Yes Please

Publisher's Summary

GRAMMY NOMINEE

Audie Award, Humor, 2015

Amy Poehler is hosting a dinner party and you're invited! Welcome to the audiobook edition of Amy Poehler's Yes Please. The guest list is star-studded with vocal appearances from Carol Burnett, Seth Meyers, Michael Schur, Patrick Stewart, Kathleen Turner, and even Amy's parents - Yes Please is the ultimate audiobook extravaganza. 

Also included? A one-night-only live performance at Poehler's Upright Citizens Brigade Theater. Hear Amy read a chapter live in front of a young and attractive Los Angeles audience. 

While listening to Yes Please, you'll laugh, you'll cry, and you'll become convinced that your phone is trying to kill you. Don't miss this collection of stories, thoughts, ideas, lists, and haikus from the mind of one of our most beloved entertainers. Offering Amy's thoughts on everything from her "too safe" childhood outside of Boston to her early days in New York City, her ideas about Hollywood and "the biz", the demon that looks back at all of us in the mirror, and her joy at being told she has a "face for wigs" - Yes Please is chock-full of words, and wisdom, to live by. 

©2014 Amy Poehler (P)2014 HarperCollins Publishers

Critic Reviews

"Actress and comedian Amy Poehler's memoir is full of charm and life lessons, but what's REALLY fun is how out of the box the audiobook production is. Listeners know they're getting something special, unique, and a bit absurd right from the start when Poehler claims to be narrating from her own personal audio booth, built at the base of Mt. Rushmore. Poehler sounds consistently warm, funny, and genuine, and it's only a matter of time before she'll have you laughing out loud. When she's joined in "her" studio by Seth Meyers and Mike Schur to reminisce about Saturday Night Live and Parks and Recreation, it sounds like we're overhearing candid (and giggly) conversations between friends. Cameos from Carol Burnett, Kathleen Turner, Patrick Stewart (intoning strange haikus), and even Amy's parents add even more flavor. What a treat." ( AudioFile)

Not Necessarily for Knope Fans

It's taken me a long time to admit this publicly, but I did not love Yes Please. Given my obsession with Bossypants (Tina Fey) and Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (Mindy Kaling), I assumed that by the end of this audiobook I'd be desperately hoping to run into Amy Poehler on the street so that we could magically become best friends...

I realized in listening, however, that my crush is actually on Leslie Knope and not on Poehler herself. Parks and Rec fans be warned -- you might not like what you find.

That being said, the narration is obviously awesome, and is filled with fun celebrity cameos.

97 of 111 people found this review helpful

I love Amy but the book is a duh!

Amy is one of the smartest minds in entertainment and I also avidly follow her Smart Girls page on Facebook. She is smart, witty and a household name but as a writer she fails. The book is a pointless ramble of her life's ups and downs... It's like reading a sucky column in a magazine every single day just coz you like that celebrity. She has no beauty in her writing or thoughts. She is NOT a writer. I love the challenges and cause that she is espouses, it's admirable but sorry doesn't make it on my bookshelf.

The performance of the audible is clearly one of the best coz Amy is one of the finest voices in the industry. The panache in her tone is beautiful.

66 of 76 people found this review helpful

Listen to this book for sure

Any additional comments?

Amy Poehler is, above all, a performer. Listening to this book as opposed to reading it added SO MUCH to the experience. Lines that would have been quickly skimmed in text were hilarious when delivered by Amy. She cracks herself up! She plays the organ and sings a song she made up! She and Seth Meyers have an improvised conversation! PATRICK STEWART READS HAIKUS. Honestly, there is no reason not to listen to this book.

I really loved this book. It had me laughing on the street like an idiot, and tearing up on the subway....like an idiot. She's very sincere and incisive about herself, which fully supports her public persona of being a totally awesome person who we would all very much like to be friends with.

I'm generally not a fan of comparing women to one another because it's stupid, but I think people who listened to Bossypants will likely also listen to Yes Please. It's very different from Bossypants. It's more emotionally raw, more sincere, more warm & fuzzy. It's a totally different experience, and equally wonderful.

Highly, highly recommended.

118 of 138 people found this review helpful

Nope, don't do it

I should have known better. I've been taken by this type of book before. It felt forced. The content was contrived. I love Amy Poehler but not this book. Couldn't finish. I did love Tina Fey's book.

61 of 71 people found this review helpful

Funny in parts, wouldn't buy it again

If I learned anything about Amy, it's that she is a normal person with the same concerns as everyone. But it was a little like listening to my neighbors tell their life story. Interesting, but not really worth spending actual money on.

58 of 68 people found this review helpful

Good enough to speed through, not enough to rave

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

Pretty funny memoir

Would you listen to another book narrated by the narrators?

I enjoyed the book but found myself surprisingly annoyed by Amy Poehler's narration/opinions by the end. Was still good enough that I read it quickly though

31 of 36 people found this review helpful

'A Whiney and Boring Mess'

Would you try another book from Amy Poehler and/or the narrators?

