An improv memoir from Amy Poehler
Some celebrities who write autobiographies fill page after page with an extensive arsenal of misdeeds and dark secrets. Not Amy Poehler, 21st-century comedy queen and star of NBC's Parks and Recreation. She admits in her debut book - a scrapbook-style collection of photographs, letters, traditional memoir, advice columns, and even haiku - that her upbringing was rose-colored and she had to "create her own drama."
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Yes Please
By Amy Poehler
Dey Street Books.
329 pp. $28.99
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Reviewed by Hillary Rea
Some celebrities who write autobiographies fill page after page with an extensive arsenal of misdeeds and dark secrets.
Not Amy Poehler, 21st-century comedy queen and star of NBC's Parks and Recreation. She admits in her debut book - a scrapbook-style collection of photographs, letters, traditional memoir, advice columns, and even haiku - that her upbringing was rose-colored and she had to "create her own drama."
For all her 43 years, Poehler has lived by the philosophy "Yes, please," a phrase that derives from the root "Yes, and" - the mantra of the Upright Citizens Brigade, the improvisational comedy troupe she cofounded.
This book flows like a UCB long-form improv piece, without evidence of a narrative plan. Each chapter is a non sequitur, and most are preceded by a glossy two-page spread of meme-worthy slogans ("Figure out what you want. Say it loud. Then shut up." "Forget the facts and remember the feelings."). She admits in her preface, titled "Writing Is Hard," that she "had no business agreeing to write this book."
Readers seeking advice on the craft of comedy should put down Yes Please and grab The Upright Citizens Brigade Comedy Improvisation Manual (Poehler even says to do so on Page 108). For everyone already on board with Poehler's unpredictable, crazy-eyed sense of humor, this stream-of-consciousness insight into her commendable career is worth the quick read. Several chapters chronicle Poehler's time at Saturday Night Live. In "Laughing to Crying to Laughing," Poehler gives birth to her first child, missing her SNL taping and finding herself doctorless because her ob-gyn had died the night before.
Once all the incongruous filler is sifted out, there are honest words of wisdom within a joyous beginning/middle/end story structure. In "Treat Your Career Like a Bad Boyfriend," Poehler writes: "You have to care about your work but not about the result. You have to care about how good you are and how good you feel, not about how good people think you are or how good people think you look."
Does the book need more of these moments of clarity? Yes, please.