Audiobook Review: Bossypants by Tina Fey

Bossypants is the hugely successful memoir by comedian Tina Fey and, like her, it is intelligent and witty. The author reads the audio herself and it is like listening to one of her monologues on Saturday Night Live - I caught myself laughing out loud on my walk home from work and smiling to myself while listening on the subway (fortunately, this really doesn't stand out much in NYC!). In addition to laughs, however, Tina Fey delivers commentary on how women can succeed in the workplace - even though her workplace is very different from the one most of us go to every day - and a peek into the family that made her who she is and the family she has created with her husband.

 I use the word "peek" intentionally because while Tina Fey has an amazing ability to laugh at herself and therefore can be quite revealing I was impressed by how she held some parts of her story to herself. I certainly got a well drawn picture of her family growing up - from her frugal Dad to her Mom who had Tina as a "change of life" baby. Tina's love and respect for her parents and how they have shaped her also shines through but there is nothing voyeuristic about this memoir - I get the feeling Tina could easily sit at a family dinner after writing this memoir and not look sheepishly around at the family she exposed in her book. In much the same way, Tina shares funny anecdotes about her husband - their courtship and their honeymoon (more about that later) but she doesn't slavishly reveal their entire relationship. It is almost as if she recognizes that she has decided to live a public life but doesn't want to subject her family to the exposure that accompanies that public life.

Now - on to the laughs. Tina's dry, sarcastic wit is evident throughout this book as she tells anecdotes from her personal and professional life. The one I found funniest and the one which still brings a smile to my face is the story of her and her husband's honeymoon cruise. The couple decided on cruising because her husband is afraid of flying. After enjoying a few days of extravagant buffets and formal nights, Tina and her husband are enjoying a day on the ship when they hear one of the cabin maids desperately bleating into the intercom "Bravo, Bravo . . . ". They later learn this is code for a serious emergency aboard and discover their cruise ship is on fire! Something about her breathless delivery of the maid's alert over the intercom still makes me laugh.

On the professional front, Tina recounts her time at Second City in Chicago, her early days on SNL and her success on 30 Rock. She also takes us through her period of playing Sarah Palin during the 2008 election season Tina tells many self-deprecating anecdotes about her professional gaffes and occasional humiliations. However, in the midst of those, a theme emerges - Tina has worked very hard in a male dominated field to achieve what she has and it was by no means arrived at through pure luck.

If you are looking for intelligent, witty and laugh out loud funny, pick up Bossypants (preferably in audio!)