Bossypants

By: Tina Fey

Narrated by: Tina Fey

Length: 5 hrs and 32 mins

Publisher's summary

Spirited and whip-smart, these laugh-out-loud autobiographical essays are "a masterpiece" from the Emmy Award-winning actress and comedy writer known for 30 Rock, Mean Girls, and SNL". (Sunday Telegraph).

Before Liz Lemon, before Weekend Update, before Sarah Palin, Tina Fey was just a young girl with a dream: A recurring stress dream that she was being chased through a local airport by her middle-school gym teacher. She also had a dream that one day she would be a comedian on TV. She has seen both these dreams come true.

At last, Tina Fey's story can be told. From her youthful days as a vicious nerd to her tour of duty on Saturday Night Live; from her passionately halfhearted pursuit of physical beauty to her life as a mother eating things off the floor; from her one-sided college romance to her nearly fatal honeymoon - from the beginning of this paragraph to this final sentence.

Tina Fey reveals all, and proves what we've always suspected: You're no one until someone calls you bossy.

Includes special, never-before-solicited opinions on breastfeeding, princesses, Photoshop, the electoral process, and Italian rum cake!

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your My Library section along with the audio.

©2011 Tina Fey (P)2011 Hachette Audio

Now even a bigger Fan

Of women and Tina! Super funny perspective on life and show biZ. Had me laughing with tears on my commute to work !

Nothing to prove

I’ll start by saying I’m a Tina Fey (SNL & 30 Rock) fan so I went in with high expectations because I have enjoyed all of the work I’ve seen from her so far ... THIS BOOK DID NOT DISAPPOINT! I had considered buying it and reading it myself but as soon as I found that she was the one narrating in the audio book version I was sold on it. What could be better than listening to one of your comedic heroes read her own brilliant book?!? Answer: very little

On more than one occasion I choose to listen to this rather than any other form of available entertainment. I could literally listen to her talk every day and never tire of her turns of phrase and simple sarcasm. I enjoyed it from minute one to chapter 77. Thanks Tina.

Never Feel Alone...

when I realized I felt utterly alone, being a proclaimed funny, sarcastic, out spoken woman that didn't understand the constant judgement of other women and men alike for being 'an acquired taste' while being as real as my body allows person. I found my comfort and kinship by listening to my now idols (and in my head best friends) with not only Amy Poehler, Chelsea Handler, Mindy Kaling and now Tina Fey... thank you Tina for being the conversation I starve for while my day to day can be lonely without a steady stream of realism .....

Loved!

Whip-smart fun as only Fey can deliver. I can't imagine anyone else narrating. Interestingly enough, as many times as I've watched her on TV and movies, I never really noticed the scar she talks about. Also, I had to binge watch some 30 Rock after finishing (trust me, it helps with the withdrawal symptoms because you just want her to keep going).

I laughed until I cried!

What did you love best about Bossypants?

She was so..down to earth...and very, very funny. She remembers intimate details about her life and when she shares those details, you feel you are right there as it is happening. She points out the humor in situations that I would never have seen!

Who doesn't love Tina Fey?

Where does Bossypants rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I loved this audiobook. I'd listen to it again especially if I had a long drive coming up.

What did you like best about this story?

Tina's stories are great & you feel like you're getting a "behind the scenes" on everything you've seen her in on tv.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Absolutely

Any additional comments?

Give this book a try. You'll be glad you did.

Very Entertaining

What did you love best about Bossypants?

I love Tina's sarcasm. This book had a funny story for everyone. It kept me entertained from the beginning till the very end.

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

Laugh out Loud

Likin' Tina Fey Just Got Easier

If you could sum up Bossypants in three words, what would they be?

Growing up goofy

What did you like best about this story?

Hearing the author and being just as enterained as watching.

Have you listened to any of Tina Fey’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No, but I'm going to

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Using her father as a quirky role model.

Any additional comments?

Worth the listen.

Ideal Audiobook

What made the experience of listening to Bossypants the most enjoyable?

This book made me laugh out loud and on more than one occasion. When she was comparing between her natural photo vs. the photoshop version and asks to compare those two in the PDF, I was in for a hysterical laugh. Not to mention passing sentences like:

- "Do I think Photoshop is being used excessively? Yes. I saw Madonna's Louis Vutton ad and honestly, at first glance, I thought it was Gwen Stefani's baby."

- "I guess I should also state that Karen and Sharon never hit on me in the slightest and it was never weird between any of us. Gay people don't actually try to convert people. That's Jehovah's Witnesses you're thinking of. ... If you could turn gay from being around gay people, wouldn't Kathy Griffin be Rosie O'Donnell by now?"

