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Yes Please
Goodreads Choice Award
Winner for Readers' Favorite Humor (2014)In Amy Poehler’s highly anticipated first book, Yes Please, she offers up a big juicy stew of personal stories, funny bits on sex and love and friendship and parenthood and real life advice (some useful, some not so much), like when to be funny and when to be serious. Powered by Amy’s charming and hilarious, biting yet wise voice, Yes Please is a book full of words to live by.
8 pages, Audiobook
First published October 28, 2014
10347 people are currently reading
496424 people want to read
About the author
Amy Poehler
1 book2,562 followersAmy Meredith Poehler is an American actress, comedian, voice artist, producer and writer. Raised in Burlington, Massachusetts, she graduated from Boston College in 1993 and moved to Chicago, Illinois, to study improv at The Second City and ImprovOlympic. In 1996, she moved to New York City after becoming part of the improvisational comedy troupe Upright Citizens Brigade, which later developed into an eponymous television show that aired on Comedy Central for three seasons. Poehler was also one of the founding members of the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in 1999.
Poehler was a cast member on the NBC television show Saturday Night Live from 2001 to 2008. In 2004, she became the co-anchor of the Weekend Update sketch along with her friend and colleague Tina Fey. Poehler's work on SNL earned her two Primetime Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. She is known for voicing Bessie Higgenbottom in the 2008–2011 Nickelodeon series, The Mighty B! and Eleanor Miller in the Alvin and the Chipmunks CGI films. Since 2009, she has starred as Leslie Knope in the sitcom Parks and Recreation, and received the 2014 Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Television Musical or Comedy Series. She is also an eight-time Emmy Award nominee.
Poehler is currently starring in the new Swedish-American sitcom Welcome to Sweden along with her brother Greg Poehler.
Poehler was a cast member on the NBC television show Saturday Night Live from 2001 to 2008. In 2004, she became the co-anchor of the Weekend Update sketch along with her friend and colleague Tina Fey. Poehler's work on SNL earned her two Primetime Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. She is known for voicing Bessie Higgenbottom in the 2008–2011 Nickelodeon series, The Mighty B! and Eleanor Miller in the Alvin and the Chipmunks CGI films. Since 2009, she has starred as Leslie Knope in the sitcom Parks and Recreation, and received the 2014 Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Television Musical or Comedy Series. She is also an eight-time Emmy Award nominee.
Poehler is currently starring in the new Swedish-American sitcom Welcome to Sweden along with her brother Greg Poehler.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 29,561 reviews
December 16, 2015
This is not a comedy book.
I mean, it's funny. Amy Poehler can't write a book and not be funny, because she's Amy fuckin' Poehler. But (and this is not the first time I'm going to compare the two memoirs) where Tina Fey's Bossypants contained humorous essays written specifically for the purpose of being funny, Poehler's does not. Everything is presented in a straightforward, matter-of-fact, fashion, and although a lot of the book is very, very funny, it never seems like this was the specific goal behind the essays.
This is also not a book about comedy.
Although Amy Poehler discusses her time on improv groups in Chicago and New York, Saturday Night Live, and Parks and Recreation, she never gets more in-depth than "then we moved to New York and started working at this theater." Her time on SNL is reduced to a chapter of brief (but fantastic) anecdotes. Amy Poehler is renowned for her ability to play vastly different characters - somewhere on the internet is a photo gallery of all her Second City characters - but she never discusses what goes into each character. The closest we get is this description of her preparing her Hillary Clinton imitation and finally getting a bead on the character by playing her as someone who is tired of always being the smartest person in the room.
Okay, so it's not a comedy book, and it's not a book about comedy, and it's really not even much of a memoir - Poehler does not discuss her divorce because "it is too sad and too personal. I also don't like people knowing my shit." So what, exactly, is Yes Please?
It feels weird to classify this book as a self-help book. But that's what I got out of it. Maybe your experience with Poehler's book will be different, but as I was reading it, the parts that left the greatest impressions on me are the ones where she is demonstrating how to be a good person. The title itself references this - Poehler spends some time discussing how the improv rule of always replying with "yes, and..." is also a good rule for life, and how she tacks "please" onto that because Amy Poehler is truly, genuinely, wonderfully nice, and that's always refreshing. But lest you think she's some kind of pushover, rest assured that Amy Poehler is also a badass who gets what she wants, and if you pay attention, she can teach you how to do that:
"When someone is being rude, abusing their power, or not respecting you, just call them out in a really obvious way. Say, 'I can't understand why you are being rude because you are the concierge and this is the part of the evening where the concierge helps me.' Act like they are an actor who has forgotten what part they are playing. It brings the attention back to them and gives you a minute to calm down so you don't do something silly like burst into tears or break their stupid fucking glasses."
She also teaches you how to be good at what you do, in a very good essay called "Treat Your Career Like a Bad Boyfriend":
"Now, before I extend this metaphor, let me make a distinction between career and creativity. Creativity is connected to your passion, that light inside you that drives you. That joy that comes when you do something you love. That small voice that tells you, 'I like this. Do this again. You are good at it. Keep going.' That is the juicy stuff that lubricates our lives and helps us feel less alone in the world. Your creativity is not a bad boyfriend.
...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, but not about how good people think you are or how good people think you look."
I don't want to imply that this is all heavy, here's-how-to-be-a-successful-person stuff. There's lightness in this book, and like I said, it's funny and fluffy, but there's a solid gold center deep within this seemingly light read that makes it stand out from other comedy memoirs I've read. I treated this book as a manual on how to become Amy Poehler, and there are worse things we could be.
Have I mentioned that Amy Poehler is nice? She's so nice. She does the same thing Tina Fey did in her book where she lists a lot of the people who work on her TV show with her and it's basically an excuse for her to gush over how much she likes the people she works with (she calls Aubrey Plaze "a big-hearted warrior"). She spends a long chapter talking about her sons and how much she loves them. Tiny Fey's book featured a chapter called "We Don't Care if You Like It (One in a Series of Love Letters to Amy Poehler)." Amy Poehler's book returns the favor by including an acrostic poem about Tina Fey, which might seem disingenuous, but it's clear on every page how much these two great people love each other:
"Sometimes Tina is like a very talented bungee-jumping expert. All it takes is for Tina to softly say, 'We can do this, right?' and I suddenly feel like I can jump off a bridge."
I don't know how you guys reacted to that line, but when I read it I had to put the book down and immediately send a text to my best friend telling her I loved her. That's the effect Amy Poehler's book had on me: it taught me how to do what I wanted, how to feel good about myself, how to deal with whatever terrible things life throws at you, and it reminded me to be kind.
And it's pretty fucking funny, so there's that.
I mean, it's funny. Amy Poehler can't write a book and not be funny, because she's Amy fuckin' Poehler. But (and this is not the first time I'm going to compare the two memoirs) where Tina Fey's Bossypants contained humorous essays written specifically for the purpose of being funny, Poehler's does not. Everything is presented in a straightforward, matter-of-fact, fashion, and although a lot of the book is very, very funny, it never seems like this was the specific goal behind the essays.
This is also not a book about comedy.
Although Amy Poehler discusses her time on improv groups in Chicago and New York, Saturday Night Live, and Parks and Recreation, she never gets more in-depth than "then we moved to New York and started working at this theater." Her time on SNL is reduced to a chapter of brief (but fantastic) anecdotes. Amy Poehler is renowned for her ability to play vastly different characters - somewhere on the internet is a photo gallery of all her Second City characters - but she never discusses what goes into each character. The closest we get is this description of her preparing her Hillary Clinton imitation and finally getting a bead on the character by playing her as someone who is tired of always being the smartest person in the room.
Okay, so it's not a comedy book, and it's not a book about comedy, and it's really not even much of a memoir - Poehler does not discuss her divorce because "it is too sad and too personal. I also don't like people knowing my shit." So what, exactly, is Yes Please?
It feels weird to classify this book as a self-help book. But that's what I got out of it. Maybe your experience with Poehler's book will be different, but as I was reading it, the parts that left the greatest impressions on me are the ones where she is demonstrating how to be a good person. The title itself references this - Poehler spends some time discussing how the improv rule of always replying with "yes, and..." is also a good rule for life, and how she tacks "please" onto that because Amy Poehler is truly, genuinely, wonderfully nice, and that's always refreshing. But lest you think she's some kind of pushover, rest assured that Amy Poehler is also a badass who gets what she wants, and if you pay attention, she can teach you how to do that:
"When someone is being rude, abusing their power, or not respecting you, just call them out in a really obvious way. Say, 'I can't understand why you are being rude because you are the concierge and this is the part of the evening where the concierge helps me.' Act like they are an actor who has forgotten what part they are playing. It brings the attention back to them and gives you a minute to calm down so you don't do something silly like burst into tears or break their stupid fucking glasses."
She also teaches you how to be good at what you do, in a very good essay called "Treat Your Career Like a Bad Boyfriend":
"Now, before I extend this metaphor, let me make a distinction between career and creativity. Creativity is connected to your passion, that light inside you that drives you. That joy that comes when you do something you love. That small voice that tells you, 'I like this. Do this again. You are good at it. Keep going.' That is the juicy stuff that lubricates our lives and helps us feel less alone in the world. Your creativity is not a bad boyfriend.
...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, but not about how good people think you are or how good people think you look."
I don't want to imply that this is all heavy, here's-how-to-be-a-successful-person stuff. There's lightness in this book, and like I said, it's funny and fluffy, but there's a solid gold center deep within this seemingly light read that makes it stand out from other comedy memoirs I've read. I treated this book as a manual on how to become Amy Poehler, and there are worse things we could be.
Have I mentioned that Amy Poehler is nice? She's so nice. She does the same thing Tina Fey did in her book where she lists a lot of the people who work on her TV show with her and it's basically an excuse for her to gush over how much she likes the people she works with (she calls Aubrey Plaze "a big-hearted warrior"). She spends a long chapter talking about her sons and how much she loves them. Tiny Fey's book featured a chapter called "We Don't Care if You Like It (One in a Series of Love Letters to Amy Poehler)." Amy Poehler's book returns the favor by including an acrostic poem about Tina Fey, which might seem disingenuous, but it's clear on every page how much these two great people love each other:
"Sometimes Tina is like a very talented bungee-jumping expert. All it takes is for Tina to softly say, 'We can do this, right?' and I suddenly feel like I can jump off a bridge."
I don't know how you guys reacted to that line, but when I read it I had to put the book down and immediately send a text to my best friend telling her I loved her. That's the effect Amy Poehler's book had on me: it taught me how to do what I wanted, how to feel good about myself, how to deal with whatever terrible things life throws at you, and it reminded me to be kind.
And it's pretty fucking funny, so there's that.
November 20, 2014
It breaks my heart to give this book one star.
I love Amy Poehler. In fact I love every member of that early two-thousands (the decade, not the century) female Saturday Night Live cast ensemble: Poehler, Fey, Rudolph, Dratch.
I often mentally include Kristen Wiig in the mix, too, because she’s fantastic, but she was sort of late to the party, having joined SNL a year before Dratch and Fey left.
But as I was saying, I think highly of Poehler. I enjoy her comedy, her intelligence, her personality overall. But I didn’t like this book.
To me, Yes Please reads more like a scatterbrained diary than the well-crafted memoir I had been hoping for. Very little of the book seems to have been composed with any forethought; it’s as though Poehler were performing improv in “lit” form. Except while she may be a master of the art on a stage, her improvisational talent doesn’t really migrate to the written page. Her stories meander along without any real segue between them, each having a very “oh and by the way” aspect to it. Maybe it was meant to be random and incoherent but it just didn’t work for me.
At one point in the book Poehler mentions her addiction to self-googling, so in many ways I am hoping she doesn’t stumble across this review because I’d hate to imagine her feelings being hurt by it, so maybe it’s best that no one votes for it.
In other words, do what you guys normally do.
I love Amy Poehler. In fact I love every member of that early two-thousands (the decade, not the century) female Saturday Night Live cast ensemble: Poehler, Fey, Rudolph, Dratch.
I often mentally include Kristen Wiig in the mix, too, because she’s fantastic, but she was sort of late to the party, having joined SNL a year before Dratch and Fey left.
But as I was saying, I think highly of Poehler. I enjoy her comedy, her intelligence, her personality overall. But I didn’t like this book.
To me, Yes Please reads more like a scatterbrained diary than the well-crafted memoir I had been hoping for. Very little of the book seems to have been composed with any forethought; it’s as though Poehler were performing improv in “lit” form. Except while she may be a master of the art on a stage, her improvisational talent doesn’t really migrate to the written page. Her stories meander along without any real segue between them, each having a very “oh and by the way” aspect to it. Maybe it was meant to be random and incoherent but it just didn’t work for me.
At one point in the book Poehler mentions her addiction to self-googling, so in many ways I am hoping she doesn’t stumble across this review because I’d hate to imagine her feelings being hurt by it, so maybe it’s best that no one votes for it.
In other words, do what you guys normally do.
October 28, 2014
YES REALLY. I almost gave this two stars, except it includes George Clooney and that would be a crime.
This book is fine. It didn't charm me. It actually took me about three or four days to read 288 pages, which is funny because a lot of those pages don't include any actual words (she's got a ton of photocopies and inspirational signs intermixed with the text). It just wasn't as fun to read as I anticipated.