If she narrated and didn't write it, absolutely. She's an incredible voice-actress.

Has Yes Please turned you off from other books in this genre?

Not at all!

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?

Miss Poehler is so so talented and funny, but "Yes Please" might be the whiniest book I've ever read. She complains no less than a dozen times how "hard it is to write a book" and "how busy she is". The book is a shallow, indulgent, wandering narrative that sort-of tells me what shaped Miss Poehler as a person. But after listening to her own performance of her own book, I was utterly bored. She gave no real insights into her personal motivations, her improv career, or anything that helped me connect with her as an author.Worse, she has the nerve (I guess?) to bring in "guest-speakers" to talk about how amazing it is to work with Amy Poehler! Ridiculous.I hate to say it, but I used to absolutely adore Amy Poehler. Upright Citizens Brigade changed my life. But this book made me lose almost all the respect I had for her.

What character would you cut from Yes Please?

Amy Poehler

Any additional comments?

"No, thank you."

42 of 50 people found this review helpful

Meh.

I purchased this books because it was suggested to me based on how much I enjoyed Tina Fey's "Bossy Pants". I usually love Amy Poehler, but I just couldn't bring myself to want to listen or finish this audio book.

22 of 26 people found this review helpful

Writing is hard!

I hate to give this book a bad review, because I feel empathy toward her. I understand her struggles as a mother, woman, professional. Namely, I understand that writing this book was hard for her. She tells her listeners often that it was hard, that she almost gave up, that she feels vulnerable, etc. etc. First of all, I believe you, Amy Pohler, I know that writing is damn difficult. Writing well is especially difficult. Her book is good, but it's not great, because she gets preachy, you can tell that she is guarding something, and she is just not as funny as she is on stage. Memoirs need to be honest, and if the writer isn't telling the reader all of the story, then she feels slighted. We can tell... I understand that she doesn't want to reveal sordid details about her life. Frankly, it's not our business, but then she should write about something else. She should focus on being funny, instead of trying to write about all that she's learned... I do not really want life lessons from Amy Pohler, which are neither profound nor especially outside of herself. I understand that it's hard to write a book about yourself without sounding self-absorbed, but others have done it. Pohler has not. That being said, there were some funny parts, some parts that I could relate to, and the last chapter was pretty good. I am still a fan, and think that she's bad ass! Also, I liked hearing about being a working mother, which was relatable and inspiring.

10 of 12 people found this review helpful

Extremely Disappointing

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

I love Amy Poehler, and have since the Upright Citizens Brigade, but I'm sorry to say this book is not good. It rambles, jumping from topic and time period seemingly at random. There's smatterings of her personal life, and smatterings of her professional life, but neither is fleshed out in any compelling way. I don't feel like I actually learned anything about her. There's also a tone to the writing I really didn't like - similar to Tina Fey's book. Faux-self-depricating…smarmy…a little too pleased her own success…offering advice when it's apparent she's no more wise than you or I. I don't know…I question the point of someone her age writing a memoir, particularly one so devoid of actual details. And worst of all, the book really wasn't funny.

What was most disappointing about Amy Poehler’s story?

Instead of giving a more factually-based account of her life, or the trajectory of her career, or her working process, the story is almost all fluff. Lot's of "be grateful," and "love yourself" life lessons. I really get the sense that she wasn't ready to write this book. She even says "I don't like people knowing my shit." Okay. So why write this memoir? Why even touch upon your personal life if you don't want to talk about it? Because someone drove a dumptruck full of money up to your house? Talk about your career, then. Not your trip to the sleep specialist - a truly boring account that seemingly never ends.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of the narrators?

No one. The performance was okay. Not great. But I'm not sure who's do a better job of it.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Yes Please?

I would have subtracted a lot of the personal life lessons. They come off as schmaltzy self-help anecdotes. The story about offending the girl with cerebral palsy is really too much. It's the one real self-critical part of the book, and it's very faux-humbly written. "I did a bad thing, but I apologized, and I was forgiven. So grateful!" I don't doubt she's truly sorry, but the way it's written is just…smarmy. I would have liked to hear more specific stories about her career as a woman in comedy. Actual experiences recounted. Somehow by the end of the book, I just feel like I had very little idea of how she got where she was. But I was well aware of how pleased with herself she is! And not that she shouldn't be. It's just…I feel gross, having read it.

Any additional comments?

It's beyond irritating to pay $24.95 for a book that someone put so little effort into writing. I really feel gyped, and I wish I could return this. I wish I could un-hear it, actually. I think I like Amy Poehler less, having read it, which pains me to say. There's just nothing about it I liked.

124 of 159 people found this review helpful

Good listen, entertaining. but not as laugh out lo

Good listen, very entertaining. Many fun stories and life lessons and advice.
Although not as "laugh out loud" funny as expected from stand up comedian.