Yes Please (Poehler)

Yes Please 
Amy Poehler, 2014
HarperCollins
288 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781594206276


Summary
Do you want to get to know the woman we first came to love on Comedy Central's Upright Citizens Brigade? Do you want to spend some time with the lady who made you howl with laughter on Saturday Night Live, and in movies like Baby Mama, Blades of Glory, and They Came Together?

Do you find yourself daydreaming about hanging out with the actor behind the brilliant Leslie Knope on Parks and Recreation? Did you wish you were in the audience at the last two Golden Globes ceremonies, so you could bask in the hilarity of Amy's one-liners?

If your answer to these questions is "Yes Please!" then you are in luck.

In her first book, one of our most beloved funny folk delivers a smart, pointed, and ultimately inspirational read. Full of the comedic skill that makes us all love Amy, Yes Please is a rich and varied collection of stories, lists, poetry (Plastic Surgery Haiku, to be specific), photographs, mantras and advice.

With chapters like "Treat Your Career Like a Bad Boyfriend," "Plain Girl Versus the Demon" and "The Robots Will Kill Us All," Yes Please will make you think as much as it will make you laugh. Honest, personal, real, and righteous, Yes Please is full of words to live by. (From the publisher.)

Author Bio
• Birth—September 16, 1971
• Where—Newton, Massachusetts USA
• Education—B.A., Boston College
• Awards—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress (TV)
• Currently—lives in New York City, New York, and in Los Angeles, California


Amy Meredith Poehler is an American actress, comedian, voice artist, director, producer, and writer. She moved to Chicago in 1993 to study improv at The Second City and ImprovOlympic. In 1996, she moved to New York City after becoming part of the improvisational comedy troupe Upright Citizens Brigade, which later developed into an eponymous television show that aired on Comedy Central for three seasons. She was also one of the founding members of the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in 1999.

Amy Poehler was a cast member on the NBC television series Saturday Night Live from 2001 to 2008. In 2004, she became the co-anchor of the "Weekend Update" sketch alongside her friend and colleague Tina Fey. Poehler is known for voicing Bessie Higgenbottom in the 2008–2011 Nickelodeon series, The Mighty B! and Homily Clock from the English dub of The Secret World of Arrietty. From 2009 to 2015, she starred as Leslie Knope in the sitcom Parks and Recreation, for which she won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Television Musical or Comedy Series in 2014.

Poehler served as an executive producer on the Swedish-American sitcom Welcome to Sweden, along with her brother Greg Poehler. The series aired on NBC. She is also an executive producer on Broad City which airs on Comedy Central, and appeared in the Season 1 finale.

She also voiced Joy in the 2015 animated Pixar film Inside Out, and received critical acclaim for her work. Since August 2015, she has served as an executive producer on the Hulu original series, Difficult People, which stars her former Parks and Recreation co-star Billy Eichner and comedian Julie Klausner, the latter of which is the creator of the show.

Early life
Poehler was born in Newton, Massachusetts to high school teachers Eileen Frances (nee Milmore) and William Grinstead Poehler. Her brother, Greg Poehler, is a producer and actor. She grew up in nearby Burlington.

While attending Boston College, Poehler was a member of My Mother's Fleabag, the oldest collegiate improv comedy troupe in the United States. She graduated from Boston College with a bachelor's degree in media and communications in 1993 and moved to Chicago, where she studied improv at Second City with friend and future co-star Tina Fey.

Upright Citizens Brigade
During her time at Second City and Improv Olympic in Chicago, Poehler studied under Del Close and Charna Halpern along with Matt Besser, where they were part of the original improv team called the Upright Citizens Brigade.

Poehler, along with Bresser, Matt Walsh, and Ian Roberts, performed sketch and improv around Chicago until the four moved to New York City in 1996. There the group quickly scored a TV gig, appearing as sketch regulars on Late Night with Conan O'Brien.

In 1998, the group debuted at Comedy Central and opened an improv theatre/training center at 161 W. 22nd Street, in the space of a former strip club. The UCB theatre held shows seven nights a week in addition to offering classes in sketch comedy writing and improv.

Comedy Central canceled the Upright Citizens Brigade program in 2000 after its third season. The foursome continues to perform together in live improv shows at their comedy theatres in both New York and Los Angeles.

Saturday Night Live
Poehler joined the cast of SNL during the 2001–02 season; her debut episode—the first produced after the 9/11 attacks—included host Reese Witherspoon, musical guest Alicia Keys, and New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani as a special guest. Poehler was promoted from featured player to full cast member in her first season on the show, only the third person to have earned this distinction (after Harry Shearer and Eddie Murphy).