The problem is that she spends most of the book talking about how hard it is to write a book, or how she struggles with her self perception, or how she doesn’t like people knowing her business. (Incidentally, I think self-perception is an extremely valuable topic for women and teenagers, but perhaps not what I was interested in reading when I picked this up.) Sometimes she’s able to turn the “I don’t actually want to tell you anything about myself” into a pretty funny chapter, like when she writes out the descriptions of divorce self-help books she’d like to write. (Spoiler alert: she doesn’t want to talk about her relationship with Will Arnett at all, which is certainly her right.)
But this means that she skips over many of the periods of her life that I was most interested in, like the founding of UCB and her subsequent success. She goes through a lot of, “Then we got a bigger theater, and then a bigger one, and then I was hired at SNL." For most of the book, I felt like she was skipping over the truly interesting side stories. There are some anecdotes from SNL and Parks and Rec, but there are surprisingly few given how much time she's spent on both shows.
Then again, back to George Clooney:
Perhaps if I’d listened to this as an audiobook, I might have enjoyed it more. When I went back to read some sentences over and consciously tried to hear her voice, I definitely thought some of it was funnier. But overall, I vacillated between two and three stars, and landed on three only because this is Amy Poehler’s book. YES, REALLY.
November 7, 2014
No, thank you.
I was supposed to love this book and as I always do when I find myself super disappointed, I looked back through other reviews to see if I was alone. I don't think I am alone, but no one is expressing my disappointment quite how I need it to be expressed, so I get to do that myself this time around.
I just kept waiting... and waiting... and waiting. The moment it was going to get good and awesome had to be right around the corner! Soon I would get past all the filler and all the fluff and dig into the heart of the book! It would be so great! I was so excited!
And then I realized I had under fifty pages left.
In the book, I waded through:
A lot of celebrity name droppingI never figured out if it was supposed to be ironic, sarcastic, cute... I'm not sure. There is no way to do this that isn't obnoxious. Even with a disclaimer about it being obnoxious, it is still obnoxious. If you genuinely, really need to tell a story about your friend who happens to be a famous celebrity person, and they are really a part of the story, by all means, please tell it. But if there is no story, or one that is only half-told or glossed over.... There is no point.
A lot of filler. Her parents wrote parts of it. And then some other dude wrote part of it. And then there was a chapter of footnotes as a joke, which was super funny back in 1990 something, but which really just take up space and make reading difficult. Lists! Copy pasted emails! There was a lot of writing about writing a book. Hey, Amy? JUST DO THE THING.
A lot of confusion: Stories started and stopped. Kindergarten, mid-twenties, what? Are we going back to kindergarten? Did I miss something? Is that thread going to be picked up again? How does this connect? TRANSITION SENTENCES WOULD HELP.
A lot of trying to be funny... and not being funny. Which is weird because I think Amy is a very funny person. But the book comes off as cloying, it's too much "THIS IS FUNNY" and not enough content. It feels like trying (and also not trying at the same time. Maybe this book is better than I thought because that really is a momentous feat). Maybe it just didn't translate well to print. I don't know.
The highlight of the book for me was the mention of Gavin de Becker's The Gift of Fear. Because that book is fantastic and true. I like that Amy pointed out exactly why it is awesome and why the situation with the producer was uncomfortable (she said no, he kept asking). De Becker has helped me to identify these little things that feel "off" to me and allowed me to pinpoint why, so I appreciate this type of thing. But now, I'm reviewing The Gift of Fear instead of this book. And if that's my main takeaway, something is wrong.
I was supposed to love this book and as I always do when I find myself super disappointed, I looked back through other reviews to see if I was alone. I don't think I am alone, but no one is expressing my disappointment quite how I need it to be expressed, so I get to do that myself this time around.
I just kept waiting... and waiting... and waiting. The moment it was going to get good and awesome had to be right around the corner! Soon I would get past all the filler and all the fluff and dig into the heart of the book! It would be so great! I was so excited!
And then I realized I had under fifty pages left.
In the book, I waded through:
A lot of celebrity name droppingI never figured out if it was supposed to be ironic, sarcastic, cute... I'm not sure. There is no way to do this that isn't obnoxious. Even with a disclaimer about it being obnoxious, it is still obnoxious. If you genuinely, really need to tell a story about your friend who happens to be a famous celebrity person, and they are really a part of the story, by all means, please tell it. But if there is no story, or one that is only half-told or glossed over.... There is no point.
A lot of filler. Her parents wrote parts of it. And then some other dude wrote part of it. And then there was a chapter of footnotes as a joke, which was super funny back in 1990 something, but which really just take up space and make reading difficult. Lists! Copy pasted emails! There was a lot of writing about writing a book. Hey, Amy? JUST DO THE THING.
A lot of confusion: Stories started and stopped. Kindergarten, mid-twenties, what? Are we going back to kindergarten? Did I miss something? Is that thread going to be picked up again? How does this connect? TRANSITION SENTENCES WOULD HELP.
A lot of trying to be funny... and not being funny. Which is weird because I think Amy is a very funny person. But the book comes off as cloying, it's too much "THIS IS FUNNY" and not enough content. It feels like trying (and also not trying at the same time. Maybe this book is better than I thought because that really is a momentous feat). Maybe it just didn't translate well to print. I don't know.
The highlight of the book for me was the mention of Gavin de Becker's The Gift of Fear. Because that book is fantastic and true. I like that Amy pointed out exactly why it is awesome and why the situation with the producer was uncomfortable (she said no, he kept asking). De Becker has helped me to identify these little things that feel "off" to me and allowed me to pinpoint why, so I appreciate this type of thing. But now, I'm reviewing The Gift of Fear instead of this book. And if that's my main takeaway, something is wrong.
February 3, 2023
A non chronological Audiobook memoir by famous comedian Amy Poehler.
A little bit of everything, childhood, parents, improv beginnings, pregnancy, motherhood, divorce, sex, drugs, pudding, career, Tina, womanhood, time travel, the Biz, Parks and Recreation, SNL, more SNL, and, lastly, little bits of SNL sprinkled into every other topic that you may think is not related to SNL, but somehow is.
I start to think memoirs are not my thing, didn't care much for Poehler's, Fey's or Barrymore's. I've found them all somewhat interesting, yet not really enjoyable. I've never watched SNL. I know it's there, I know it's cool, I know I should watch it, but it doesn't really air over here so. Anyway, I'm positive this would totally hit it with any SNL fan. Amy Poehler is one badass dudess, you can tell even if it is your first time hearing her, and she's probably gonna make you smile or laugh in many chapters, specially if you are fond of her.
-----------------------------------------------
PERSONAL NOTE :
[2014] [329p] [Memoir] [Audiobook] [Funny] [Almost Recommendable] [SNL] [more SNL] [Badass Poehler]
-----------------------------------------------
Un audiolibro de memoria no cronológica por la famosa comediante Amy Poehler.
Un poco de todo, infancia, padres, comienzos en improvisación, embarazo, maternidad, divorcio, sexo, drogas, bizcochos, carrera, feminidad, Tina, viaje en el tiempo, Parks and Recreation, SNL, más SNL, y por último, pedacitos de SNL esparcidos en cualquier otro tema que uno pensaría no está relacionado con SNL, pero que de alguna forma está.
Empiezo a pensar que las memorias no son lo mío, no me pareció mucho ni la de Poehler, Fey o Barrymore. Las encontré algo interesantes, pero no realmente disfrutables. Nunca vi SNL. Sé que está ahí, sé que es copado, sé que debería mirarlo, pero no es que lo pasen por acá. En fin, estoy seguro que esto resultaría genial para cualquier fan de SNL. Amy Poehler es una tipa fantástica, lo podés ver inclusive escuchándola por primera vez, y probablemente te hará sonreir o reir en muchos capítulos, especialmente si es que te agrada.
-----------------------------------------------
NOTA PERSONAL :
[2014] [329p] [Memoria] [Audiolibro] [Graciosa] [Casi Recomendable] [SNL] [más SNL] [Copada Poehler]
-----------------------------------------------
A little bit of everything, childhood, parents, improv beginnings, pregnancy, motherhood, divorce, sex, drugs, pudding, career, Tina, womanhood, time travel, the Biz, Parks and Recreation, SNL, more SNL, and, lastly, little bits of SNL sprinkled into every other topic that you may think is not related to SNL, but somehow is.
I start to think memoirs are not my thing, didn't care much for Poehler's, Fey's or Barrymore's. I've found them all somewhat interesting, yet not really enjoyable. I've never watched SNL. I know it's there, I know it's cool, I know I should watch it, but it doesn't really air over here so. Anyway, I'm positive this would totally hit it with any SNL fan. Amy Poehler is one badass dudess, you can tell even if it is your first time hearing her, and she's probably gonna make you smile or laugh in many chapters, specially if you are fond of her.
-----------------------------------------------
PERSONAL NOTE :
[2014] [329p] [Memoir] [Audiobook] [Funny] [Almost Recommendable] [SNL] [more SNL] [Badass Poehler]
-----------------------------------------------
Un audiolibro de memoria no cronológica por la famosa comediante Amy Poehler.
Un poco de todo, infancia, padres, comienzos en improvisación, embarazo, maternidad, divorcio, sexo, drogas, bizcochos, carrera, feminidad, Tina, viaje en el tiempo, Parks and Recreation, SNL, más SNL, y por último, pedacitos de SNL esparcidos en cualquier otro tema que uno pensaría no está relacionado con SNL, pero que de alguna forma está.
Empiezo a pensar que las memorias no son lo mío, no me pareció mucho ni la de Poehler, Fey o Barrymore. Las encontré algo interesantes, pero no realmente disfrutables. Nunca vi SNL. Sé que está ahí, sé que es copado, sé que debería mirarlo, pero no es que lo pasen por acá. En fin, estoy seguro que esto resultaría genial para cualquier fan de SNL. Amy Poehler es una tipa fantástica, lo podés ver inclusive escuchándola por primera vez, y probablemente te hará sonreir o reir en muchos capítulos, especialmente si es que te agrada.
-----------------------------------------------
NOTA PERSONAL :
[2014] [329p] [Memoria] [Audiolibro] [Graciosa] [Casi Recomendable] [SNL] [más SNL] [Copada Poehler]
-----------------------------------------------
February 28, 2019
Find all of my reviews at: http://52bookminimum.blogspot.com/
Good Christ – just obtaining a library copy of this f*&^%$g book was like going on an adventure. After my third trek down to the local bibliotheca, I finally had success.
Look at the happy!
You’re probably asking yourself “if she’s such a Poehler fangirl, why didn’t she just go to the B&N and grab herself a copy????” Well, you see … I am cheap.
Yes Please also wasn’t getting real stellar ratings and reviews so I decided to err on the side of caution. Turns out reading a synopsis can be really helpful sometimes. You see, the blip pretty much lays it right out there that this is a book containing “real life advice” and “words to live by.” If you’re expecting another Bossy Pants or Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?, you aren’t going to find it here.
Yeah, I know. Here’s some helpful advice from Amy herself:
It took me a loooooooonnnnnnng time (like half the book) to wrap my brain around the fact that the belly laughs were going to be few and far between, but once I did, I was able to enjoy Yes Please for what it was . . . a book of the dos and don’ts/successes and failures that made Amy Poehler who she is today.
If you’re a young puppy whose experiences in the world of Poehler revolve around maybe seeing a couple of Weekend Update reruns or watching the Golden Globes, you’re probably going to be super disappointed in this book and quickly realize this about Amy Poehler:
On the other hand, if you are a crazy fangirl who has followed her career since waaaay back in the days of the Upright Citizens Brigade and her break into fame in the comedy classic “Deuce Bigalow, Male Gigalow” (see first .gif above) like me, you’re still gonna like it.
Amy Poehler has been one of my imaginary BFFs for over 15 years now. She’s made me laugh ‘til I cried more times than I can count and brought constant funny to her term on SNL. She was she a breakout star from her first appearance
and continued to deliver until her final episode
(After which she left to make “Parks and Recreation” – a show I feel will go down in the history books as one of the best of all time).
Amy Poehler is who I want to be when I grow up. Not only has she performed in some of the funniest skits on television:
(she writes about this one in the book and just thinking about it made me almost wet myself.)
Not only does she have the BEST friends in the universe (Tina Fey and Seth Meyers in case you live under a bridge somewhere) and not only has she totally humped Justin Timberlake on stage, but she has proved time and again that
She offers simple yet awesome advice in Yes Please. Stuff like “The talking about the thing isn’t the thing. The doing of the thing is the thing.” She reminds us all that in order to achieve success, hard work should be expected, but also realizes how lucky she was to be one of the people whose career and passion were one and the same. For the rest of us who aren’t so lucky, Poehler encourages us to keep listening to that little voice inside ourselves that says “I like this. Do this again. You are good at it.”
Yes Please was one giant "love cookie" so I'm giving it 4 Stars (while realizing it would more than likely receive 2 Stars max were it not written by Amy Poehler). For those of you who end up not liking it, I think Amy would probably say
But if you do happen to find yourself more than a little disappointed in your feelings about Yes Please, might I recommend to drown your sorrows Leslie Knope style . . .
