Bossypants

Bossypants

By Tina Fey

I feel the need to explain my position on Tina Fey.

I don’t generally find her to be very funny. With pretty much every movie or show she writes, I find myself annoyed that there is never a straight man (I am speaking in terms of comedy). Everyone is ridiculous. Everyone is silly. Everyone is telling the joke or is the joke. Someone needs to ground it. It’s like a huge bundle of balloons that nothing holds in place. They end up in the power lines or in the ocean or going to space and cause a panic in undiscovered alien worlds: all of which suck.

I understand that this is my personal opinion and not shared by a lot of people. Whatever.

Anyway, I decided to read this book because I heard it was hilarious and also because I understand the difference between television or film writing and memoirs. I respect Tina Fey, despite my views on her comedy, and wanted to give it a chance.

I am so glad I did.

Bossypants was absolutely hilarious! I laughed out loud and seriously did not want to miss a single word. Fey is honest about her experience as a female comedy writer and comedienne. I loved the sections that took me behind the scenes at SNL and into the writers’ room. It was really interesting to learn about her struggles and adamant defense that women are capable of being just as funny as men.

By far, my favorite chapter was the one about her father. Not only was this chapter really funny, but also incredibly sweet and made me want to meet this mythic man.

Everything Fey lacks in her normal work appears perfectly in Bossypants. I actually feel like giving her movies and show another shot (though, admittedly, I do have a weird love of Baby Mama). I feel the need to support her as well as other female comediennes and comedy writers after reading this book. And who knew some male writers pee in jars and keep it around in their office? I mean, this is just a sample of the gems in this book.

Anyway, fan or not, read this book and prepare for a lot of laughing.