I think it’s probably impossible to read Amy Poehler’s book without comparing it, subconsciously at the very least, with Tina Fey’s Bossypants (and possibly Mindy Kaling’s Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?). Bossypants was certainly on my mind, not just because when I think of Amy Poehler, Tina Fey isn’t far behind (and vice versa), but also because both women (and Mindy Kaling) are associated in my mind with being funny on Thursday night NBC sitcoms. They’ve also all three got that ethos about them. The not giving a shit what others think about them. The not placing importance on stupid things or taking stupid things or people seriously. The feminist attitude. The behind the scenes tidbits, And now all three have comedy memoirs. Having read both Mindy and Tina’s books previously, I definitely had expectations going into Yes Please. Those expectations were met, to a certain extent. But Yes Please also surprised me. Amy is not Tina (or Mindy). Amy is Amy, and her book reflects it. It does its own thing.
If you go in wanting Bossypants version 2.0, you’re going to be disappointed. For my money, it’s a fun exercise to compare the two books, but only because in comparing things sometimes you can more clearly see how they’re different. And not in a bad way. Tina is, I think, the better writer. Her essays are more concise, to the point, and well-structured. They are finely-tuned laugh-out-loud humor machines. Her essays were witty, precise, and had just a tinge of bitterness to them that make for that classic Fey bite. But Yes Please? It’s funny in places, but it’s not a funny book. Amy’s book has heart. It’s personal and emotional and sweet at the same time as being very sassy. Just like Amy, I guess. One second a purring kitten, the next a piranha ready to bite your hand off. As much as I love Bossypants, I just really dug the tone of Yes Please. It felt familiar, like she was talking just to me. It was conversational.
Of course, the book isn’t structured in the form of humorous essays, either. It’s sort of constructed as a memoir/self-help book, except that it’s not like any self-help book I’ve ever read. Mostly it’s Amy telling you stories about her life that have led her to learn lessons about how to live life, and the stories are organized loosely around those ‘lessons’. It’s honest. Sometimes painfully so*. For example, she details an incident from her SNL days when a sketch she was in hurt someone’s feelings, and the way that she justified her shitty actions, coming to realize over time how hurtful she’d been, and dealing with the ramifications. And of course there are also fun SNL stories, as well as an entire Parks and Rec chapter. (I could have read an entire book filled solely with behind the scenes tidbits, honestly.) She touches on her family (but not her divorce), her troubles with insomnia and sleep apnea, and how she started in the comedy world. It’s also full of glossy, very silly pictures of Amy dressed up as celebrities, or Amy recreating her high school yearbook photo, or wearing a captain’s uniform, as she does in her author photograph (right). The physical book is gorgeous. The paper is thick and smells wonderful. The different sections are separated by glorious, colorful typefaces.
*The one mention of how hard it was for her to write the book was okay, but it’s probably not a great idea to admit to an audience who has just shelled out $15-$40 for your book, depending on format, that you have less than 100% confidence in it. I don’t think that’s the sentiment she was going for, but after the third or fourth mention, that’s how it started to come across.
The only reason I’m not giving this book five stars is I felt it was a little lacking in the cohesiveness department. The thing that makes it a book rather than a collection of stories bound together in beautiful paper. But honestly, that’s such a minor complaint when I had such a good time reading it. I downloaded the audiobook from Audible a couple of weeks after reading it and I look forward to re-experiencing it in that format (I hear she has guest stars like Seth Meyers and Patrick Stewart narrating parts of it).
That sailor hat picture is da bomb.
She’s a badass.