And if that doesn’t work, the surefire cure for any ailment is . . .
MORE COWBELL!
Good Christ – just obtaining a library copy of this f*&^%$g book was like going on an adventure. After my third trek down to the local bibliotheca, I finally had success.
Look at the happy!
You’re probably asking yourself “if she’s such a Poehler fangirl, why didn’t she just go to the B&N and grab herself a copy????” Well, you see … I am cheap.
Yes Please also wasn’t getting real stellar ratings and reviews so I decided to err on the side of caution. Turns out reading a synopsis can be really helpful sometimes. You see, the blip pretty much lays it right out there that this is a book containing “real life advice” and “words to live by.” If you’re expecting another Bossy Pants or Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?, you aren’t going to find it here.
Yeah, I know. Here’s some helpful advice from Amy herself:
It took me a loooooooonnnnnnng time (like half the book) to wrap my brain around the fact that the belly laughs were going to be few and far between, but once I did, I was able to enjoy Yes Please for what it was . . . a book of the dos and don’ts/successes and failures that made Amy Poehler who she is today.
If you’re a young puppy whose experiences in the world of Poehler revolve around maybe seeing a couple of Weekend Update reruns or watching the Golden Globes, you’re probably going to be super disappointed in this book and quickly realize this about Amy Poehler:
On the other hand, if you are a crazy fangirl who has followed her career since waaaay back in the days of the Upright Citizens Brigade and her break into fame in the comedy classic “Deuce Bigalow, Male Gigalow” (see first .gif above) like me, you’re still gonna like it.
Amy Poehler has been one of my imaginary BFFs for over 15 years now. She’s made me laugh ‘til I cried more times than I can count and brought constant funny to her term on SNL. She was she a breakout star from her first appearance
and continued to deliver until her final episode
(After which she left to make “Parks and Recreation” – a show I feel will go down in the history books as one of the best of all time).
Amy Poehler is who I want to be when I grow up. Not only has she performed in some of the funniest skits on television:
(she writes about this one in the book and just thinking about it made me almost wet myself.)
Not only does she have the BEST friends in the universe (Tina Fey and Seth Meyers in case you live under a bridge somewhere) and not only has she totally humped Justin Timberlake on stage, but she has proved time and again that
She offers simple yet awesome advice in Yes Please. Stuff like “The talking about the thing isn’t the thing. The doing of the thing is the thing.” She reminds us all that in order to achieve success, hard work should be expected, but also realizes how lucky she was to be one of the people whose career and passion were one and the same. For the rest of us who aren’t so lucky, Poehler encourages us to keep listening to that little voice inside ourselves that says “I like this. Do this again. You are good at it.”
Yes Please was one giant "love cookie" so I'm giving it 4 Stars (while realizing it would more than likely receive 2 Stars max were it not written by Amy Poehler). For those of you who end up not liking it, I think Amy would probably say
But if you do happen to find yourself more than a little disappointed in your feelings about Yes Please, might I recommend to drown your sorrows Leslie Knope style . . .
And if that doesn’t work, the surefire cure for any ailment is . . .
MORE COWBELL!
October 28, 2017
This was pretty good! 😄
I have the paperback but I listened to it on audio. She read the book herself and I love that. You get all of the true feelings when they read their own work.
I loved looking at all of the pictures in the book as well. My copy is a small paperback and it has those soft glossy pages that you love to snif. 😄 And all bookaholics know what I mean. I actually sat down my phone to sniff the book again while reviewing. 😂
The book is set up in different sections as well. I have to admit I have ne we watched Parks and Recreation but I did add it to my Netflix to see if I would like it.
There is this part in the book where she is talking about back in the day. I was like, OMG, I should get out my old pics! 😂
Overall, I enjoyed the book!
Mel ❤️
I have the paperback but I listened to it on audio. She read the book herself and I love that. You get all of the true feelings when they read their own work.
I loved looking at all of the pictures in the book as well. My copy is a small paperback and it has those soft glossy pages that you love to snif. 😄 And all bookaholics know what I mean. I actually sat down my phone to sniff the book again while reviewing. 😂
The book is set up in different sections as well. I have to admit I have ne we watched Parks and Recreation but I did add it to my Netflix to see if I would like it.
There is this part in the book where she is talking about back in the day. I was like, OMG, I should get out my old pics! 😂
The eighties were a strange time for teenage fashion. We wore silk blouses and shoulder pads, neon earrings and jodhpur pants. Come to think of it, our pants were especially weird. We also wore stirrup pants, parachute pants, and velvet knickers. It was a real experimental pant time. We curled our hair and sprayed it until it was crunchy and high. We wore jewel tones and too much makeup. With the exception of a few naturally beautiful girls who knew how to balance all of these elements, we looked ridiculous.
Overall, I enjoyed the book!
Mel ❤️
November 11, 2014
HIGHLY HIGHLY RECOMMEND THE AUDIOBOOK! Amy Poehler is so genuine and awesome! On the audiobook she has special guests, a live audience for the final chapter, lots of random conversation, and all sorts of extra awesomness! LOVED THIS! :D
January 17, 2022
Improv queen, comedy player, actress and all-round 'cool person' Amy Poehler's entry into the now to be expected, shared memoir whilst still at, or near the top of one's game. Does one have to like or know Amy to appreciate this seemingly at times extremely honest and personal, as well as darkly funny book? Well my answer is a big fat no, unlike, in my opinion many of the politically left preaching comics Amy is not only very funny, she is talented and a great storyteller.
On top of what I wrote above, this is a great book because Amy worked her way to the top, and is a proponent and advocate of working hard to achieve what you seek; she doesn't preach, she just questions the 21st century ideology that 'stars are found'; she feels that in (her) reality successful (and sometimes contented) people are those that have strived, sacrificed and worked really hard for a long time to reach their goals/get where they want to be. There's also a chapter on Parks and Recreation where I first found Amy, which wasn't even a highlight for me, because there just so many great and/or funny stories in this book, as well as real-talk deep moving ones. Thank you Amy! 8.5 out of 12.
2021 read
On top of what I wrote above, this is a great book because Amy worked her way to the top, and is a proponent and advocate of working hard to achieve what you seek; she doesn't preach, she just questions the 21st century ideology that 'stars are found'; she feels that in (her) reality successful (and sometimes contented) people are those that have strived, sacrificed and worked really hard for a long time to reach their goals/get where they want to be. There's also a chapter on Parks and Recreation where I first found Amy, which wasn't even a highlight for me, because there just so many great and/or funny stories in this book, as well as real-talk deep moving ones. Thank you Amy! 8.5 out of 12.
2021 read
February 16, 2015
Inspired me to continue on watching Parks & Rec!
Very much enjoyed this, and I loved how Amy brought in others to help voice some sections of the book.
Very much enjoyed this, and I loved how Amy brought in others to help voice some sections of the book.
August 2, 2015
Whelp, look for a flood of reviews coming in, cleaning out my bedroom/office before I go on the road for book tour! That also includes a lot of autobiographies I read as research/pleasure in the last year, preparing and writing my book that I need to add to Goodreads.
I had to cut myself off from reading books in this category, actually, because I started getting intimidated and comparing my structure/writing to other peoples' autobiography structure/writing which only served to paralyze me and make me play video games instead of getting my own draft done. So I binged a lot of books the last few months in this category because my book is done and almost out and I can now lift the comparison stuff from my thoughts. Er. Kinda.
Amy Poehler is a goddess to me, and since her company and my company are both owned by Legendary and we're in the same building, i always have this faint hope I'll see her and bump into her somewhere and be able to say, "Hey, my company is near your company, we're company buddies!" It hasn't happened. So this book is my conduit to her, and it is a pretty great one.
Her life is amazing, and especially her love of improv is something I share, so reading about how she built UCB with such a cool community was inspiring. How she's stuck to her guns a lot, how she got help in the writing because things were so crazy, with friends doing guest chapters and stuff. I loved the variety and the pictures (although the one thing I will say that's negative is this book is HEAVY! It's printed on like 1000lb paper so if an intruder enters your home, look to this as a defense weapon.) Anyway, if you are interested in Amy then this is a book worth getting. Also: Her hair is entirely on point in the cover. Jelly.
I had to cut myself off from reading books in this category, actually, because I started getting intimidated and comparing my structure/writing to other peoples' autobiography structure/writing which only served to paralyze me and make me play video games instead of getting my own draft done. So I binged a lot of books the last few months in this category because my book is done and almost out and I can now lift the comparison stuff from my thoughts. Er. Kinda.
Amy Poehler is a goddess to me, and since her company and my company are both owned by Legendary and we're in the same building, i always have this faint hope I'll see her and bump into her somewhere and be able to say, "Hey, my company is near your company, we're company buddies!" It hasn't happened. So this book is my conduit to her, and it is a pretty great one.
Her life is amazing, and especially her love of improv is something I share, so reading about how she built UCB with such a cool community was inspiring. How she's stuck to her guns a lot, how she got help in the writing because things were so crazy, with friends doing guest chapters and stuff. I loved the variety and the pictures (although the one thing I will say that's negative is this book is HEAVY! It's printed on like 1000lb paper so if an intruder enters your home, look to this as a defense weapon.) Anyway, if you are interested in Amy then this is a book worth getting. Also: Her hair is entirely on point in the cover. Jelly.
June 5, 2020
I picked this up after having listened to Seriously... I'm Kidding on audio and feeling in the mood for something similar to cheer me up while having that damned cold. Also known as: part-two-of-feeling-terrible-and-wanting-an-audiobook-to-cheer-me-up-when-I-don’t-have-the-energy-to-read-actual-words.
I don’t why it took me so long to realize that listening to memoirs on audio is a genius move. It made me rethink a lot past choices of reading the book instead of listening to it…
I feel like if I’d read Yes Please by myself, I wouldn’t have enjoyed it even one little bit.
But while I loved how the way the audiobook was constructed, I can't ignore that I didn't care for the contents of this book.
Amy Poehler is, of course, extremely privileged in numerous aspects, and I knew this going into her writing. However, it continually exasperated me how in one essay the author would address her privilege, but then completely disregard it in the next while complaining about her #whitepeopleproblems. I feel like she's the definition of a White Feminist™ and/ or problematic fave. Not my fave, but still.
I'd really recommend reading this incredible article that takes the time to discuss the ways white feminists are hurting feminism.
That's not to say that all the essays in Yes Please were bad--a number (two) of them weren't... mostly because they weren't focused on Amy Poelher. They rest just came off as extremely pretentious and high-key offensive (I feel like she genuinely believes that white people experience racism........they don't).
So I'd like to talk about the essays that made me think for awhile there that this book was going to go places:
Sorry, Sorry, Sorry:
By far, this was one of the most raw essays I read in this book. In Sorry, Sorry, Sorry, Poehler takes the time to discuss taking responsibility for past mistakes made. I was left truly speechless upon finishing it.
The funny thing is, before reaching this part, I was thinking of putting the book down; I wasn't feeling that invested in it. At the last minute something compelled me to put on the audiobook while waiting for a movie to load... long story long, that movie was forgotten about for a couple of hours.
Not going to lie, I loved getting to read about Amy Poehler owning up to her ignorance and mistakes in this essay. Even more so for the fact that instead of putting the focus on herself, she lifted up the voices of those she hurt and gave them the platform to discuss and be heard in this book read by thousands and thousands.
I particularly loved this next part that was taken from an email Anastasia Somoza, one of the kindest souls I've read about, sent in response to Amy's apology about the offensive SNL skit:
“That being said, Chris, Marianne, my family and I have worked tirelessly to make equal opportunity, the inclusion and positive portrayal of people with disabilities in society the norm rather than the exception. As such, I was upset more generally speaking, about the skit contributing to a severe lack of knowledge, awareness, understanding and empathy around disability. Too many people already fear, and are often disgusted or put off in other ways by disability and it saddened me to think of the impact the skit may have had in adding fuel to that fire.”
Needless to say, Anastasia and Marianne completely shifted something inside of me. I'm eternally grateful that they were voiced in here.
Let’s Build a Park:
The one essay I was most exited about that talked about everything in regards to Parks and Recreation. Also, I’VE NEVER SMILED SO MUCH WHILE READING AN ESSAY BEFORE. I loved how you could truly feel the passion and appreciation Poehler has for her character, Leslie Knope, and everyone that worked on the show.
I was also interested in finding out more about my favorite power couple: Donna Meagle and Tom Haverford. And I did, in moderation, but I still did.
If one thing, this made me realize a rewatch was in order. And maybe also picking up Aziz Ansari's Modern Romance very soon!
However, enjoying only two essays out of twenty-seven cannot save a whole book for me.
To be frank, I'm still a bit let down because I went into this with an open mind, but was reminded time and again how astoundingly obtuse the author could be. I mean, how can you spend twenty something minutes talking about something as important as supporting nonprofits, and then turn around and spend the last valuable minutes of your book talking about why you hate your phone and social media and how hard it is to constantly be on in......
I'm thankfully quickly getting to forget everything that was said in this book, which is kind of a blessing in disguise at this point.
Note: I'm an Amazon Affiliate. If you're interested in buying Yes Please , just click on the image below to go through my link. I'll make a small commission!
This review and more can be found on my blog.
