Bossypants

Photo credit: George Arriola / Foter.com / CC BY-SA

In my desperation to get an audiobook from the library by Thanksgiving, I ordered all the memoirs I could think of that I would want to listen to as an audiobook. None of them were available in time, but Tina Fey’s book Bossypants did become available a day or two after Thanksgiving and I spent a few days thoroughly enjoying it.

It has the wicked sense of humor you would expect from a wildly successful comedian like Fey. I laughed out loud all through this book. Everything from her honeymoon to how photo shoots work is fair game to be told in a way that’s sure to make you laugh, but she’s also just plain right about some things. Like how kids don’t need to be told they’re the most important person in the world because they already think that.

This is one book where I might recommend the audiobook over the physical book (or ebook) because you get to listen to the entire Hillary Clinton/Sarah Palin SNL skit. I’m sure we’re all familiar with it and you’ll know what she’s talking about when she reads the book, but it’s still fun to listen to in the context of the book.

Fey spent very little time talking about her early life and went almost straight into talking about taking improv classes in Chicago and working at Second City. She talks about how she got her job on Saturday Night Live and what it was like to work there. Then what it was like to leave to create “30 Rock”, the success of which she almost entirely credits to Alec Baldwin for agreeing to star in the show.

I thought Fey spent surprisingly little time griping about how hard it is for women to be taken seriously. Not that I was expecting the whole book to be one long feminist rant, and not that I think spending so little time on it is a bad thing. I was just surprised. I guess I was kind of expecting a story about how she had to fight tooth and nail for every little thing she got, but Fey seems almost surprised by her success. In fact, to listen to her, you would never know she’s a hugely successful Hollywood writer/actor/producer. You would think she’s just the working mom next door who came over to borrow some tampons and ended up regaling you with the story of how she came to be here.

The book was published in April 2011, so as I was listening to the audio book, I had to constantly remind myself that the “here and now” Fey was telling me about was actually a few years ago. She talks about “30 Rock” in the present tense and how she feels about turning 40 (she is currently 45).

Five years later, her career is still going strong, but 40-year-old Fey voiced some valid concerns about opportunities for actresses over 40. They’re not great. I think what Fey failed to realize (or at least to say in her book) is the advantages that come with being a writer/producer in addition to being an actress. She was in the most recent Muppets movie (in which she was awesome), she’s producing a new series on Netflix, and her new movie with Amy Poehler just came out and I can’t wait to see it.

All that may only partially be due to Fey’s awesomeness. I don’t think we can discredit movies like “The Heat” that proved to those stupid Hollywood executives that a movie about two women can totally be a blockbuster. That and “Bridesmaids” (which was created by none other than Fey’s fellow SNL alum, Kristen Wiig), just came out in the past few years and I don’t think their contributions to how Hollywood views female-dominated movies can be ignored.

So listening to Fey’s audiobook wasn’t actually the same as hanging out with her because obviously I couldn’t respond to everything she said. If I could, I would tell her not to worry about anything because she is amazing and, no matter what happens, she’ll be just fine. And she would know it’s true because I’m not related to her so I don’t have to say that.

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