Amy Poehler is known for being a former cast member of Saturday Night Live, starring on the NBC comedy Parks and Recreation, creating the website Smart Girls at the Party, and roles in movies, such as Baby Mama, which she starred in alongside her now Golden Globes co-host, Tina Fey. The latest addition to that list is “best-selling author.”
Poehler’s book, Yes Please, was released in October, and is best described as a semi-memoir, semi self-help book, and a full on explosion of reasons Amy Poehler should be everyone’s dream friend.
The preface of the book focuses on the difficulty of writing a book, where she tells readers that writing is, “hard and boring and occasionally great but usually not.” Following Poehler’s rant on penning the book, which she describes similar to “hacking away at a freezer with a screwdriver,” she reveals the meaning behind the title, Yes Please. The “yes” stems from her improvisational background, while the “please” attributes to the “wisdom of knowing that agreeing to do something usually means you aren’t doing it alone.” The phrase is also one Poehler frequently uses as an answer because it sounds “powerful and contrite,” like a “response and a request,” and -to her- is about “being a real woman.”
The remainder of the book is split into three parts. Part one is “Say Whatever You Want,” part two is “Do Whatever You Like,” and part three is “Be Whoever You Are.”
Throughout the book Poehler touches on the subject of insecurity, which she names “the demon,” what went on behind the scenes of Saturday Night Live, the birth of her son and her own birth, what she dislikes about the industry, and very brief information on her divorce to Will Arnett. She also manages to slither in a haiku on plastic surgery, an acrostic poem to Tina Fey, and a five page chapter by Late Night host and fellow Saturday Night Live alum Seth Meyers.
Those who already love Poehler will have that admiration reinforced when reading the book, and those late on the Poehler-train will realize they should hop on.
