Yes Please by Amy Poehler

I had no intention of reading Amy Poehler's memoirs.

In Australia the whole Saturday Night Live phenomenon is something we know very little about - occasionally we see snippets like the Tina Fey send-up of Sarah Palin, but that's it.
It's not something we experience. It is not on any of our free-to-air TV stations, so therefore not a part of our culture or our day-to-day life.

(Out of curiosity I just googled Foxtel. We don't get SNL as an option there either...just the anniversary specials if you subscribe to the Comedy channel.)

I have seen a few episodes of the first season of Parks and Recreation, but I was like 'meh' & left off after a while.

But then a reading copy became available at work and I was in need of a laugh, so I thought 'why not?'

And it was indeed an entertaining and amusing read as well as providing a curious insight into American pop culture.

Although we didn't get SNL, we did watch a lot of US sitcoms and programs as kids. I grew up watching reruns of The Brady Bunch, The Partridge Family, Lost in Space, Gentle Ben, Happy Days, Eight is Enough and Flipper.

Poehler is only a few years younger than I am & grew up on the other side of the world, but thanks to those TV sitcoms, her childhood looked very familiar.

When she stuck to the personal stuff about family, growing up, love, divorce, children, friendships and career choices I enjoyed what she had to say and how she said it (mostly). Sometimes the humour grated a little, but I'm more in tune with the Aussie self-deprecation style of humour than the observational, improv style that Poehler uses.

I'm sure that if you grew up on SNL and were a fan of the show, then Yes Please would be a hoot from start to finish.

From the other side of the world, it was an interesting, sometimes funny look at life growing up in America. (It was also the perfect read for the recent Dewey's 24hr Readathon!)