The Book Corner: "Bossypants" by Tina Fey

Are you a Tina Fey fan? Someone who remembers never missing her on "Saturday Night Live" and is sure to catch "30 Rock" every week? Maybe even someone who's been following her long enough to remember her days in Chicago's legendary Second City comedy troupe? Then, obviously, this book is for you. The somewhat surprising thing is that even if you don't really count yourself as that much of a fan, or perhaps aren't even all that familiar with much or any of her comic output over the years, "Bossypants" still has a lot that will quite likely appeal to you. Because, ultimately, this isn't so much a straight autobiography as it is a just plain funny book, and it should appeal to anyone who just likes to laugh.

In general outline, however, it does at least RESEMBLE an autobiography. We get a guided tour through Fey's childhood years, her earliest professional comedy experience, and her joining Second City. There are of course chapters on her days on "SNL" and "30 Rock". Though, strangely, there is virtually nothing on the theatrical movies she's been in other than one very brief reference to "Mean Girls". However, this book by no means follows the usual strict chronological format or sticks to just the facts. If Fey starts to delve into the subject of her motherhood, you might get a chapter or two of parenting tips (that no parent should ever actually follow). If she is writing about improvisational comedy, you could get a chapter about subjects that are or are not funny. And even the purely autobiographical sections, while true to the facts of her life, read as is they COULD very well be comedic essays by someone trying to find the humor in the particular subject of that chapter. Which they essentially are, because that is clearly the mission of this book: make the reader laugh. And if that can often be done during the telling of her life story, so much the better.

Fey has clearly been annoyed at the sexist attitude that "women can't be funny" she has so often run into throughout her career (as well she should be), and always manages to find the funny in "Bossypants", even when she's actually addressing that subject (as she does in such chapters as "All Girls Must Be Everything". Body image issues? How to have a family life and a work life at the same time ("Juggle This")? That's here too. And aging, let's not forget aging ("What Turning 40 Means to Me"). In some ways, Fey is actually funnier on these and other topics in this book than she has been on TV and in the movies, because she doesn't have to filter her observations through a character she's playing.

But as someone who HAS been a fan for some time now, I of course found the life story aspect fascinating too. In particular, her chapter "Sarah, Oprah and Captain Hook", in which she details how she really had to be seriously convinced by Lorne Michaels to do the Sarah Palin sketches on SNL... as someone who had never done impressions and found it impossible to be convincing playing someone who doesn't look like her (and nobody else looked like her), added to the fact that she'd never done political material very well, she just wasn't convinced it could possibly work. How she was talked into it, and how she handled it when Palin herself came on the show, make for very interesting reading. As do the actual thoughts about Palin herself, of course.

The title "Bossypants" is a reference to her management style as a boss, a style she didn't even realize she had until she really BECAME a boss for the "30 Rock" series. Obviously this isn't a "Leadership Secrets Of Attilla The Hun" type thing that is meant as something for actual bosses to follow... which is a big part of the humor. Fey is as merciless on herself as she is about anyone else she writes about here, and her own flaws, faults and foibles (sorry... I don't get much practice at that alliteration stuff) is some of the funniest stuff in the book.

Like I said, there's no doubt that longtime Tina Fey fans will form the largest portion of the audience for this book. However, readers who simply enjoy a good comic essay, or want to read something funny about parenthood, show business, or any number of other subjects will also find a lot to appreciate here. The fact is, Tina Fey has a sharp comic mind that can find the ridiculous in just about any subject she decides to write about, and it turns out that her style might be even better suited to the printed page than it is to the screen. I, for one, hope she writes more books and I'll certainly be looking forward to the next one... whatever it happens to be about.