I don’t why it took me so long to realize that listening to memoirs on audio is a genius move. It made me rethink a lot past choices of reading the book instead of listening to it…
I feel like if I’d read Yes Please by myself, I wouldn’t have enjoyed it even one little bit.
But while I loved how the way the audiobook was constructed, I can't ignore that I didn't care for the contents of this book.
Amy Poehler is, of course, extremely privileged in numerous aspects, and I knew this going into her writing. However, it continually exasperated me how in one essay the author would address her privilege, but then completely disregard it in the next while complaining about her #whitepeopleproblems. I feel like she's the definition of a White Feminist™ and/ or problematic fave. Not my fave, but still.
I'd really recommend reading this incredible article that takes the time to discuss the ways white feminists are hurting feminism.
That's not to say that all the essays in Yes Please were bad--a number (two) of them weren't... mostly because they weren't focused on Amy Poelher. They rest just came off as extremely pretentious and high-key offensive (I feel like she genuinely believes that white people experience racism........they don't).
So I'd like to talk about the essays that made me think for awhile there that this book was going to go places:
Sorry, Sorry, Sorry:
By far, this was one of the most raw essays I read in this book. In Sorry, Sorry, Sorry, Poehler takes the time to discuss taking responsibility for past mistakes made. I was left truly speechless upon finishing it.
The funny thing is, before reaching this part, I was thinking of putting the book down; I wasn't feeling that invested in it. At the last minute something compelled me to put on the audiobook while waiting for a movie to load... long story long, that movie was forgotten about for a couple of hours.
Not going to lie, I loved getting to read about Amy Poehler owning up to her ignorance and mistakes in this essay. Even more so for the fact that instead of putting the focus on herself, she lifted up the voices of those she hurt and gave them the platform to discuss and be heard in this book read by thousands and thousands.
I particularly loved this next part that was taken from an email Anastasia Somoza, one of the kindest souls I've read about, sent in response to Amy's apology about the offensive SNL skit:
“That being said, Chris, Marianne, my family and I have worked tirelessly to make equal opportunity, the inclusion and positive portrayal of people with disabilities in society the norm rather than the exception. As such, I was upset more generally speaking, about the skit contributing to a severe lack of knowledge, awareness, understanding and empathy around disability. Too many people already fear, and are often disgusted or put off in other ways by disability and it saddened me to think of the impact the skit may have had in adding fuel to that fire.”
Needless to say, Anastasia and Marianne completely shifted something inside of me. I'm eternally grateful that they were voiced in here.
Let’s Build a Park:
The one essay I was most exited about that talked about everything in regards to Parks and Recreation. Also, I’VE NEVER SMILED SO MUCH WHILE READING AN ESSAY BEFORE. I loved how you could truly feel the passion and appreciation Poehler has for her character, Leslie Knope, and everyone that worked on the show.
I was also interested in finding out more about my favorite power couple: Donna Meagle and Tom Haverford. And I did, in moderation, but I still did.
If one thing, this made me realize a rewatch was in order. And maybe also picking up Aziz Ansari's Modern Romance very soon!
However, enjoying only two essays out of twenty-seven cannot save a whole book for me.
To be frank, I'm still a bit let down because I went into this with an open mind, but was reminded time and again how astoundingly obtuse the author could be. I mean, how can you spend twenty something minutes talking about something as important as supporting nonprofits, and then turn around and spend the last valuable minutes of your book talking about why you hate your phone and social media and how hard it is to constantly be on in......
I'm thankfully quickly getting to forget everything that was said in this book, which is kind of a blessing in disguise at this point.
Note: I'm an Amazon Affiliate. If you're interested in buying Yes Please , just click on the image below to go through my link. I'll make a small commission!
This review and more can be found on my blog.
November 7, 2014
Disappointing! Poehler complains about how hard it is to write a book many times, which is annoying, but I can't see how it would be hard to write a bad book. It's so obvious she was forced to do this, it's written from a bad place and I felt that bad place the whole time I was reading it. Poehler basically links lazy (she frequently says "I'll tell you about that later" which means she doesn't know how to tell a story) and shallow ("I don't remember anything about SNL so I'm not going to write anything") anecdotes with terrible filler. Her advice is painfully obvious. You would think with a title like Yes Please Poehler would make a statement of some sort. But I didn't really take anything away. She shoots off lists of details about people she's worked with in the most thoughtless, uninteresting way I could possibly imagine. I almost thought, "are you mad at Tina Fey? Because she wrote so much about you, and you've done a half-assed job paying any respect to her."
I enjoyed Poehler's childhood stories, sometimes. (She goes on for like 10 pages about this one time her friend and her handcuffed each other in school one day.) And every so often, she reveals beautiful moments when she actually slows down and stops name-dropping and barfing on the pages. Those moments... watching the moon with her sons, "time travel," and the occasionally perfectly plucked set of words to describe a scene, make the book bearable? Maybe not. I wanted so much more from this book.
Amy Poehler told us she did not have time to write a book, and she clearly did not. Nobody should have made her.
I enjoyed Poehler's childhood stories, sometimes. (She goes on for like 10 pages about this one time her friend and her handcuffed each other in school one day.) And every so often, she reveals beautiful moments when she actually slows down and stops name-dropping and barfing on the pages. Those moments... watching the moon with her sons, "time travel," and the occasionally perfectly plucked set of words to describe a scene, make the book bearable? Maybe not. I wanted so much more from this book.
Amy Poehler told us she did not have time to write a book, and she clearly did not. Nobody should have made her.
November 4, 2014
A book by Amy Poehler? Yes, please.
This was a little underwhelming, if I am totally honest. It had some funny moments, but didn't quite have the insight I was hoping for. I didn't walk away feeling like I had learned anything new about Amy Poehler, because she chose not to focus on stories of her background or comedy career so much as ditties on loving your flaws and the categories of books on divorce. That's fine, but left me kind of disappointed as I was more interested in learning more about how she formed UCB and got to SNL. I feel like life advice doled out in celebrity memoirs is more meaningful when it's paired with clearer images of how they found success.
I love, love, love Amy Poehler and maybe my expectations were a little too high, but I thought the book was just okay. Probably a fun read for existing fans but nothing particularly earth stopping.
Maybe I should've listened to Amy's advice?
For what it's worth, it sounds like the audio book may have had more appeal, given that Amy herself reads the book and her narration is reportedly -- and unsurprisingly -- hysterical.
This was a little underwhelming, if I am totally honest. It had some funny moments, but didn't quite have the insight I was hoping for. I didn't walk away feeling like I had learned anything new about Amy Poehler, because she chose not to focus on stories of her background or comedy career so much as ditties on loving your flaws and the categories of books on divorce. That's fine, but left me kind of disappointed as I was more interested in learning more about how she formed UCB and got to SNL. I feel like life advice doled out in celebrity memoirs is more meaningful when it's paired with clearer images of how they found success.
I love, love, love Amy Poehler and maybe my expectations were a little too high, but I thought the book was just okay. Probably a fun read for existing fans but nothing particularly earth stopping.
Maybe I should've listened to Amy's advice?
For what it's worth, it sounds like the audio book may have had more appeal, given that Amy herself reads the book and her narration is reportedly -- and unsurprisingly -- hysterical.
July 6, 2016
After having this on my shelf for like two years I finally got around to it and it was great! I just love Amy Poehler so much guys.
I listened to the audiobook as recommended by most people (while flipping though the physical book for occasional pictures) and MAN would I say if you at all can access the audiobook, listen to that! Not only are there special guest speakers, but some parts have actual audio from the things she is talking about (like scenes from parks & rec)
Amy just seems like a very funny, honest, open person and like someone you would want to be best friends with. She talked about a lot of hard things but didn't go too in depth into any of them, but enough to give perspective.
Overall a pretty fantastic book by a pretty great lady that I would definitely recommend.
I listened to the audiobook as recommended by most people (while flipping though the physical book for occasional pictures) and MAN would I say if you at all can access the audiobook, listen to that! Not only are there special guest speakers, but some parts have actual audio from the things she is talking about (like scenes from parks & rec)
Amy just seems like a very funny, honest, open person and like someone you would want to be best friends with. She talked about a lot of hard things but didn't go too in depth into any of them, but enough to give perspective.
Overall a pretty fantastic book by a pretty great lady that I would definitely recommend.
March 28, 2018
4 Stars
I don't watch a lot of TV.
Now before you roll your eyes, I'm not trying to earn hipster cred here before waxing poetic about the wonders of the written word... I'm just busy. And at one point my Netflix subscription lapsed and it was a month before I noticed.
So yeah, I don't watch a lot of TV. But, I do own all the 'Parks and Recreation' box sets and I could watch them over and over and over and over. (My friend circle casually refers to me as 'Leslie Knope' and I always laugh good-naturedly and try not to show how absurdly proud this makes me)
SO, even though I never read memoirs and I knew very little about Poehler outside of Parks and Rec, I snagged a download of the audiobook and was pleasantly surprised by how fun and genuine this book is.
First off, I highly recommend the audiobook. Poehler has a knack for storytelling and her laugh is infectious; she'll completely pull you in. She also pulls other big-names on stage as Patrick Stewart, Kathleen Turner, Seth Meyers, Carol Burnett, and Poehler's own parents take turns reading. It's obvious everyone was having fun and that they want the readers to join along.
Instead of a linear narrative of her life so far, Poehler gives us snippets and tells stories like she's sharing coffee with a friend. She doesn't leave out her mistakes, struggles and apologies. And instead remains real Topics included drug usage, divorce, cheap living in NYC and post-partum depression. All were taken seriously while still being discussed with levity.
But my absolute favorite thing is how acutely aware Poehler is of her own privilege. She's very blunt about the opportunities she receives, her loving family, safety and comfort. So instead, she uses her voice to raise up other women. Every single chapter was filled with stories a smart, powerful woman Poehler knows and how proud she was of them. This female friendship was incredibly refreshing to read, and this sort of positive change is reflected in her 'Smart Girls' campaign and work with WWO.
Of course, some chapters are better than others, and there isn't really an ending. The book just sort of... stops? It felt a little abrupt and odd. There's also a few jokes that fall flat-- most notably the ones about how technology is making it more difficult for us to communicate. (Especially since I was using technology to listen?)
Overall:
An authentic and funny memoir; with enough girl-power I'm sure Leslie would be proud.
"It takes years as a woman to unlearn what you have been taught to be sorry for. It takes years to find your voice and seize your real estate."
I don't watch a lot of TV.
Now before you roll your eyes, I'm not trying to earn hipster cred here before waxing poetic about the wonders of the written word... I'm just busy. And at one point my Netflix subscription lapsed and it was a month before I noticed.
So yeah, I don't watch a lot of TV. But, I do own all the 'Parks and Recreation' box sets and I could watch them over and over and over and over. (My friend circle casually refers to me as 'Leslie Knope' and I always laugh good-naturedly and try not to show how absurdly proud this makes me)
SO, even though I never read memoirs and I knew very little about Poehler outside of Parks and Rec, I snagged a download of the audiobook and was pleasantly surprised by how fun and genuine this book is.
First off, I highly recommend the audiobook. Poehler has a knack for storytelling and her laugh is infectious; she'll completely pull you in. She also pulls other big-names on stage as Patrick Stewart, Kathleen Turner, Seth Meyers, Carol Burnett, and Poehler's own parents take turns reading. It's obvious everyone was having fun and that they want the readers to join along.
Instead of a linear narrative of her life so far, Poehler gives us snippets and tells stories like she's sharing coffee with a friend. She doesn't leave out her mistakes, struggles and apologies. And instead remains real Topics included drug usage, divorce, cheap living in NYC and post-partum depression. All were taken seriously while still being discussed with levity.
But my absolute favorite thing is how acutely aware Poehler is of her own privilege. She's very blunt about the opportunities she receives, her loving family, safety and comfort. So instead, she uses her voice to raise up other women. Every single chapter was filled with stories a smart, powerful woman Poehler knows and how proud she was of them. This female friendship was incredibly refreshing to read, and this sort of positive change is reflected in her 'Smart Girls' campaign and work with WWO.
Of course, some chapters are better than others, and there isn't really an ending. The book just sort of... stops? It felt a little abrupt and odd. There's also a few jokes that fall flat-- most notably the ones about how technology is making it more difficult for us to communicate. (Especially since I was using technology to listen?)
Overall:
An authentic and funny memoir; with enough girl-power I'm sure Leslie would be proud.
April 20, 2017
4.5 Stars
I listened to this on audiobook, as I now will choose to do when reading memoirs or autobiographies, and this was a VERY enjoyable experience. The audiobook I got from my library is narrated by Amy, and it was such a joy to listen to her deliver these jokes and discuss her life. This was very lighthearted and informational while also delivering a lot of advice, which I thought balanced out nicely. It didn’t read like a book that she wrote just because she knew it would sell— you could tell she put her heart into this and had her readers in mind, whereas I’ve read some memoirs from YouTubers and celebrities that just read like they’re only doing it for another paycheck. This book was genuine and felt like I had a friend telling me about her life, which is another reason why I like listening to memoirs on audio.