She delivers her one-liners, punch-lines, wisecracks...whatever you want to call them in a matter-of-fact-in-your-face boom-ba-da-bam style and sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, but the fact that she has the courage to try is always admirable. In this book, Tina Fey reminded me of Nora Ephron. Both of them represent an idea of New York that ravishing as it may be, is also very horrid and no place for the fragile. But both of them seem to master the art of taking things seriously enough but not so serious to not joke about. They manage to master the skill of self-deprecation without losing their sense of value.

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

This book draws near to self-help/self-acceptance books in the sense that it may aim to help women improve themselves professionally and physically (and offer tips on how to take care of oneself). It has mixed messages, however, because while Tina Fey may want to show that it shouldn't matter what others think,“If you retain nothing else, always remember the most important rule of beauty, which is: who cares?” and "Don’t waste your energy trying to educate or change opinions; go over, under, through, and opinions will change organically when you’re the boss. Or they won’t. Who cares? Do your thing, and don’t care if they like it.” While she says those things, Tina Fey herself seems to waste energy in answering to what so-and-so were caught saying about her in here-or-there as if she is still looking for acceptance. Some of the ways in which she answers "haters" is by boasting her success and reminding others that they are no better in a: "HOW dare YOU mock me. Who are YOU to put me down for I am better than YOU will ever be!" kind of way. The definition of “better” is what frustrated me, because once again, this is a book that declares what the American standards of success are: having to be driven, ambitious, competitive, go-get-‘em-tiger. "Don’t be fooled," Tina warns young women, "You’re not in competition with other women. You’re in competition with everyone.”

Despite the insecurities feigning as over-confident apologies, the kick-ass attitude that Tina Fey has is still admirable for a woman who has discerned the overload of bullsh*t in the business. I liked how she says that she’s always been able to tell a lot about people by whether they asked her about her scar. “Most people never ask, but if it comes up naturally somehow and I offer up the story, they are quite interested. Some people are just dumb: "Did a cat scratch you?" God bless. Those sweet dumdums I never mind. Sometimes it is a fun sociology litmus test, like when my friend Ricky asked me, "Did they ever catch the black guy that did that to you?" Hmmm. It was not a black guy, Ricky, and I never said it was. Then there's another sort of person who thinks it makes them seem brave or sensitive or wonderfully direct to ask me about it right away. They ask with quiet, feigned empathy, "How did you get your scar?" The grossest move is when they say they're only curious because "it's so beautiful." Ugh. Disgusting. They might as well walk up and say, "May I be amazing at you?" To these folks let me be clear. I'm not interested in acting out a TV movie with you where you befriend a girl with a scar. An Oscar-y Spielberg movie where I play a mean German with a scar? Yes. My whole life, people who ask about my scar within one week of knowing me have invariably turned out to be egomaniacs of average intelligence or less. And egomaniacs of average intelligence or less often end up in the field of TV journalism. So, you see, if I tell the whole story here, then I will be asked about it over and over by the hosts of Access Movietown and Entertainment Forever for the rest of my short-lived career.”

It has been fun to get to hear her first-account experiences at 30 Rock and SNL and get a glimpse of the individuals she admires, such as her dad, Amy Poehler, Alec Baldwin and Lorne Michaels. It is clear that Fey has experienced exhaustion, which is evident not only because she declares it, but also because we can actually visualize how tiring her life-style must be: Running between the office, staying up in the wee hours of the morning working on scripts, having to deal with colleagues and make the right decisions, TV ratings, expectations, body image, and all the family-related matters that make her feel like she's the "worst". She admits that she doesn't drive and has narcoleptic tendencies that are a result of her exhaustion, and as a mother she has the added anxieties and feelings of guilt due to her working late hours and not breastfeeding, among other things. In short, she represents the anxious state of mind that only a successful woman with a conscious would have. Her answer to this seems to be that if you are already that hard on yourself, other people’s opinions should not make your life even harder. “By the way, when Oprah Winfrey is suggesting you may have overextended yourself, you need to examine your f*cking life.”

What does Tina Fey bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Tina Fey is a performer. She knows the power of her own voice and makes the perfect intonations to grab attention and get heard. She picks her words with care and is a comedian-with-a-conscious. She's not out there to hurt anyone with her humorous skill, but uses humor to express the hurtful messages a woman in show business like herself would have to endure. There is no question that she has vivid imagination, and that she is not shy to express herself.

Funny without the profanity

Could be just as funny without the profanity. Tina Fey is a down-to-earth and talented person.