Next to Tina Fey, Amy Poehler is quite possibly my favorite female comedian (it's probably no coincidence that they're great friends). Seeing them both on screen puts me in an instant good mood. I found Fey's Bossypants laugh-at-loud funny, but alas, my feelings for Poehler's Yes Please were definitely not quite as strong.The first thing you have to get used to is that there is no rhyme or reason to this book. Each chapter is about what Amy wants it to be, and it's almost like a constant stream of consciousness, with no order to her essays. I found that a little jarring, and I actually skipped some pages that made no sense to me (a cardinal sin in my book). Readers going into it thinking it's a straight-up memoir will be sorely disappointed.
That being said, Yes Please is a great cure for a bad day. Poehler of course talks about her time at SNL, Parks and Recreation, and as part of the Chicago improv scene, but I love how she writes things that we're all thinking but would never say. Don't worry -- she'll do that for you. I'm not sure what genre I would classify Yes Please, but I'm sure Amy Poehler wouldn't want to be pigeonholed anyway.
MY RATING - 3