She had a lot of guests in her audiobook narration, and it was very interesting because at some points, she and that other person would be in the recording studio together, and they would talk to each other casually. I don’t know if this is in the physical format of the book—I’m guessing not, because all the jokes were about being in the recording booth—but it was such a candid and hilarious edition to the book that just highlighted the fact that I felt like I was listening to Amy making a podcast about her life, complete with commentary from her friends.
I definitely liked the last half of this book more than the first half, just because I don’t watch SNL or know much about improv, so I didn’t connect to it as much. However, I did really enjoy the sections where she talked about her family, or when her parents narrated their sections. Although I #cantrelate to having kids or having gone through a divorce, it was touching to hear Amy discuss these more intimate details of her life, and it was somehow fitting in a story that also delivered comedy.
But since my purpose for reading this was because I love Parks & Rec so much, I really enjoyed the parts where she spoke about the cast. The little insights, backstories, and information about the actors was really fascinating. Particularly, the section where they go over the alternate last names they almost gave Leslie was hilarious, especially since they were both laughing really candidly. I would caution that this book does spoil a little bit of Parks & Rec, especially seasons 5 and 6. Sometimes, it actually plays audio clips from the show, which is awesome if you’ve seen it, you know what it’s talking about, and are eager to learn some of the behind the scenes about it, but if you haven’t watched it and don’t want to be spoiled, then definitely finish the show first.
The last chapter is actually a recording of her reading her book live in front of an audience, which was by far the funniest chapter of the book to me because hearing the audience laugh at her jokes and the way that her delivery would shift in reaction to the audience was so much fun. I would highly recommend listening to the audiobook just for that experience.
This genuinely feels like it went by three times quickly than it actually was, and I listened to this on 1x speed. It was addicting. I love Amy, I love her life, I love her jokes, and I love her show Parks & Rec. Read this if you love Leslie Knope. That’s all.
I listened to this on audiobook, as I now will choose to do when reading memoirs or autobiographies, and this was a VERY enjoyable experience. The audiobook I got from my library is narrated by Amy, and it was such a joy to listen to her deliver these jokes and discuss her life. This was very lighthearted and informational while also delivering a lot of advice, which I thought balanced out nicely. It didn’t read like a book that she wrote just because she knew it would sell— you could tell she put her heart into this and had her readers in mind, whereas I’ve read some memoirs from YouTubers and celebrities that just read like they’re only doing it for another paycheck. This book was genuine and felt like I had a friend telling me about her life, which is another reason why I like listening to memoirs on audio.
She had a lot of guests in her audiobook narration, and it was very interesting because at some points, she and that other person would be in the recording studio together, and they would talk to each other casually. I don’t know if this is in the physical format of the book—I’m guessing not, because all the jokes were about being in the recording booth—but it was such a candid and hilarious edition to the book that just highlighted the fact that I felt like I was listening to Amy making a podcast about her life, complete with commentary from her friends.
I definitely liked the last half of this book more than the first half, just because I don’t watch SNL or know much about improv, so I didn’t connect to it as much. However, I did really enjoy the sections where she talked about her family, or when her parents narrated their sections. Although I #cantrelate to having kids or having gone through a divorce, it was touching to hear Amy discuss these more intimate details of her life, and it was somehow fitting in a story that also delivered comedy.
But since my purpose for reading this was because I love Parks & Rec so much, I really enjoyed the parts where she spoke about the cast. The little insights, backstories, and information about the actors was really fascinating. Particularly, the section where they go over the alternate last names they almost gave Leslie was hilarious, especially since they were both laughing really candidly. I would caution that this book does spoil a little bit of Parks & Rec, especially seasons 5 and 6. Sometimes, it actually plays audio clips from the show, which is awesome if you’ve seen it, you know what it’s talking about, and are eager to learn some of the behind the scenes about it, but if you haven’t watched it and don’t want to be spoiled, then definitely finish the show first.
The last chapter is actually a recording of her reading her book live in front of an audience, which was by far the funniest chapter of the book to me because hearing the audience laugh at her jokes and the way that her delivery would shift in reaction to the audience was so much fun. I would highly recommend listening to the audiobook just for that experience.
This genuinely feels like it went by three times quickly than it actually was, and I listened to this on 1x speed. It was addicting. I love Amy, I love her life, I love her jokes, and I love her show Parks & Rec. Read this if you love Leslie Knope. That’s all.
December 25, 2023
I think the world of Amy Poehler, but Yes Please was a No Please for me. I listened to it on audiobook which is narrated by Poehler. I love it when an author narrates their audiobook.
I encourage Goodreads readers to read the many reviews on this book. Many rate it highly. For me, it rambled too much.
I encourage Goodreads readers to read the many reviews on this book. Many rate it highly. For me, it rambled too much.
March 1, 2017
Once a woman turns 40 she has to start dealing with two things: younger men telling her they are proud of her and older men letting her know they would have sex with her. Both of these things are supposed to be compliments but can often end up making this particular woman angry. I don't think a man who is 15 years younger than me should tell me he is proud of me unless he is my sober coach or my time-travel dad. Older men can be sexy and powerful, but when a thrice-divorced entertainment attorney puts his bony hand on my knee, I want to whisper in his ear, "You're crazy, old man."
I did not expect to like this book. One, I am no fan girl of Poehler's. I have never seen Parks and Recreation. Actually, I'm pretty sure the only thing I've seen her in is Mean Girls.
However, the book surprised me. When Poehler is good, she is really, really good.
THE GOOD
1.) Feminism.
I don't like it when bratty, privileged old white guys speak to me like I am their mouthy niece. I got that amazing feeling you get when you know you're going to lose it in the best, most self-righteous way. I just leaned back and yelled, "FUUUUUUUUUUUUCK YOU." Then I chased him as he tried to get away from me.
"You rich motherfucker! Who do you think you are? You're not better than me. Fuck you and your fucking opinions, you piece of shit."
*Carmen is impressed* This sounds like a more energetic version of myself. It also makes me REALLY like Poehler.
She is against plastic surgery and Botox. She laments the shit that comes with girls dating in high school.
Dating in high school was very different. Boys suddenly went up your shirt. Girls were expected to give blow jobs and be sexy. You had to be hot but not a slut. You had to be into sex but never have it, except when your boyfriend wanted it. If you had sex you had to keep it a secret but also be very good at it, except not too good, because this better be your first time.
She really tears into mom-on-mom hate.
There is an unspoken pact that women are supposed to follow. I am supposed to act like I constantly feel guilty about being away from my kids. (I don't. I love my job.) Mothers who stay at home are supposed to pretend they are bored and wish they were doing more corporate things. (They don't. They love their job.) If we all stick to the plan there will be less blood in the streets.
Poehler is a fierce and outspoken feminist, I like it. The best parts of the book, in my opinion, is her standing up for herself (even though it's hard!) and not taking shit from people.
"Relax" is a real tough one for me. Another tough one is "smile." "Smile" doesn't really work either. Telling me to relax or smile when I'm angry is like bringing a birthday cake into an ape sanctuary. You're just asking to get your nose and genitals bitten off.
2.) Aging.
This is what adults do. They demand or deny drugs on their own terms.
She also ties feminism in with aging. She talks a lot about how aging makes you better, more confident, stronger, and less likely to put up with shit.
"Yeesh, she's a handful." Luckily, that doesn't bother me the way it used to. That kind of feeling would have been hard to hold in my heart and stomach when I was in my twenties. It was hard to feel like somebody didn't like me. It felt like such a failure. I don't care as much now. It's really great. It's like I can finally eat spicy food without the gut ache later, or something similar. I have a stomach for people not stomaching me. Or at least I am working on it.
She thinks one should embrace aging rather than try desperately to fight it.
You know those exercise pools where the water comes at you strong and you have to swim against it to build up your strength? That's what the social pressure of staying young feels like. You can either exhaust yourself thrashing against it or turn around and let the pressure of it massage out your kinks. Fighting aging is like the War on Drugs. It's expensive, does more harm than good, and has been proven to never end.
3.) Sex.
Okay, Poehler's sex advice to women and her sex advice to men is SO GOOD that I really want to frame it and hang it on my wall. So true and so good. This section is amazing.
Here are some highlights:
I think sex is great. I love it and I am here to say I am good at it. ...
Try not to fake it... remember to allow yourself real pleasure and not worry about how long it takes....
Don't have sex with people you don't want to have sex with. Remember that no matter how old you are, every time you see that person the first thing you will think of is, "I had sex with you." ...
Don't get undressed and start pointing out your flaws or apologizing for things you think are wrong with your body. Men don't notice or care. They are about to get laid! They are so psyched...
Get better at dirty talk. Act like a bossy lady ordering at a deli. "I want the ham on rye and make sure you toast it!" If your guy is bad at dirty talk tell him to shut up. He might like that. ...
Don't make fun of men. Don't be mean to them or hurt their feelings. Try not to crush their dreams or their balls.
Her advice for men is on point, as well.
We don't want to remember your penis. We want to remember everything else but hopefully your penis is a just a wonderful blur of goodness. ...
Keep it sexy. Don't believe what you see in movies. ... Cool it on the porn and jerking off. We think porn is great and so is jerking off, but if we are going to have sex it may cause some problems. If you depend too heavily on the technical or the visual then you may not notice the real flesh-and-blood person in your bed.
I actually think Poehler PERFECTLY captures the line of a woman who likes and enjoys and uses porn, but STILL recognizes its dangers and how it can become a problem, and what the warning signs of it becoming a problem are. She talks about this quite a bit in the book and it made me happy. Her and I are in complete agreement about yet another thing!!!!
Be nice, tell your woman she is hot, never shame her, and never hurt her.
Work on your dirty talk... avoid the words 'climax, moist, and mom." Don't speak in a fake accent. Or blaccent.
If you don't get an erection, we know it's usually not because of us. We look concerned because we are wondering if it will keep happening.
Stay away from orgies. They just take so much organizing and I feel like your time could be better spent.
IF YOU DON'T EAT PUSSY, KEEP WALKING.
Seriously, her sex chapter is succinct, to the point, and one of the most amazing sex advice chapters I have ever read. Serious props to Poehler here.
4.) Divorce
Divorce is another thing that Poehler gets exactly right. Her discussion of divorce is also one of the funniest parts in the whole book.
She doesn't talk about her divorce specifically, I don't want to talk about my divorce because it is too sad and too personal. I also don't like people knowing my shit. which is completely valid.
Instead, she talks about divorce in general and she nails it.
Here are some highlights:
This book will point to ways you can talk about your divorce without feeling like it's a fancy fur coat that people like to try on but then throw back at you in disgust because they would never wear something so vile.
...
Chapters include:
- Divorce is not an option for me, but I am happy for you
- C'mon, who hasn't cheated?
- I just couldn't do that to my kids
- Maybe you guys just need to go to Ojai for a weekend.
...
You will find tips on how to gently break it to women that you don't want to fuck their flabby baby-faced husbands.
LOL LOL LOL It's so accurate and so funny.
5.) Beautiful book
Another pro to this book is its beautiful layout. Poehler has spared no expense: she has printed her memoir on this soft, glossy paper - in order to better showcase photos. It's in full color and it is fabulous.
She also breaks the book up with huge colored pages with quotes on them and huge pictures of her in costume.
It's great. And (although I'm not telling you to buy it) I have to note that the book is only (in paperback) $16.99. I honestly expected it to be more expensive than that. So that is a plus.
6.) She loves her children and it really shines through the whole book.
7.) Poehler talks about one time she really fucked up. This is an amazing and hard-hitting chapter. She really goes into some self-exploration and she doesn't let herself off the hook. She really puts it all out there and it is touching, relatable, and brave. This is one of the best chapters in the book. Definitely worth reading.
THE BAD:
Alright. But the book isn't all awesome kickass feminism and witty wisdom. The book has plenty of flaws. Let's discuss them.
1.) I don't care.
She talks a lot about stuff I simply don't care about. There are chapters in here, chapters and chapters, where I just don't give a fuck. Her chapter on Parks and Recreation. Her chapter on her sleep apnea. The chapter she had Seth Meyers write. Completely pointless. (Then again, I have no idea who Seth Meyers is.)
I didn't care about the SNL stuff, but she sounds SO joyous and grateful and fun in her SNL chapter that I can't file it under the bad section. Kudos to her for this section. Even I was having fun reading it, and I don't give a fuck.
The whole story about her fake jokey birthing plans is worthless.
Perhaps this is the danger of any memoir or autobiography. *shrug*
2.) She tends to start stories, veer off wildly, and then weirdly finish up at the end of a chapter. She does this two or three times, and it's very annoying. She'll start a story at the beginning of a chapter, meander along around with completely different points, and then end the story at the end of the chapter.
The stories aren't even that good, and even if they WERE, I would find it hard to still care by the end of the chapter.
3.) Sometimes I could literally not understand what Poehler was saying. She has some really bizarre paragraphs in this book. Most of the stuff that I couldn't grasp was at the beginning.
Woodsworth also said that the best part of a person's life is "his little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and of love." I look forward to reading a book one day in which someone lists mine. I feel like I may have failed to do so.
I don't understand anything about this or what she is trying to say here.
It's called Yes Please because it is the constant struggle and often the right answer. Can we figure out what we want, ask for it, and stop talking? Yes please. Is being vulnerable a power position? Yes please. Am I allowed to take up space? Yes please. Would you like to be left alone? Yes please.
This makes no fucking sense to me.