Beginning with the 2004–05 season, she co-anchored "Weekend Update" with Tina Fey, replacing the newly departed Jimmy Fallon. When Fey left after the 2005–06 season to devote time to the sitcom she created, 30 Rock, Seth Meyers joined Poehler at the anchor desk.

It was officially announced on September 16, 2008, that Poehler would be leaving SNL in October due to the birth of her child. She returned to the show on November 3, 2008, during the "SNL Presidential Bash '08," "hosting" as Hillary Clinton but left the show formally at the end of the year. She returned several times for special shows, including hosting a 2010 show with Katy Perry and anchoring "Weekend Update" in 2015 with Tina Fey and Jane Curtin for SNL's 40th anniversary show.

Parks and Recreation
On July 21, 2008, NBC officially announced Poehler's new series, Parks and Recreation in which Poehler plays Deputy Director of the Parks Department, Leslie Knope, in the fictional city of Pawnee, Indiana. After a poorly regarded first season, the show's second, third, fourth and fifth have been well received by critics, and Poehler received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for her role.

Poehler has written four episodes of the series and has also directed episodes, winning several Emmy nomoniations for both efforts, as well as nominations for best actress. In 2014, she won the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Television Series—Comedy at the 71st Golden Globe Awards, which she co-hosted with Tina Fey.

Other work and recognition
Poehler has appeared in numerous films—Wet Hot American Summer, Mean Girls, Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo, Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny, Blades of Glory, Envy, Shrek the Third, Mr. Woodcock, and Hamlet 2. She also appeared in various comedy segments on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, often playing her recurring role as Andy Richter's little sister.

In 2011, Poehler was included as one of Time magazine's "100 most influential people in the world." She also delivered the Class Day address to Harvard University's class of 2011.

Poehler and Fey have jointly hosted the Golden Globe Awards ceremony three times: the first time in 2013. Their inaugural appearance garnered attention due to a joke directed at Taylor Swift, who later responded with a Madeleine Albright quote: "There's a special place in hell for women who don't help other women." Poehler's response to Swift's comment, made as part of a Vanity Fair interview, was humorous, agreeing that she will go to hell, but for "other reasons."

Poehler hosted the Golden Globes ceremony with Fey again in 2014 as part of a three-year contract. Gilbert Cruz, of the Vulture website, wrote: "They killed it last year with their opening monologue and they did so again this year."

The two hosted the Golden Globe Awards ceremony for the third successive time in 2015, confirming prior to the event that the third time would be their last. Rolling Stone magazine wrote afterward that the pair "left no superstar unscathed during their riotous opening monologue," in which they "casually roasted the assembled masses." The Interview (2014), Bill Cosby, and Steve Carell were among the numerous subjects covered in the routine.

In 2014, Poehler published a memoir, Yes Please. She explained in a promotional interview with National Public Radio (NPR) that she was

...used to writing in characters and not really writing about myself.... [I]t was easier to share the early parts of my life rather than my own current events.

Topics covered in the book include body image, parenthood and learning about the limitations of physical appearance.

Personal life
Poehler married actor Will Arnett in 2003 and had a recurring role on the series Arrested Development as the wife of Arnett's character Gob Bluth. They also played a quasi-incestuous brother-sister ice skating team in the 2007 film Blades of Glory, and appeared together in Horton Hears a Who!, On Broadway, Spring Breakdown, and Monsters vs. Aliens. Arnett also had a guest appearance on Parks and Recreation. Both also did voice acting in The Secret World of Arrietty.

Together, Poehler and Arnett have two sons: Archibald (2008) and Abel (2010). After the couple announced in 2012 that they were ending their nine-year marriage, Poehler began dating actor and comedian Nick Kroll. He is mentioned in her memoir, Yes Please. (Adapted from Wikipedia. Retrieved 8/25/2015.)

Book Reviews
Her heart isn’t in this book, which is O.K.—heart is overrated. But the jokes aren’t very good, either. “Yes Please” reminds you of that squeaky fact: Even smart, hilarious people, the ones you wish were your great friends, sometimes can’t write. The world isn’t fair that way.
Dwight Garner - New York Times


Funny, wise, earnest, honest, spiritually ambitious.... [Amy Poehler is] a smart and funny woman who isn't either of those things all the time and doesn't mind admitting it because she thinks that's important.
LA Times


The funniest, smartest and frankest memoir I've ever read. (Books of the Year 2014.)
Doug Johnstone - Herald (UK)


A joy.... [Poehler] has particularly smart advice on how to ignore the internal whispers that give rise to self-loathing; it should be piped into the girls' changing rooms at every secondary school. (Books of the Year 2014.)
Evening Standard (UK)


Hilarious...wickedly funny and razor sharp.
Observer (UK)


Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to introduce you to the only book I care about these days: Yes Please by Amy Poehler. Amy Poehler is an American actor, comedian and writer. She is also a mighty force for good... I know you're sick of celebrity memoirs, you're sick of female celebrities talking about feminism, blah blah blah. Well, that's just fine because Poehler's book is so much more than that. Poehler is the only person in the world other than Nora Ephron who can be funny about divorce (and she is so funny about divorce), and she is definitely the only person in the world from whom I will accept sex tips (and her sex tips are great). But most of all, she's super smart.
Hadley Freeman - Guardian (UK)


Required reading for all young women. (Best Books of 2014.)
Huffington Post


[A] bristlingly intelligent, guffaw-out-loud memoir.... Yes Please isn't a scan of the comedic brain so much as it is something far better-the full exposure of Poehler's funny and very magnanimous heart.
Elle


Yes Please is what happens if you take the wit of Saturday Night Live, sprinkle it with the warmth of Nora Ephron and marinade it in the spirit of the best, most empowering women's magazine.... Poehler is that rare thing: wise without being bossy, smart without making you feel a bit stupid, funny without making you wince. And her book is like sitting in your kitchen with your best friend, drinking too much wine, laughing, crying and maybe doing embarrassing mum dancing.
Harper's Bazaar


Half memoir, half advice column, and 100 percent wisecracking, sharp-as-hell, belly-laugh-making Poehler.
GQ


[Amy Poehler] is simply one of the best things about the 21st century so far.... [O]ne of this year's essential reads.
Stylist


As brilliant and hilarious and adorable as the woman herself.
Marie Claire


Life advice, personal anecdotes and a touch of sex all beautifully handled by the warmest US comedy goddess... Actually adorable.
Grazia Daily


Our favourite agony aunt... Witty, real-life advice Vogue A part-memoir, part-manual mashup of inspirational career counsel and laugh-out-loud sex advice.
Good Housekeeping


Anyone who loves Amy Poehler's biting comedic style will love the SNL star's autobiography... hilarious Stylist Poehler's first book of personal stories and advice, in the vein of Tina Fey's Bossypants and Mindy Kaling's Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?... One of America's most beloved comics and actresses.
The Millions


Poehler, the sharp and self-deprecating Emmy-winning star of TV's Parks and Recreation, takes a stab here at autobiography mixed with advice on sex, babies, and even divorce.... Her memoir is as bewitching and chameleonlike as Poehler herself is when she appears onstage and on-screen.
Publishers Weekly


The author's successful career proves that collaboration, good manners and gratitude are assets in both business and life. She has written a happy, angst-free memoir with stories told without regret or shame....a series of lessons learned about achieving success through ambition and a resolute spirit.... A wise and winning—and polite—memoir and manifesto.
Kirkus Reviews

Discussion Questions
Use our LitLovers Book Club Resources; they can help with discussions for any book:

• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)

Also, consider using these LitLovers talking points to help start your discussion:

1. Amy Poehler comes across as modest and self-deprecating, especially when she says she fears that she hasn't "lived a life full enough to look back on." Think about that sentence. Is she right? Has her life lacked fullness, or has she lived a rather full life? Do you believe that you have lived a full-enough life to write about? At what age, or under what circumstances, have any of us lived long enough to reflect on and, perhaps, to offer solice or advice to others?

2. Follow-up to Question 1: Poehler also goes on to say in that same sentence (from above) that she's "too old to get by on being pithy and cute."  In Yes Please does she fall back on cuteness...or does she offer solid insights into her own life—insights which can serve as advice to others? In other words, what do you think of Poehler's book: is it cute, or is it substantive...or a bit of both?

3. Poehler seems to indicate that her success hasn't been a matter of luck or due to the kindness of others (yes, many people offered helped along the way) but rather the result of desire, hard work, and ability. What do you think of her claim? To what extent are any of us responsible for our successes...and failures? How much do we depend on sheer luck and help from family or mentors. On the other hand, how important is personal drive, focus, and ability?

4. In what way is Yes Please as much (if not more) a book about Poehler's path to maturity than it is about her road to success?

5. What insights have you gained in reading Yes Please? Is there any part of Poehler's experience that parallels your own journey in life?

6. One critic has said that the chapter "I'm So Proud of You," should be required reading in high school. Do you agree? Why or why not?

7. What about the chapter "Sorry, Sorry, Sorry"? Why was it so difficult for Poehler to admit her error? What does it reveal about her as a person? Has something similar ever happened to you?

8. Talk about the book's structure. Does it feel coherent, disorganized, over-stuffed with fillers...or just about right?

9. What does Yes Please reveal about the field of entertainment and the people who work in it? Has it altered your opinion of celebrities and show business...for the better or for the worse? Or has it confirmed your previous beliefs?

10. On the whole, how do you feel about Amy Poehler after reading Yes Please?

(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, on line of off, with attribution. Thanks.)

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