTUALLY been a star in a late-night live TV show, and she actually has a great comedic talent. I would have loved to see her as a diva. Apparently this was not to be. Networks wanted someone who was better looking and more conventionally talented. Had I known this at the time of casting, I would have definitely written a very stern tweet in protest. Perhaps I still will.
Ms Dratch’s experiences in show business are quite entertaining, and then she moves on to talk about dating. It is quite sad to see her strike out so much, and I actually stopped thinking of her as an incredibly talented woman, and started to see her more as a pathetic creature who can’t scare up a date. Perhaps that says more about me and how judgmental I am, rather than her real character. It was just so painful to see her go out with such losers, cannibals, and substance abusers. I would hate to think that I’m just an evil witch who looks down on anyone without a boyfriend by the age of 43, so I’m just going to say that Ms Dratch did nothing to elevate my confidence in her. She was so self-deprecating that I actually started to believe it. It was just so sad to see her wait for love and see nothing come of it.
I did say a bit earlier that she’s a comic genius, right? Well, if I didn’t use those words, I meant to. Her style of writing was actually quite creative. She didn’t just tell you her story, she verbally illustrated it in such a way that you felt you were watching an episode of Ally McBeal. You know how in that show Ally would have hallucinations? That’s what I like to call them, but it was more like daydreams where she would picture something impossible happening. Like if she wanted the Earth to swallow her, you would see the floor open up a hole and taking her down with it on the screen. That’s how Ms Dratch narrates her story. She makes sure that every action and thought is illustrated by how it felt. It was quite amusing and very enteraining to read. I’m glad she wrote this book, and I’ll probably “read” it again.
Jay Mohr
Gasping for Airtime: Two Years In the Trenches of Saturday Night Live
I know Jay Mohr from the movies Picture Perfect and Jerry Maguire. What I didn’t know was that he was a cast member of SNL back in 1993. Can’t blame me, SNL was not televised in Venezuela, and I only heard of it for the first time in my life in 1999. Now, Jay hosts a podcast called Mohr Stories. Twitter: @JayMohr37.
Mr Mohr starts out this book by saying that it’s no wonder there is no tell-all book about SNL out there, the experience is just so depressing that nobody wants to have to recount it. That’s in the first few lines of the book. You know when they tell you that if you are doing stand-up you should not tell your audience that you’re not funny, because they will believe you and not laugh? I think that’s what happened here. I believed him. His story was going to be depressing.
Mr Mohr spends the entire book pretty much recounting his unbearable experience at SNL. I understand that the show is quite cut-throat, and people can be real prima donnas and the whole system may be run by characters who are great on TV but quite inept when it comes to personal relationships. Heck, I would NOT want to work at SNL. They really couldn’t pay me enough to work there. Ok, perhaps that is a lie. If someone offered me a job as a writer or performer, I probably would accept for the experience alone. Huh… I think we just got to the bottom of the situation: SNL is an offer you cannot refuse. Even Mindy’s recount of her week at SNL is excruciating. There is so much pressure to perform, and by the time you get there it feels like you made it to home room 5 minutes too late and everyone has already paired up to do the next assignment. Terrible feeling if I remember correctly.
The point is that SNL is the best for people who already got the hang of it. Newbies? Unless there is a charitable soul who is willing to take you under their wing, you are screwed. Sink or swim situation. Well, I’m sorry to say that our good friend Mr Mohr, who wrote a book about it, sank. To the bottom. Never to come back up.
Actually that is not true. He did come back up. He starred in one movie with Jennifer Aniston, whom he has recounted so many times that he did NOT get along with. Apparently Jennifer was quite upset that they didn’t pick someone else who had auditioned for the role, and she never quite warmed up to Mr Mohr. He’s still talking about it on his podcast any chance he gets.
That’s another thing, I have listened to his podcast, and I don’t consider him to be a particularly talented interviewer (sorry Jay, I like you, but your style is hard to swallow). Perhaps he does good stand-up (I have never youtubed one of his shows), but really I cannot figure out what he sees in show business. It seems to me that he’s trying to hold on, but he does not have the stomach to make it happen.
If SNL is like high school, which I have heard it is, our friend Mr Mohr peaked in it. Mindy said it best: “don’t peak in high school” and Mr Mohr’s book reads too much like that’s exactly what he did. His career was left back in the dust in the 90s, and it’s just trying to survive.
I just noticed I haven’t said much about the book. Well, I guess I enjoyed the parts where he recounted the play-by-play of his interactions with other cast members like Rob Schneider, Adam Sandler and Chris Farley… but that’s because, as I mentioned, I enjoy the occasional celebrity gossip. The rest is Mr Mohr jumping into panic attacks, struggling to survive week by week, drinking too much, missing the Goodbyes just because he wasn’t in the show at all, and how the whole SNL system is messed up. Ms Fey said it best: “Saturday Night Live runs on a combustion engine of ambition and disappointment.” Every week someone will whine and cry because they didn’t make it on the show that week, but everyone has to get up on Monday morning and start all over again. Seems to me like Mr Mohr never learned how to play with others in this zero-sum game, and ended up quite bitter.
Final thoughts…
In conclusion, I thoroughly enjoyed every single one of these audiobooks. Some were more uplifting than others, but I was glad I “read” them. I feel like I must tell you about the most significant similarities among these books:
- Food: Mindy, Ms Fey and Ms Griffin all talked about their obsession with food. Ms Dratch was the only one who did not discuss food, however she did mention enjoying wine quite a bit. So I have reached the conclusion that in the absence of alcohol, food reigns.
- “White obedient girls”: As much as Ms Griffin would like to think she was a rebel, the truth of the matter was that she was a white obedient girl. That’s exactly the words that Ms Fey used to describe herself. Considering that Mindy is Indian, I can’t say she’s white, but she did grow up in the whitest of neighborhoods and went to the whitest colleges, and had the whitest friends… so, perhaps being a white obedient girl applies to her as well. Put Ms Dratch in the mix, too. The conclusion I’m trying to draw here is that these women became incredibly successful in show business based on their smarts and business savvy, and not on sensationalistic accounts of their being difficult, alcoholics, or tabloid candy. Go smart women go!
- Supportive parents: all our ladies had incredibly supportive parents. Need I beat that dead horse? Think not.
- No real adversity: once you read these accounts, you’ll notice that our leading ladies had pretty normal upbringings. No dreadful tragedies, no running away from home, no abusive parents, no real adversity to overcome. This just makes me think that the happier I can make my home for my child, the more likely he will be to succeed.
I intentionally left out Mr Mohr’s book from this final thought, because, as I said, this was just a sad recount of his time at SNL… not a real memoir, so I didn’t really get to know him very well.
And with that, I leave you. Hope you will pick some of these up if you are curious!
Good night Mindy, sweet dreams! Luv ya!
ina