I also don't get when she calls people "open-faced sandwiches." I get that she's using it as a compliment, but I have NO idea what it means or what it implies about someone. Maybe it's an in-joke from a sketch or a show? I have no idea.
THE UGLY:
Poehler seems to genuinely believe she is an unattractive person.
I had already made a decision early on that I would be a plain girl with tons of personality, and accepting it made everything a lot easier. If you are lucky, there is a moment in your life when you have some say as to what your currency is going to be. I decided early on it was not going to be my looks. I have spent a lifetime coming to terms with this idea and I would say I am about 15 to 20 percent there.
She talks about being 'plain' a lot. Which is sad. She's not plain, she is vibrant and beautiful, but she obviously thinks she is not 'a pretty girl.'
My plain face was a perfect canvas for other people.
I wanted to tell her to stop this. I wanted to tell her she is fucking gorgeous.
I want to kill those fuckers who made her feel 'less than.'
Boys, who were going through their own battles started to point out things about me I hadn't yet noticed. One told me I looked like frog. Some told me I smiled like a Muppet. A senior told me to stop looking at him with my "big, weird eyes." I looked in the mirror at my flat chest and my freckles and heard a sound.
Also, she really, truly believes that every woman hates their body and thinks they are ugly. And that every woman has a 'demon voice' inside her which berates her and will never go away.
The good news is there are ways to make it stop talking. The bad news is it never goes away. If you are lucky, you can live a life where the demon is generally forgotten, relegated to a back shelf in a closet next to your old field hockey equipment.
And she acts like you can never get rid of it and that it will be constantly demanding your attention for the rest of your life.
Maybe a day comes when you are getting dressed for a fancy event and it whispers, "You aren't pretty," and you go, "I know, I know, now let me find my earrings." Sometimes you say, "Demon, I promise you I will let you remind me of my ugliness, but right now I am am having hot sex so I will check in later."
I just don't agree with this reality. Hmmmmm, I know what she is saying but I just don't agree with it. It may be a sad fact for a lot of people, but I don't think this is inescapable and incurable. Perhaps I'm naive.
Anyway, this whole section made me very sad.
Tl;dr - Wow. I was surprised by how awesome this book was. You have to realize I am not a Poehler fan (this doesn't mean I dislike her, I'm just unfamiliar with her work). My close friend IRL read this and she said it was "meh." So I came into this with pretty low expectations.
And for the most part, Poehler blew me away. Her fierce and determined feminism really speaks to me. Her chapter on sex and her chapter on divorce were on point. Her very honest and heartwrenching chapter on one time that she really fucked up was touching and human.
But the book isn't perfect. I really debated on whether to give this a four or a five, and I had to end up giving it a four.
Still, this is a book worth reading and I'm glad I read it. It's not very laugh-out-loud funny - I laughed more reading Anna Kendrick's book Scrappy Little Nobody, but Poehler makes up for it in sheer awesomeness.
I did not expect to like this book. One, I am no fan girl of Poehler's. I have never seen Parks and Recreation. Actually, I'm pretty sure the only thing I've seen her in is Mean Girls.
However, the book surprised me. When Poehler is good, she is really, really good.
THE GOOD
1.) Feminism.
I don't like it when bratty, privileged old white guys speak to me like I am their mouthy niece. I got that amazing feeling you get when you know you're going to lose it in the best, most self-righteous way. I just leaned back and yelled, "FUUUUUUUUUUUUCK YOU." Then I chased him as he tried to get away from me.
"You rich motherfucker! Who do you think you are? You're not better than me. Fuck you and your fucking opinions, you piece of shit."
*Carmen is impressed* This sounds like a more energetic version of myself. It also makes me REALLY like Poehler.
She is against plastic surgery and Botox. She laments the shit that comes with girls dating in high school.
Dating in high school was very different. Boys suddenly went up your shirt. Girls were expected to give blow jobs and be sexy. You had to be hot but not a slut. You had to be into sex but never have it, except when your boyfriend wanted it. If you had sex you had to keep it a secret but also be very good at it, except not too good, because this better be your first time.
She really tears into mom-on-mom hate.
There is an unspoken pact that women are supposed to follow. I am supposed to act like I constantly feel guilty about being away from my kids. (I don't. I love my job.) Mothers who stay at home are supposed to pretend they are bored and wish they were doing more corporate things. (They don't. They love their job.) If we all stick to the plan there will be less blood in the streets.
Poehler is a fierce and outspoken feminist, I like it. The best parts of the book, in my opinion, is her standing up for herself (even though it's hard!) and not taking shit from people.
"Relax" is a real tough one for me. Another tough one is "smile." "Smile" doesn't really work either. Telling me to relax or smile when I'm angry is like bringing a birthday cake into an ape sanctuary. You're just asking to get your nose and genitals bitten off.
2.) Aging.
This is what adults do. They demand or deny drugs on their own terms.
She also ties feminism in with aging. She talks a lot about how aging makes you better, more confident, stronger, and less likely to put up with shit.
"Yeesh, she's a handful." Luckily, that doesn't bother me the way it used to. That kind of feeling would have been hard to hold in my heart and stomach when I was in my twenties. It was hard to feel like somebody didn't like me. It felt like such a failure. I don't care as much now. It's really great. It's like I can finally eat spicy food without the gut ache later, or something similar. I have a stomach for people not stomaching me. Or at least I am working on it.
She thinks one should embrace aging rather than try desperately to fight it.
You know those exercise pools where the water comes at you strong and you have to swim against it to build up your strength? That's what the social pressure of staying young feels like. You can either exhaust yourself thrashing against it or turn around and let the pressure of it massage out your kinks. Fighting aging is like the War on Drugs. It's expensive, does more harm than good, and has been proven to never end.
3.) Sex.
Okay, Poehler's sex advice to women and her sex advice to men is SO GOOD that I really want to frame it and hang it on my wall. So true and so good. This section is amazing.
Here are some highlights:
I think sex is great. I love it and I am here to say I am good at it. ...
Try not to fake it... remember to allow yourself real pleasure and not worry about how long it takes....
Don't have sex with people you don't want to have sex with. Remember that no matter how old you are, every time you see that person the first thing you will think of is, "I had sex with you." ...
Don't get undressed and start pointing out your flaws or apologizing for things you think are wrong with your body. Men don't notice or care. They are about to get laid! They are so psyched...
Get better at dirty talk. Act like a bossy lady ordering at a deli. "I want the ham on rye and make sure you toast it!" If your guy is bad at dirty talk tell him to shut up. He might like that. ...
Don't make fun of men. Don't be mean to them or hurt their feelings. Try not to crush their dreams or their balls.
Her advice for men is on point, as well.
We don't want to remember your penis. We want to remember everything else but hopefully your penis is a just a wonderful blur of goodness. ...
Keep it sexy. Don't believe what you see in movies. ... Cool it on the porn and jerking off. We think porn is great and so is jerking off, but if we are going to have sex it may cause some problems. If you depend too heavily on the technical or the visual then you may not notice the real flesh-and-blood person in your bed.
I actually think Poehler PERFECTLY captures the line of a woman who likes and enjoys and uses porn, but STILL recognizes its dangers and how it can become a problem, and what the warning signs of it becoming a problem are. She talks about this quite a bit in the book and it made me happy. Her and I are in complete agreement about yet another thing!!!!
Be nice, tell your woman she is hot, never shame her, and never hurt her.
Work on your dirty talk... avoid the words 'climax, moist, and mom." Don't speak in a fake accent. Or blaccent.
If you don't get an erection, we know it's usually not because of us. We look concerned because we are wondering if it will keep happening.
Stay away from orgies. They just take so much organizing and I feel like your time could be better spent.
IF YOU DON'T EAT PUSSY, KEEP WALKING.
Seriously, her sex chapter is succinct, to the point, and one of the most amazing sex advice chapters I have ever read. Serious props to Poehler here.
4.) Divorce
Divorce is another thing that Poehler gets exactly right. Her discussion of divorce is also one of the funniest parts in the whole book.
She doesn't talk about her divorce specifically, I don't want to talk about my divorce because it is too sad and too personal. I also don't like people knowing my shit. which is completely valid.
Instead, she talks about divorce in general and she nails it.
Here are some highlights:
This book will point to ways you can talk about your divorce without feeling like it's a fancy fur coat that people like to try on but then throw back at you in disgust because they would never wear something so vile.
...
Chapters include:
- Divorce is not an option for me, but I am happy for you
- C'mon, who hasn't cheated?
- I just couldn't do that to my kids
- Maybe you guys just need to go to Ojai for a weekend.
...
You will find tips on how to gently break it to women that you don't want to fuck their flabby baby-faced husbands.
LOL LOL LOL It's so accurate and so funny.
5.) Beautiful book
Another pro to this book is its beautiful layout. Poehler has spared no expense: she has printed her memoir on this soft, glossy paper - in order to better showcase photos. It's in full color and it is fabulous.
She also breaks the book up with huge colored pages with quotes on them and huge pictures of her in costume.
It's great. And (although I'm not telling you to buy it) I have to note that the book is only (in paperback) $16.99. I honestly expected it to be more expensive than that. So that is a plus.
6.) She loves her children and it really shines through the whole book.
7.) Poehler talks about one time she really fucked up. This is an amazing and hard-hitting chapter. She really goes into some self-exploration and she doesn't let herself off the hook. She really puts it all out there and it is touching, relatable, and brave. This is one of the best chapters in the book. Definitely worth reading.
THE BAD:
Alright. But the book isn't all awesome kickass feminism and witty wisdom. The book has plenty of flaws. Let's discuss them.
1.) I don't care.
She talks a lot about stuff I simply don't care about. There are chapters in here, chapters and chapters, where I just don't give a fuck. Her chapter on Parks and Recreation. Her chapter on her sleep apnea. The chapter she had Seth Meyers write. Completely pointless. (Then again, I have no idea who Seth Meyers is.)
I didn't care about the SNL stuff, but she sounds SO joyous and grateful and fun in her SNL chapter that I can't file it under the bad section. Kudos to her for this section. Even I was having fun reading it, and I don't give a fuck.
The whole story about her fake jokey birthing plans is worthless.
Perhaps this is the danger of any memoir or autobiography. *shrug*
2.) She tends to start stories, veer off wildly, and then weirdly finish up at the end of a chapter. She does this two or three times, and it's very annoying. She'll start a story at the beginning of a chapter, meander along around with completely different points, and then end the story at the end of the chapter.
The stories aren't even that good, and even if they WERE, I would find it hard to still care by the end of the chapter.
3.) Sometimes I could literally not understand what Poehler was saying. She has some really bizarre paragraphs in this book. Most of the stuff that I couldn't grasp was at the beginning.
Woodsworth also said that the best part of a person's life is "his little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and of love." I look forward to reading a book one day in which someone lists mine. I feel like I may have failed to do so.
I don't understand anything about this or what she is trying to say here.
It's called Yes Please because it is the constant struggle and often the right answer. Can we figure out what we want, ask for it, and stop talking? Yes please. Is being vulnerable a power position? Yes please. Am I allowed to take up space? Yes please. Would you like to be left alone? Yes please.
This makes no fucking sense to me.
I also don't get when she calls people "open-faced sandwiches." I get that she's using it as a compliment, but I have NO idea what it means or what it implies about someone. Maybe it's an in-joke from a sketch or a show? I have no idea.
THE UGLY:
Poehler seems to genuinely believe she is an unattractive person.
I had already made a decision early on that I would be a plain girl with tons of personality, and accepting it made everything a lot easier. If you are lucky, there is a moment in your life when you have some say as to what your currency is going to be. I decided early on it was not going to be my looks. I have spent a lifetime coming to terms with this idea and I would say I am about 15 to 20 percent there.
She talks about being 'plain' a lot. Which is sad. She's not plain, she is vibrant and beautiful, but she obviously thinks she is not 'a pretty girl.'
My plain face was a perfect canvas for other people.
I wanted to tell her to stop this. I wanted to tell her she is fucking gorgeous.
I want to kill those fuckers who made her feel 'less than.'
Boys, who were going through their own battles started to point out things about me I hadn't yet noticed. One told me I looked like frog. Some told me I smiled like a Muppet. A senior told me to stop looking at him with my "big, weird eyes." I looked in the mirror at my flat chest and my freckles and heard a sound.
Also, she really, truly believes that every woman hates their body and thinks they are ugly. And that every woman has a 'demon voice' inside her which berates her and will never go away.
The good news is there are ways to make it stop talking. The bad news is it never goes away. If you are lucky, you can live a life where the demon is generally forgotten, relegated to a back shelf in a closet next to your old field hockey equipment.
And she acts like you can never get rid of it and that it will be constantly demanding your attention for the rest of your life.
Maybe a day comes when you are getting dressed for a fancy event and it whispers, "You aren't pretty," and you go, "I know, I know, now let me find my earrings." Sometimes you say, "Demon, I promise you I will let you remind me of my ugliness, but right now I am am having hot sex so I will check in later."
I just don't agree with this reality. Hmmmmm, I know what she is saying but I just don't agree with it. It may be a sad fact for a lot of people, but I don't think this is inescapable and incurable. Perhaps I'm naive.
Anyway, this whole section made me very sad.
