Yes Please

By Amy Poehler

#1 New York Times Bestseller

#1 Globe and Mail Bestseller

A Globe Best Book of the Year

A smart, pointed, and ultimately inspirational read from one of our most beloved funny folk.

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. 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 Poehler’s hilarious and candid book.

A collection of stories, thoughts, ideas, lists, and haiku, Yes Please took the world by storm, going straight to #1 on the New York Times bestseller list and dominating lists on both sides of the border for over 17 weeks—including multiple weeks at #1 on the Globe and Mail bestseller list. Widely acclaimed as one of the best books of the year, Yes Please cemented Amy Poehler’s place in our hearts as one of our most beloved entertainers, and in our minds as a sharp, insightful, and provocative writer. Oh, and did we mention hilarious? Truly hilarious.

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.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: Oct 28, 2014
• ISBN: 9781443424547

Amy Poehler

Amy Poehler is a writer, actress, producer, and director who is known for her years on Saturday Night Live, her starring role as Leslie Knope on the beloved series Parks and Recreation, as the voice of Joy in Pixar's Inside Out, and for being third runner-up for Most Casual in her high-school yearbook. She lives in New York City and Los Angeles with her two boys. She hopes this book will get her invited for lunch on a fancy yacht with her hero Judge Judy. She is dressed and ready.

Reviews for Yes Please

[decaturmamaof2 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I expected it to be funny. .. it is. I didn't expect it to be so raw and real ... it is. Thank you, Amy Poehler - you get it!

[cindywho-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Upbeat and sweet. I liked that she included guests in the audiobook.

[howifeelaboutbooks · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I’m not a huge Amy Poehler fan but love autobiographies - especially by comedians. Her book was pretty funny, but most of all I loved learning about all she had been through in life; nothing especially outstanding, but that’s what makes it interesting. She had a normal childhood and life, and followed her dreams and accomplished so much. A great read. Very real and inspiration.

[mhanover10 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I really enjoyed this book. I felt like it was exactly how I would imagine a book by Amy Poehler would sound. The audiobook was very enjoyable and funny. I liked the different people who read parts of the book and the conversations. Plus audio from different shows. I highly recommend this book as an audiobook if you like Amy.

[startwithgivens · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Highly recommend listening to the audio book version. The attitude of the text was so perfectly conveyed (due in part to the readers). Definitely a fun read (or listen) for a long drive or just anytime.

[ar_bookbird · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book is a lot funny, a little raw, a lot epic!

[melydia_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Amusing memoir all around, though I confess I'd probably have appreciated it more if I'd ever watched Upright Citizens Brigade or Parks and Rec. Still, it was funny and often heartwarming. I especially liked her motto of "good for you, not for me." It's important to remember that we are all different, and that just because something works for you doesn't mean it'll work for me, and vice versa.A note on the audio: Poehler reads the bulk of this book, but she also has several fun guest narrators, including Kathleen Turner and Sir Patrick Stewart. I don't know how much shows up in the print version, as much of the chatter seems ad libbed and specific to the recording. There is also a live reading of the last chapter. It's always fun to hear the audience laughing.

[cavernism · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Why didn't it occur to me earlier that listening to a celebrity memoir is the best idea ever? I highly recommend listening to Yes Please - you get Amy telling her story and thoughts directly to you, with the help of Seth Meyers, Carol Burnett, Patrick Stewart, and both of her parents. I have such goodwill for Amy and this book's dose of warmth and positivity mixed with frank honesty was exactly what I needed right now.

[jothebookgirl · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I received the book free from the Ford Audio Book Club so I read it or listened to it which I highly recommend. It's not a book I would have purchased but I really enjoyed listening to the book and even laughed as I was driving to school.
Amy reads the book herself. It is full of personal stories, funny bits on sex and love and friendship, pregnancy and parenthood and real life advice (some useful, some not so much), like when to be funny and when to be serious.
Included in the audio are the voices of favs such as Seth Myers, Carol Burnett and others. I enjoyed that.
What I didn't like was near the end, Amy reads her last chapter to a live audience. To me it was very reminiscent of an I Love Lucy laugh track. That may have been intentional, but I thought it did nothing to enhance the story.
Overall a good read.

[daumari · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A non-chronological, wonderfully human autobiography- witty, funny, smart.

[plancultivatecreate · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I really wanted to like it. I started listening to the audiobook, which has lots of ad-lib to it which I found painful to listen to. I got to the fourth chapter then DNF'd it. maybe I'll come back to it in book form in the future, but I don't think the style is for me.

