Yes Please

Not the giggle fest I thought it would be...

What would have made Yes Please better?

More structure and more laughs! She did actually pre warn that there would be many random tales, but halfway through one story she would digress onto another and I find myself getting quite annoyed with this. Also I expected Amy to have talked through more of her journey to becoming a Saturday Night Live performer, but it didn't go much detail at all. I had expected it to be laugh out loud hilarious in places but I just didn't find the selected memories all that funny either!

Has Yes Please put you off other books in this genre?

No, I have enjoyed several memoirs and autobiographies, this one just didn't hit the right note with me.

Which character – as performed by the narrators – was your favourite?

As it's a memoir Amy is the main feature in the audiobook, but it was good to hear snippets of Will Ferrell in his Saturday Night Live days.

You didn’t love this book--but did it have any redeeming qualities?

Amy Poehler's narration of the book is perfect - which makes sense as she's the author, but even so it's very engaging. I also enjoyed the guest speakers which added an extra dimension for Audiobook listeners.

Any additional comments?

I don't think that this is neccessarilly a bad book, my low score just reflects that it didn't meet my expectations for what it would be. It's not side splitting hilarious and doesn't give an insider look into Amy's life, it's simply a collection of random tales and thoughts.

5 of 5 people found this review helpful

Amy is my queen

I love, adore and worship Amy Poehler so have been waiting for this audiobook excitedly ever since it was announced. Of course, I wasn't disappointed. Of course I wasn't. Amy would never disappoint me.

Opinionated, sometimes angry, not always "nice" and always hilarious. It's refreshing that she is never self deprecating in order to be likeable. Amy is open about her ambition and hard work and I like her all the more for it.

Does Amy do a good job of narrating her own book? Are you kidding me? From her specially built recording booth by Mt Rushmore, she is awesome and the guest voices are AMAZING. I do appreciate it when the audio version of a book has added value from the print version. It wouldn't be the same without Patrick Stewart reciting haiku or Kathleen Turner as the evil voice in your head putting you down.

The stuff about Parks and Rec is great but if you haven't watched it all, there are some spoilers.

In case you didn't get the message, I really, really, really, really liked this book.

11 of 12 people found this review helpful

Funny but not insightful

Poehler is a very funny lady and she proves it in this book. So glad I listened to the Audiobook as I think it offers much more than the written version. She tells you herself she doesn't want people knowing her business which is fair enough but leaves you wanting to know more. I just feel if you're going to write an autobiography it should be fully open and honest. It's read brilliantly with great input from the guest readers. Definitely worth it if your a fan or someone with a passing interest in her work.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Yes please to Yes Please!

Would you listen to Yes Please again? Why?

This is a true example of how the Audiobook format can be used to enhance the experience of interacting with a book. Poehler's humour comes across in spades but there's also a great degree of poignancy. Her wit, sharp when written, is given an extra crackle of fun when delivered as a one-liner. The guest readers all played the game with panache, and it's a true pleasure to listen to.

Who was your favorite character and why?

I loved the chapter written and read by Seth Meyers, but it's the many incarnations of Amy Poehler that make this so brilliant.

Have you listened to any of the narrators’s other performances? How does this one compare?

I love Amy's comedy and she's always on point, but it bears saying that the very personal nature of this memoir makes it probably one of my favourite things she's ever done.

Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

It made me laugh A LOT but some of the more poignant segments - when Amy touches on her divorce, when she speaks about the difficulty she had breaking into the world of comedy - also provoked a sniffle.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

A brilliant listen!

Would you consider the audio edition of Yes Please to be better than the print version?

The added bonus of having not only Amy Poehler narrating her own life - which adds a whole new dimension of hilarity, depth and feeling to events - but also the cameo appearances from a host of other celebrities felt that rather than a simple reading of the book, this was a *performance*; that you were getting a comedy show and a book in one.

What other book might you compare Yes Please to, and why?