Tl;dr - Wow. I was surprised by how awesome this book was. You have to realize I am not a Poehler fan (this doesn't mean I dislike her, I'm just unfamiliar with her work). My close friend IRL read this and she said it was "meh." So I came into this with pretty low expectations.
And for the most part, Poehler blew me away. Her fierce and determined feminism really speaks to me. Her chapter on sex and her chapter on divorce were on point. Her very honest and heartwrenching chapter on one time that she really fucked up was touching and human.
But the book isn't perfect. I really debated on whether to give this a four or a five, and I had to end up giving it a four.
Still, this is a book worth reading and I'm glad I read it. It's not very laugh-out-loud funny - I laughed more reading Anna Kendrick's book Scrappy Little Nobody, but Poehler makes up for it in sheer awesomeness.
December 6, 2018
Sweet read! True metaphors for the fame-inclined abound, & the author (as early as page four) becomes one of the best friends you never had! Poehler does three things at once-- she gives you insight into her personal life... the Wikipedia stuff and then some; she becomes retrospective about it, comes from a place where she can pinpoint exact successes & failures in her rad career; AND she entertains you throughout like only a true performer can.
She professes: "The talking about the thing isn't the thing. The doing of the thing is the thing." So, really, don't let me tell you about it...
She professes: "The talking about the thing isn't the thing. The doing of the thing is the thing." So, really, don't let me tell you about it...
May 3, 2015
Another fun read from the subgenre I like to call, "Memoirs written by women who worked on SNL". It's overall a fun and humourous read. It may have needed some editing and could have lost a couple chapters but as a whole it's a memorable memoir. It's fun and that's all it needed to be.
December 9, 2025
"People are their most beautiful when they are laughing, crying, dancing, playing, telling the truth, and being chased in a fun way."Oh Amy, you are truly beautiful.
I just adore her on Parks and Rec - there's just a certain something about such a positive, upbeat comedy that completely draws me in. This book had a similar feel to it. The tone is so down-to-earth that I felt like more we were having a chat over coffee rather than I was reading her book.
She drops these pearls of wisdom with such subtle skill that I hardly noticed until I had a moment to reflect.
I thoroughly enjoyed the behind-the-scenes peek at how the show got off its feet. Some of the SNL (and Upright Citizen's Brigade) bits went over my head but they were still fun to learn about. Amy describes it with her signature humor which makes it all the more enjoyable.
"How a person treats their waitress is a great indication of their character."
I hadn't heard of the SNL skit about Dakota Fanning & the disabled barbie prior to this book. Amy went through with the skit, though she did not fully know it's background. Turns out, the Barbie was based on a real life girl. And Amy made fun of her on live TV - and what's worse, the girl was watching that night.
And what does Amy do? After a few years of running and ducking, she owns up to it, in a major way. She had the cojones to publicly call attention to a horrible thing she did, that has long been swept under the rug. Why? Cause she knew it was awful and she shouldn't have tried to ignore it for so long.
In short, a fabulous book to read. Highly recommended for both the comedic timing and the great advice.
Audiobook Comments
"That is the motto women should constantly repeat over and over again. Good for her! Not for me,"
--SHE ROCKED THE NARRATION OF HER OWN BOOK - In a word, superb.
--SHE HAD GUEST SPEAKERS - Amy had a great rapport with the others. The little chit-chat she did with each guest sounded so off the cuff and genuine.
--She even had a few A-listers stop in for a few lines (hellooooo Patrick Stewart!!).
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November 5, 2015
Not knowing 'at all' what to expect, I listened to the audiobook on my overdrive app
from the library.
I fall asleep too early to watch SNL. I didn't watch the Emmy's. I never heard of
Parks and Recreation. The only movie I saw Amy in was "Baby Mama".
... But I did see The Golden Globes when she and Tina Fey were the hosts.
I had zero expectations about "Yes, Please". I remembered a few reviews when the book 1st came out. Many of her fans were disappointed, yet a few people enjoyed it, if my memory is correct.
Me...I enjoyed the audiobook a lot! I'm sure I could not possibly have enjoyed the book as much as listening to Amy read it! (Amy inserted many 'add-libs') Other guests including her mom & dad joined in to read, giving us their perspectives. These were some of the most touching moments.
A big part of the enjoyment was the feeling of 'being with Amy'....and getting to know her. If Amy read the phone book - I think she could have held my attention.
Random Thoughts & Feelings: (in no particular order)
....Amy has heart! She really 'is' that girl you'd love to be best friends with.
I adore her energy... her outlook on life.
Amy is funny. She is also tender, compassionate, deeply appreciates her life. She express joy - is aware -values family- friends- working hard - honesty- forgiveness -
and love.
It was fascinating to learn more about her dealings at SNL. I loved hearing more about when she was 8.5 months pregnant during one of the most memorable political years in history.
I had tears in my eyes when she shared about the mistake she made associated with
the handicap - people she hurt - how she handled it wrong - ( how it ate at her - still - a year later)... She included in this conversation 'our ego'... and the role it plays -
often making it soooo hard to forgive. Amy shared how she attempted to clean up
the hurt she contributed to another A YEAR LATER...
The entire story was fucking inspiring! I can't imagine a person not being able to relate to that story - in some form in their own life. My tears were from my own past sorrows.
AS FAR AS I WAS CONCERN ....AMY deserved 5 stars for her book for that one story alone!!!
Another 'teary' moving moment. ( later in the tape... different but sooooo beautiful!!!)
Amy talked about HER BIRTH ... That's right .. 'The day she was born'. It was clever - funny- contributing with advice suggestions, and mostly it was a touching- inspiring moment when we got to witness how much Amy loved her parents -- and how much her parents loved her.
When her mom and dad talked - I was 'mush'.
Amy's parents gave some of the best 'advice' messages about marriage I've ever heard ... I loved it. "TV is OK in the bedroom, dinners don't matter that much if they are on the table each night, ... but always love and respect your spouse ..never take cheap stabs". ... etc etc etc. I can't remember now all that they said.
Paul wants to hear this audiobook, so I may hear parts of this this again.
Amy is vulnerable- brave - inspiring- with a rocking personality . She talked about her sleep disorder, her years with drugs. I laughed when she said was going to lie to her kids about how much she did. If they listen to her audiobook one day - like the rest of the world....guess that lie won't stand. lol
Amy talked about sex .. ( great advice for men and women), she talked about creeps, and unhealthy boundaries, she talked about growing up, her neighborhood, working in an ice cream restaurant ...'singing happy birthday', tipping ( TIP HIGH...I agree!), doing service, she covered many issues we all care about.. all emotions were all the table.
She gave great advice when she talked about the difference of living your life from passion verses being attached to the results we manifest. A B- is OK in her book. ( I love that attitude). She talked about protecting your own heart. ... not having to 'save' others ...'fix' their problems...( she admits all easier said than done), but protect yourself too. You never have to share embarrassing moments or anything you don't feel like sharing to people "who don't have your heart"! ( amen, Amy!)
.......and Amy was always acknowledging other people. I think I loved that quality about Amy best of all.
She's real..and a ball of loving fun! Hell yeah, I'd love to be friends with Amy Poehler!
Ya can't convince me this book was a disappointment... it wasn't for this girl!
from the library.
I fall asleep too early to watch SNL. I didn't watch the Emmy's. I never heard of
Parks and Recreation. The only movie I saw Amy in was "Baby Mama".
... But I did see The Golden Globes when she and Tina Fey were the hosts.
I had zero expectations about "Yes, Please". I remembered a few reviews when the book 1st came out. Many of her fans were disappointed, yet a few people enjoyed it, if my memory is correct.
Me...I enjoyed the audiobook a lot! I'm sure I could not possibly have enjoyed the book as much as listening to Amy read it! (Amy inserted many 'add-libs') Other guests including her mom & dad joined in to read, giving us their perspectives. These were some of the most touching moments.
A big part of the enjoyment was the feeling of 'being with Amy'....and getting to know her. If Amy read the phone book - I think she could have held my attention.
Random Thoughts & Feelings: (in no particular order)
....Amy has heart! She really 'is' that girl you'd love to be best friends with.
I adore her energy... her outlook on life.
Amy is funny. She is also tender, compassionate, deeply appreciates her life. She express joy - is aware -values family- friends- working hard - honesty- forgiveness -
and love.
It was fascinating to learn more about her dealings at SNL. I loved hearing more about when she was 8.5 months pregnant during one of the most memorable political years in history.
I had tears in my eyes when she shared about the mistake she made associated with
the handicap - people she hurt - how she handled it wrong - ( how it ate at her - still - a year later)... She included in this conversation 'our ego'... and the role it plays -
often making it soooo hard to forgive. Amy shared how she attempted to clean up
the hurt she contributed to another A YEAR LATER...
The entire story was fucking inspiring! I can't imagine a person not being able to relate to that story - in some form in their own life. My tears were from my own past sorrows.
AS FAR AS I WAS CONCERN ....AMY deserved 5 stars for her book for that one story alone!!!
Another 'teary' moving moment. ( later in the tape... different but sooooo beautiful!!!)
Amy talked about HER BIRTH ... That's right .. 'The day she was born'. It was clever - funny- contributing with advice suggestions, and mostly it was a touching- inspiring moment when we got to witness how much Amy loved her parents -- and how much her parents loved her.
When her mom and dad talked - I was 'mush'.
Amy's parents gave some of the best 'advice' messages about marriage I've ever heard ... I loved it. "TV is OK in the bedroom, dinners don't matter that much if they are on the table each night, ... but always love and respect your spouse ..never take cheap stabs". ... etc etc etc. I can't remember now all that they said.
Paul wants to hear this audiobook, so I may hear parts of this this again.
Amy is vulnerable- brave - inspiring- with a rocking personality . She talked about her sleep disorder, her years with drugs. I laughed when she said was going to lie to her kids about how much she did. If they listen to her audiobook one day - like the rest of the world....guess that lie won't stand. lol
Amy talked about sex .. ( great advice for men and women), she talked about creeps, and unhealthy boundaries, she talked about growing up, her neighborhood, working in an ice cream restaurant ...'singing happy birthday', tipping ( TIP HIGH...I agree!), doing service, she covered many issues we all care about.. all emotions were all the table.
She gave great advice when she talked about the difference of living your life from passion verses being attached to the results we manifest. A B- is OK in her book. ( I love that attitude). She talked about protecting your own heart. ... not having to 'save' others ...'fix' their problems...( she admits all easier said than done), but protect yourself too. You never have to share embarrassing moments or anything you don't feel like sharing to people "who don't have your heart"! ( amen, Amy!)
.......and Amy was always acknowledging other people. I think I loved that quality about Amy best of all.
She's real..and a ball of loving fun! Hell yeah, I'd love to be friends with Amy Poehler!
Ya can't convince me this book was a disappointment... it wasn't for this girl!
January 25, 2015
I LOVE Amy Poehler. This book just highlighted my favorite parts about her and also showed me some of her faults, which she owned up to. She just seems like such a genuine and down to earth person and I love it.
I also highly recommend the audio book! I read the first half with the physical book and then changed to the audio book version and it made the entire experience so much better. Her voice is so soothing and you can tell when she's being sarcastic (it's sometimes hard to tell in the physical book).
I also highly recommend the audio book! I read the first half with the physical book and then changed to the audio book version and it made the entire experience so much better. Her voice is so soothing and you can tell when she's being sarcastic (it's sometimes hard to tell in the physical book).
January 26, 2023
Amy Poehler is an American actress, comedian, and writer. She gained television fame as a cast member on 'Saturday Night Live' and is probably best know for her role as Leslie Knope on the sitcom 'Parks and Recreation.'
Amy Poehler on Saturday Night Live
Amy Poehler starred in the hilarious Parks and Recreation
I listened to the audio version of this memoir, narrated by the author. The audio book also has 'cameos' from a handful of celebrities and dialog with Amy's family, friends, and colleagues. Thus there are snippets from Patrick Stewart, Carol Burnett, and Kathleen Turner as well as contributions from Seth Meyers (from Saturday Night Live), Michael Schur (showrunner of Parks and Recreation), and Amy's mom and dad. All this adds to the charm and humor of the book.
Amy talks about growing up in a Boston suburb (she demonstrates her original Boston accent - which is way earthier than that of of John F. Kennedy) and how she became interested in acting and improv as a youngster. Amy's first foray into improv was in grade school when she played Dorothy in 'The Wizard of Oz' and did 'a bit' with the dog who played Toto.
Little Amy Poehler
Amy Poehler in high school
Amy's rise to fame required a lot of hard work and practice/training with improv groups while she made rent by waiting tables. During these times Amy sometimes lived in shabby apartments in scary neighborhoods but she makes it all sound rather fun. Amy also notes that she met a lot of now famous comedians/actors during this time, some of whom became good friends and colleagues.
The book is not a linear narration of Amy's life and achievements. It skips back and forth in time and is a conglomeration of many subjects including autobiographical sketches from Amy's youth; anecdotes about 'Saturday Night Live' - including the Hillary Clinton impersonations; chat about helping to create the Upright Citizen's Brigade Improv Theater; talk about 'Parks and Recreation' - with a humorous tribute to each cast member; and a chapter about attending Boston College.