[zoes_human · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

DNF at 8%.Other than actual tragedies, this was the least funny 37 minutes of my life. Actually, I've had some tragedies that were funnier. Laughter is a coping mechanism.A few minutes into her intro, I felt wary. Whining about how hard it is to do something you decided to do but don't actually have to do is not something I have much patience for. Complaint-based humor never works for me. A few minutes later, I just felt bored. I thought, perhaps, that her intro just sucked. I wanted to give the book a chance. This audio has won awards after all. It's supposed to be hilarious.I decided to give it until the end of chapter one, one more whole chapter of opportunity to be funny or at least even interesting. It was a long 18 minutes spent checking the timer on Libby repeatedly with tired eyerolls that occasionally became entire head rolls of boredom. I felt a massive wave of relief at the end. I've attended far more interesting work meetings on multiple occasions. Most work meetings actually.Middle-class girl follows her dreams encouraged by middle-class and supportive family is a great way to live. It doesn't make for an interesting story though. Also, where the fuck does the whole thing about her being "blue collar" come from? Her parents were both teachers. She grew up in a middle-class household raised by two parents who had jobs that require a college degree, jobs that do not involve manual labor, jobs that do not receive hourly or piece rate pay. She went to college herself.

[rabidgummibear-1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I wanted to love this book so much more than I ever could. I'm left feeling pretty indifferent after listening to it.

[wellreadcatlady · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

For a memoir/autobiography it doesn't come off very personal and just kinda scattered. Still entertaining and funny, just could of been better.

[blogbrarian · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Another so-so book to start the year. Lots of shock value. Why did Amy need to write a biography?

[mmaestiho · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Amy Poehler writes well and the book is a pleasure to read. It's nice to see a memoir that lets you in to the life of a person but doesn't pretend to let you get to know them.

[bravenewbks · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Oh, Amy Poehler. I love you dearly and you are incredibly fun to watch in movies and on TV (and, I'm sure, in live improv shows, though I've never been so lucky). But you are not a writer. What's more, it's so clear that you don't want to be a writer. Every chapter was written just a little bit grudgingly, spattered with asides about how hard it is to write a book and how long it's taking.

Six-word summary: Love you, don't love your book.

[askelmore · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

“Good for her! Not for me.”

The above phrase first appears about a fifth of the way through Ms. Poehler’s excellent book. If you’re familiar with her “Smart Girls at the Party” project, it should come as no surprise that she offers up some pretty sweet life advice. I’m almost 35, and I don’t think I’ve seen that sentiment summed up so perfectly. I’m considering having it tattooed on my ass.

Not literally. Well, not actively, anyway. Maybe someday. But for now it is tattoed across my mind.

This book is not exactly what I expected. I was assuming it would be closer to what Tina Fey gave us with Bossypants. I know that comparing one pretty white rich comedian to another pretty white rich comedian isn’t exactly groundbreaking, but these days when I see Ms. Fey I think about Ms. Poehler and vice versa. I picture Amy/Hillary and Tina/Sarah standing at the podium during the Saturday Night Live cold open. I’ve always felt that I know a bit more about Ms. Fey (not that we really know anything about strangers, even after they’ve written a memoir) than Ms. Poehler, although I recall reading in Bossypants the story about Amy very bluntly telling Jimmy Fallon that she didn’t care if he liked something she did or not. That’s awesome.

After reading this book, I feel like I understand Ms. Poehler a bit more. She’s an interesting woman, and a complex one who can be very sarcastic, very blunt, and very sincere in the same paragraph. The sincerity threw me a bit, but I really appreciated it in this book. Unlike Neil Patrick Harris’s book (which I reviewed a couple of weeks ago), this one feels like an exploration. I’m not fooling myself into thinking it’s not a carefully curated version of herself that she’s choosing to share, but she is at least a talented enough writer to make the reader BELIEVE that she’s sharing something real with us.

And what she shares is a mixture of pride, shame, humor, and insight. She tells a story that does not paint her in a flattering light, and while I could take the cynical route and imagine that she did it to absolve herself, I don’t actually think she did. I think she wanted to point out how she screws up, and how sometimes she doesn’t make things right, or spends way too long before she tries to make things right. She talks about hard work, about her marriage ending, and about her childhood. The book jumps around, and at times it isn’t totally cohesive, but it felt real. I imagine that Amy Poehler is someone who would use the phrase “my truth” without irony or judgment. I don’t think I would have believed that before reading this book. I think folks are expecting a laugh-riot peek behind the life of a comedic genius, and while we get that peek into her life, it isn’t all (or even mostly) laughs. It’s funny, for sure, but it’s more than that. I haven’t enjoyed this type of book this much in a while. I plan to read it again, because I think there’s more for me to get out of it.