My partner says that this is very much like Tina Fey's Bossypants. In sense of tone and humour, I would liken it to Caitlin Moran's books, particularly How to be a Woman.

Which character – as performed by the narrators – was your favourite?

n/a

Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I laughed *so* much with this book - in fact, it should probably be illegal to drive and listen to it! But there were also sad bits, and with Poehler narrating, you feel all the emotions conveyed in the text fully.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

a book to make you feel brave

this book is so funny, charming, intelligent, interesting... and the performance / production of the audio book is incredible. you can tell how much energy and love went into this project and the result is truly joyful. I wholeheartedly recommend it.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

So much fun!

Review: I was so looking forward to reading this book and let me tell you, it did not let me down. I have found that I enjoy reading autobiographies in audiobooks form and so I downloaded this one using one of my audible credits and settled back for an entertaining listen on my commute. Gosh this book was such fun. I highly reccomend listening to this one on audiobook because you feel partly like you're just having a good old chat with this fabulous lady, and party like you are being entertained at some wonderful stand up comedy event.

The book isn't linear in structure, it jumps around from time to time covering various aspects of Amy Poehler's personal life and her career. I sometimes prefer this form of writing to a chronological report of someones life, i found the anecdotal style very easy to listen to and I would imagine that it would make a good read as well. The stories that she told were interesting and you could tell that she was just sharing them with her readers, not putting them out there just for sympathy or just for laughs, it was really as if she were just telling you stuff about her life whilst you were both on a long bus journey or something-i really liked this!

The really fab thing about this audiobook was that there was definitely extra content for those of use who had elected to buy the audiobook. Obviously when you buy an audio version of an autobiography, you miss out on the pictorial content that you would get in the hardback edition, but because of this, Amy has added some guest readers and a whole section which she did ,Ive to an audience so you get just as much of a 3d experience as if you had picked up the hardback.

I know this will be a big xmas gift this year and it came out just in time for all the seasonal gifting but i really recommend you not only buy this book as a gift but also read it yourself because there is something in this book to entertain anyone and everyone. You will laugh, you will be made to think and you will definitely storm through this book just as quickly as I did. This was a fabulously entertaining read but now you'll have to excuse me whilst I find more funny clips of SNL on YouTube!

4 of 5 people found this review helpful

For New Yorkers only

I'm only halfway through this title and already I'm really struggling. problem is it isn't aimed at me. I'm a 50-ish Londoner; this book is aimed squarely at New Yorkers, and is based on the following 3 premises:

1: New York is the greatest place on earth
2. Saturday Night Live is the greatest comedy TV show ever made
3: Everything Amy Poehler and her chums say is thigh-slappingly funny

I'll not voice and opinion on (1) as I've only been to New York once so what do I know, but 2 & 3 are definitely questionable. The problem with SNL is that it's so insular, and is based completely on how star-spangled awesome New York is. For anyone living outside of the city you're just not included, man. Ask anyone who doesn't live in the USA or Canada about SNL and they're likely to mention Chevy Chase and John Belushi. Nobody else sees this show.

Like most comedy these days you have to be in at the start or you just won't understand the in-jokes or why certain people saying certain things gets a laugh. But on the few occasions I've caught SNL I really can't see what the big deal is about, and yet the cast are so full of themselves, forced laughter at the most mundane of comments.

And then Ms Poehler adds to the pain by trying to turn every chapter into an SNL sketch, and this falls flat almost every time. Her long drawn-out piece about her forthcoming birthing just goes on and on and on, and for some reason she thing the word 'vagina' is hilarious.

I dunno, this one just isn't aimed at me; and for the record the best TV comedy ever written is, and always will be, "Dad's Army"

5 of 7 people found this review helpful

hilarious and smart!

A really funny and honest read. it kept me interested and engaged the whole time, loved it!

Self indulgent

Unfortunately it's just not funny, I got about half way through & I found that a struggle.