Amy Poehler graduated from Boston College
Amy Poehler with the Upright Citizen's Brigade Improv Theater
Amy Poehler as Hillary Clinton on Saturday Night Live
Amy Poehler and the real Hillary Clinton
Amy includes a section about assisting in Haiti after a deadly hurricane; confessions about teen drinking; a mention of the sadness caused by her divorce from Will Arnett; snippets about pregnancy, motherhood and her sons; and a chapter about her sleep problems.
Amy Poehler and Will Arnett
Amy Poehler and her sons
Amy adds fun descriptions of award show skits performed with an array of comedy actresses; how she enjoyed (finally) winning an award ('getting the pudding'); a self-assessment of her appearance; and much more. Through it all Amy comes across as a personable gal with plenty of talent, drive, and ambition.
Amy Poehler and Tina Fey
Amy Poehler and Kristen Wiig
Amy's rise to fame wasn't all sweetness and light however. Along the way she had to deal with manipulative producers and difficult people - and Amy makes it clear she's no pushover. Get on her wrong side and she'll let you have it! This is a side of Amy I didn't anticipate, but quite admire. An important lesson in the book - perhaps aimed at aspiring performers - is not to expect overnight success.
Some parts of the book are laugh out loud funny, some are moving and insightful, and some drag along. Overall, however, I enjoyed the book and would recommend it to readers who enjoy celebrity memoirs.
You can follow my reviews at https://reviewsbybarbsaffer.blogspot....
November 17, 2014
I am probably not the only one who has a girl crush on Amy Poehler. She's funny, she's smart, she's sassy and she does good work.
But I hope my future best friend will forgive me when I say her book is less than great. "Yes Please" is a fun little memoir about Amy's childhood, how she got her start in comedy, and some good behind-the-scenes stories, but overall, it's scattered and not very deep. She briefly discusses her marriage and divorce to actor Will Arnett, but the focus is primarily on her career. My favorite chapters were about her years at "Saturday Night Live" and "Parks and Recreation," which is a favorite show of mine.
Early on, Amy discusses how difficult it was to write a book, and that she had to work on it when she had a few spare moments between jobs and taking care of her two children. It definitely felt like it was worked on it bits and pieces; it was not cohesive and some of the chapters even felt like filler.
I listened to this on audio, performed by Amy Poehler and several of her entertainment friends, including Seth Meyers, Carol Burnett, Mike Schur, Kathleen Turner, Patrick Stewart, and also some cameos by Amy's parents. I think I liked the book more on audio than I would have in print (similar to when I listened to Tina Fey perform her book "Bossypants," which was much more enjoyable than reading it). There were a few good quotes about friendship and show business and trusting yourself, and if I ever get a print copy from the library, I will revise this review and add those lines.
I think I would only recommend this book to serious Amy Poehler fans; some celebrity memoirs have deeper themes and can resonate with a wider audience, but I don't think this is one of those books. (Sorry, Amy. Can we still be BFFs?)
My rating: 2.5 stars rounded up to 3
But I hope my future best friend will forgive me when I say her book is less than great. "Yes Please" is a fun little memoir about Amy's childhood, how she got her start in comedy, and some good behind-the-scenes stories, but overall, it's scattered and not very deep. She briefly discusses her marriage and divorce to actor Will Arnett, but the focus is primarily on her career. My favorite chapters were about her years at "Saturday Night Live" and "Parks and Recreation," which is a favorite show of mine.
Early on, Amy discusses how difficult it was to write a book, and that she had to work on it when she had a few spare moments between jobs and taking care of her two children. It definitely felt like it was worked on it bits and pieces; it was not cohesive and some of the chapters even felt like filler.
I listened to this on audio, performed by Amy Poehler and several of her entertainment friends, including Seth Meyers, Carol Burnett, Mike Schur, Kathleen Turner, Patrick Stewart, and also some cameos by Amy's parents. I think I liked the book more on audio than I would have in print (similar to when I listened to Tina Fey perform her book "Bossypants," which was much more enjoyable than reading it). There were a few good quotes about friendship and show business and trusting yourself, and if I ever get a print copy from the library, I will revise this review and add those lines.
I think I would only recommend this book to serious Amy Poehler fans; some celebrity memoirs have deeper themes and can resonate with a wider audience, but I don't think this is one of those books. (Sorry, Amy. Can we still be BFFs?)
My rating: 2.5 stars rounded up to 3
November 3, 2018
4/5 stars - I thoroughly enjoyed this memoir. I didn’t know very much about Amy Poehler prior to reading this book, but I recently became hooked on Parks and Rec and wanted to learn more about the person behind my beloved character, Leslie Knope. I am so glad I did! This book is full of humor, lists, jokes, and even commentary from some special guests. The audiobook was nice because it allowed the listener to hear the various celebrities read their specific parts (including Seth Myers).
My only criticism is that there were several parts of the book where I felt Amy could have been less guarded, but at the same time, I respect her decision to keep parts of her life private. Also when I read this book, I had only made it through season 4 of Parks and Rec, and sadly without warning some exciting news that happens later in the show was spoiled for me by this book when Amy lists of in quick succession things that happened to her character on the show. I wish there had been a warning at the beginning of that chapter and I would have gladly skipped it until I was finished watching all seasons.
I learned a lot of interesting things about Amy’s childhood, her parents, and how she got started as a comedian. I appreciated her humor and candor throughout. Overall the book left with me with a great sense of the type of good-natured person Amy seems to be. I recommend reading this book, and if you have the opportunity listen to the audiobook, because the commentary and celebrity guests make it worth it.
My only criticism is that there were several parts of the book where I felt Amy could have been less guarded, but at the same time, I respect her decision to keep parts of her life private. Also when I read this book, I had only made it through season 4 of Parks and Rec, and sadly without warning some exciting news that happens later in the show was spoiled for me by this book when Amy lists of in quick succession things that happened to her character on the show. I wish there had been a warning at the beginning of that chapter and I would have gladly skipped it until I was finished watching all seasons.
I learned a lot of interesting things about Amy’s childhood, her parents, and how she got started as a comedian. I appreciated her humor and candor throughout. Overall the book left with me with a great sense of the type of good-natured person Amy seems to be. I recommend reading this book, and if you have the opportunity listen to the audiobook, because the commentary and celebrity guests make it worth it.
July 3, 2025
3.5 Stars!
I ended up doing audio on Yes Please and I thought it was fun and entertaining. I definitely chuckled in a few spots and enjoyed Amy Poehler’s takes on encouraging women to be their authentic selves and her distrust in technology. Girl, I feel the same on technology!
I like Amy Poehler more after listening to this. She’s funny, intelligent and doesn’t apologize for being herself, bossy and a bit brash. I want to be friends with her now!
I loved the 80’s references, her time on Saturday Night Live and how she got involved in improv comedy. Her comments on self-empowerment were also great to listen too.
I would highly suggest the audio format on Yes Please.
I just think Amy Poehler did an excellent job of narrating her own story. I felt like we were sitting down for tea and just chatting. It was a wonderful time of conversation and thoughts.
Recommended to fans of memoirs, Saturday Night Live and humor!
I ended up doing audio on Yes Please and I thought it was fun and entertaining. I definitely chuckled in a few spots and enjoyed Amy Poehler’s takes on encouraging women to be their authentic selves and her distrust in technology. Girl, I feel the same on technology!
I like Amy Poehler more after listening to this. She’s funny, intelligent and doesn’t apologize for being herself, bossy and a bit brash. I want to be friends with her now!
I loved the 80’s references, her time on Saturday Night Live and how she got involved in improv comedy. Her comments on self-empowerment were also great to listen too.
I would highly suggest the audio format on Yes Please.
I just think Amy Poehler did an excellent job of narrating her own story. I felt like we were sitting down for tea and just chatting. It was a wonderful time of conversation and thoughts.
Recommended to fans of memoirs, Saturday Night Live and humor!
January 29, 2016
Yes Please
I admit that it took me by surprise how much I enjoyed Amy Poehler's Yes Please.
Perhaps because she is an performer and an entertainer, audio was the perfect medium to deliver her funny and heartfelt stories.
Part memoir/part self-help book, this one doesn't stand out for its lyrical or beautiful prose, or even for narrating the life of the most extraordinary performer for that matter. Instead, what I liked the most about it, was Poehler's authenticity and her ability not to take herself too seriously. Perhaps that's a necessary trait if somebody wants to be succesful on her line of work.
The always charming and charismatic Amy Poehler
So in between chapters and while we learned about Poehler's career, the ins and outs of the comedic scene and get to know her wonderful parents - both of whom made cameo appearances on the audiobook and really sound like the most adorable people- she shares some insightful advice.
Here are a few of these nuggets that I found both savvy and full of commonsense.
On remembering your birthday:
"If your parents are still alive, call them today and ask them to describe the day you were born, write the details down and tell the story every day on your birthday until you know it by heart."
On women and apologies:
"It takes years as a woman to unlearn what you have been taught to be sorry for, it takes years to find your voice and seize your real estate."
On divorce:
“Imagine spreading everything you care about on a blanket and then tossing the whole thing up in the air. The process of divorce is about loading up that blanket, throwing it up, watching it all spin, and worrying what stuff will break when it lands."
On Sex (to women) :
"Try not to fake it: I know you are tired/nervous/eager to please/unsure of how to get there. Just remember to allow yourself real pleasure and not worry about how long it takes…God punished us with the gift of being able to fake it. Show God who the real boss is by getting off and getting yours."
On combating body image issues:
"When the demon starts to slither my way and say bad shit about me I turn around and say, 'Hey. Cool it. Amy is my friend. Don't talk about her like that.' Sticking up for ourselves in the same way we would one of our friends is a hard but satisfying thing to do. Sometimes it works."
Amy drops many celebrity names on this memoir and gives lots of credit to many of them for helping her both professionally and personally. But on the last chapter the last person she thanks is Sharita Fields, the TSA agent who recovered her lost laptop at LAX, thereby saving a good portion of the book. I think that speaks volumes about Poehler's upbringing and her sense of decency.
With the exception of Amy's parents, I thought the rest of the people she invited to assist in the narration didn't add anything particularly special to the audiobook.
Thanks to my friend Elyse for recommending this.
Overall this was a charming and a highly enjoyable memoir.
I admit that it took me by surprise how much I enjoyed Amy Poehler's Yes Please.
Perhaps because she is an performer and an entertainer, audio was the perfect medium to deliver her funny and heartfelt stories.
Part memoir/part self-help book, this one doesn't stand out for its lyrical or beautiful prose, or even for narrating the life of the most extraordinary performer for that matter. Instead, what I liked the most about it, was Poehler's authenticity and her ability not to take herself too seriously. Perhaps that's a necessary trait if somebody wants to be succesful on her line of work.
The always charming and charismatic Amy Poehler
So in between chapters and while we learned about Poehler's career, the ins and outs of the comedic scene and get to know her wonderful parents - both of whom made cameo appearances on the audiobook and really sound like the most adorable people- she shares some insightful advice.
Here are a few of these nuggets that I found both savvy and full of commonsense.
On remembering your birthday:
"If your parents are still alive, call them today and ask them to describe the day you were born, write the details down and tell the story every day on your birthday until you know it by heart."
On women and apologies:
"It takes years as a woman to unlearn what you have been taught to be sorry for, it takes years to find your voice and seize your real estate."
On divorce:
“Imagine spreading everything you care about on a blanket and then tossing the whole thing up in the air. The process of divorce is about loading up that blanket, throwing it up, watching it all spin, and worrying what stuff will break when it lands."
On Sex (to women) :
"Try not to fake it: I know you are tired/nervous/eager to please/unsure of how to get there. Just remember to allow yourself real pleasure and not worry about how long it takes…God punished us with the gift of being able to fake it. Show God who the real boss is by getting off and getting yours."
On combating body image issues:
"When the demon starts to slither my way and say bad shit about me I turn around and say, 'Hey. Cool it. Amy is my friend. Don't talk about her like that.' Sticking up for ourselves in the same way we would one of our friends is a hard but satisfying thing to do. Sometimes it works."
Amy drops many celebrity names on this memoir and gives lots of credit to many of them for helping her both professionally and personally. But on the last chapter the last person she thanks is Sharita Fields, the TSA agent who recovered her lost laptop at LAX, thereby saving a good portion of the book. I think that speaks volumes about Poehler's upbringing and her sense of decency.
With the exception of Amy's parents, I thought the rest of the people she invited to assist in the narration didn't add anything particularly special to the audiobook.
Thanks to my friend Elyse for recommending this.
Overall this was a charming and a highly enjoyable memoir.
August 14, 2018
My BIGGEST advice for this book is to listen to the audiobook. She is hilarious! It is definitely worth it.
I have always LOVED Amy Poehler. She is a very strong and funny women that made it far in life. It was a little cautious about reading her book because not all funny people can write good books. That is why it took me so long. However, Amy's book is hilarious! Especially on audiobook. So like I said above, make sure to listen to her audiobook :)
I highly recommend this book!
I have always LOVED Amy Poehler. She is a very strong and funny women that made it far in life. It was a little cautious about reading her book because not all funny people can write good books. That is why it took me so long. However, Amy's book is hilarious! Especially on audiobook. So like I said above, make sure to listen to her audiobook :)
I highly recommend this book!
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