[mahsdad · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

An excellent memoir by one seriously funny person. This was on audio and was read by Amy with some special guests (Seth Myer, Kathleen Turner, her parents). Covers her childhood, thru Upright Citizen's Brigade, SNL and Parks and Rec. The last chapter was a live reading, like a stand up set.

[cassandrat-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I couldn't read the book so I switched to the audio book and it was so much better. Amy is such a pleasure and some of her stories are just really touching. I especially liked her sorry sorry sorry chapter, I teared hearing the touching letter from a young woman explaining jokes about disabled people, and her chapter on divorce was well said I think.

[aliceap-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I wanted to shake things up a bit on my daily commute so I thought I would give a few audiobooks a shot. The one I started with is one that has been on my TRL for ages but for some reason I never got around to picking it up. Yes Please by Amy Poehler got some major press and accolades but was especially recommended to me as an audiobook and now I totally get why. This is the first audiobook I've read in a long time and I'm so glad that I chose this one to delve back into that medium. Having experienced it in this format, I highly advise you to do the same because it was so much fun. Amy had multiple guests join her in the recording booth (which she mentioned was built at her house well before she wrote the actual book). From her parents and Seth Myers to Carol Burnett and PATRICK STEWART it was like a variety show for the ears. I especially loved the parts where it was Amy exchanging dialogue with the people she had asked to record for her because it felt more authentic and like a gag reel. (It was hilarious, ya'll.) I learned so much about Amy from her childhood in Massachusetts to her creation of the Upright Citizens Brigade in NYC. Amy's refreshing honesty coupled with the format she chose to tell her story...it almost makes me wish it didn't exist as a print book at all because I think audio is the way it was truly meant to be enjoyed. 10/10 highly recommend if you love awesome ladies doing awesome things.

[begivens · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Highly recommend listening to the audio book version. The attitude of the text was so perfectly conveyed (due in part to the readers). Definitely a fun read (or listen) for a long drive or just anytime.

[jamiebh-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I really like Amy Poehler and I had been (im)patiently waiting my turn in the library queue for a chance to dive into this memoir. Thankfully, it did not disappoint. I'm also really glad I went with a traditional book read and didn't opt to grab this electronically because the pictures and colored pages added some charm to the book. Amy is an excellent writer and did a great job of balancing her well known comedic tongue with some more serious downright poetic stuff. This is a memoir of her life, both her "Hollywood" life and her personal life. She shares some great insight about her childhood, career, parenting styles, friendships, and an especially tear inducing segment on charitable activities with the Worldwide Orphans Foundation. She is an amazing actor, comedian, mom and overall person. I can't wait to see what she has up her sleeve when Parks and Recreation wraps.

[batgrlgothamcity-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

loved the audio book. she read it.

[tiffy_reads · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Amy Poehler is a riot. I listened to this audiobook and I loved that she narrated it herself. I also loved her guest narrators. This book is full of tons of humor, wit and her advice on anything and everything.

[thebentley · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I love celebrity memoirs read by the author, and this one didn't disappoint. I don't think I loved it quite as much as Tina Fey's "Bossypants," but it was still quite good, by turns, nostalgic, moving, spiritual, and absolutely hilarious. Poehler's voice and her talent as a comedy writer are evident on every "page."

[krau0098 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

DNF: I ended up stopping this book about 80% of the way through the audiobook (I had a couple hours left). I rarely stop audiobooks but I really didn't enjoy this one. The story was scattered all over the place; jumping around willy nilly from past to present and back again.The portions where Poehler has her parents come in to do chapters were awkward and uncomfortable to listen to. Generally I just found the whole thing to be very boring. There is a lot of throwing names around, mostly names I didn't know, and very little of this was actually funny.It actually got to the point where I was dreading listening to this each morning on my commute so I decided to stop. Overall this was disappointing for me. I wouldn't recommend unless you are a die-hard Poehler fan or a die-hard SNL fan.

[dougcornelius_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Fantastic. Funny. Touching. Amy shares stories from her career, her childhood and her own motherhood. The audiobook is tremendous, with Amy reading, plus guest appearances. It ends with a live reading of the last chapter.

[kthomp25 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

We would be happier if we could learn to surf our life rather than plant our feet. Some very useful insights. Particularly liked this one and the one about "your career is not your boyfriend."

[neftzger · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I listened to the audio version of this book while traveling. Amy Poehler is an extremely funny narrator and this recording contains additional material (as well as guest readers with commentary) that couldn't easily be incorporated into a text volume. The added novelty of her approach took her stories to the next level. Amy is a great entertainer and listening to her talk about events in her life as she worked the long road to success was worth my time.