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Emmy Award-winning writer
Jessi Klein, known for her work on the television series Inside
Amy Schumer and Saturday Night Live, plus her
own Comedy Central stand-up special, presents a collection
of humorous essays about her life. Read by the author in an
engaging style that’s perfect for the material, these
essays cover a range of experiences about being female.
A self-proclaimed tomboy, Klein details the awkwardness of
always being an outsider with her family, at school, and with
her girlfriends. One essay goes to great lengths to describe
her complete ineptitude and lack of interest in finding an
appropriate wedding dress. The highlight of many young women’s
lives, the search for a wedding dress represented an enormous
challenge for Klein, who had a limited budget ($2,000 maximum)
and a hard-to-fit figure. Her interest in the entire wedding
affair was so limited that she initially wanted to wear a
nice non-wedding dress right off the rack.
These and other stories, including beauty rituals, boyfriend
troubles, loneliness, experiences at an exclusive health spa,
the importance of word choice, therapy sessions, and her relationship
with pornography and masturbation, are hardly groundbreaking
revelations or even particularly important. But in addition
to the comedic elements she finds in each situation, Klein
reveals a bit of insight on each topic. For example, during
an especially stressful time of her life, she discovered comedy
shows on cable television. These, along with a documentary
on Groucho Marx, helped her realize the tears behind the clown,
i.e., comedians often use humor to escape from sadness.
Like most comedians, her language can be direct and raw at
times. She’s building to a punchline, not providing
support for a thesis statement. The essays are not presented
in chronological order, which means she might have an essay
about picking out her wedding dress, followed by another about
being single, followed by another about being pregnant, followed
by another about her childhood. Although thematically this
might make sense, the shifts in time can sometimes be jarring
to the reader.
This candid collection of essays is for lovers of standup
comedy – especially lovers of standup comedy from a
female perspective. It’s funny and entertaining, but
not for those who are easily offended by language or subject
material typically found in comedy clubs or cable specials.
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