Yes Please by Amy Poehler | Audiobook Review

IN A PERFECT WORLD...

We’d get to hang out with Amy Poehler, watching dumb movies, listening to music, and swapping tales about our coworkers and difficult childhoods. Because in a perfect world, we’d all be friends with Amy — someone who seems so fun, is full of interesting stories, tells great jokes, and offers plenty of advice and wisdom (the useful kind, not the annoying kind you didn’t ask for, anyway). Unfortunately, between her Golden Globe-winning role on Parks and Recreation, work as a producer and director, place as one of the most beloved SNL alumni and cofounder of the Upright Citizens Brigade, involvement with the website Smart Girls at the Party, frequent turns as acting double for Meryl Streep, and her other gig as the mom of two young sons, she’s not available for movie night.

Luckily, we have the next best thing: Yes Please, Amy’s hilarious and candid book. A collection of stories, thoughts, ideas, lists, and haiku from the mind of one of our most beloved entertainers, Yes Please offers 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 a chock-full of words and wisdom to live by.

Why Did I Read This Book?

A few years back, I listened to the audiobook of Bossypants by Tina Fey and I think that kind of jumpstarted this love of celebrity narrated memoirs. Amy Poehler, BFF with Tina Fey is a superstar in her own right. When I saw that Yes Please was being released on Audible I knew without doubt that I had to plunk down a credit on that audiobook. I am one of those people who is a megafan of Parks And Recreation despite not having seen the last season, I have seen the prior seasons enough that Tom Haverford’s slang has made it into my every day language and I do in fact own a DJ roomba.

What’s The Story Here?

I wouldn’t say that there is a specific story per se in Amy Poehler’s Yes Please. Rather, it’s a collection of Poehler’s thoughts and observations. We learn about her life growing up in Boston. We learn about how hard she’s worked to get to where she is. There’s a part about how she learned that she loved acting — when she was in the school play for the Wizard Of Oz and she had the audience in stitches. That’s a feeling that she wanted to keep replicating. It’s actually really interesting to read about her working class origins and to see how far she’s come. There’s also parts in there on her divorce from Will Arnett as well as the birth and raising of her children. OH! And how she is very woman positive and about cheering people on instead of being jealous of their success or bitter. I love that. I love the positivity and that’s something that Poehler inspires me to do — to be happy for people who succeed and not jealous or petty about it because I can do that too. If that makes any sense. OH OH OH and before I forget Poehler also details her most shameful moment while on Saturday Night Live and how this one time she did a skit that punched down and laughed at someone instead of with and how it made her feel awful afterward.

Yes Please is such a candid and honest book that I really did feel like Poehler was my friend while I was listening to it. I liked that she didn’t shy away from anything and was just so transparent. She’s absolutely great and well, even though she’s got her faults like all humans, I continue to be a fan.

How’s The Narration?

Okay so the very best thing about Yes Please the audiobook is that not only does the inimitable Amy Poehler narrate, but she has guest narrators! Like Carol Burnett for one! As well as a few others, but I won’t spoil the surprise. This is one of those audiobooks that I was sad to see end. I already like Poehler and watch Parks And Recreation, so the audiobook felt like something I would naturally like — and I totally did. I think if you are new to audiobooks this one might actually be quite a good fit for you. It’s easy to listen to and Poehler has a lot of life in her narration.

Who Should Listen To This Book?

• EVERYONE

Sum It Up With A GIF:

Yes, Amy Poehler is the best in the world and so you should listen to this audiobook.

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April (Books&Wine)

April is in her 30s and created Good Books And Good Wine. She works for a non-profit. April always has a book on hand. In her free time she can be found binge watching The Office with her husband and toddler, spending way too much time on Pinterest or exploring her neighborhood.

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