Failure Is An Option: An Attempted Memoir by H. Jon Benjamin

 

Reviewed by Kristin

H. Jon Benjamin set out to write about his many failures. This is perhaps the one thing at which he was successful. His chapter titles spell out how he failed in childhood and his teen years, then moved on to failing in adulthood. He writes about failing in tying knots in Cub Scouts. He writes about failing to be cool because he liked disco. He writes about his bar mitzvah, and how even the disco ball was a failure when the DJ hired by his parents began to play Tony Bennett and Nat King Cole.

In this review I think I have established that Benjamin is telling us about his failures. But then he gets into some of his more personal and intimate failures and it just got a little…weird. Moving beyond the wide open window he opened into his failed sexual escapades, he also failed at a college degree in Holocaust studies, and failed to sell a sit-com pilot, and failed in his use of a whole list of pickup lines as well.

Somewhere around this point, I decided to start skimming the rest of the book. I don’t think I missed much. Some of the first few bits were funny, but they became repetitive all too quickly.

Benjamin may be some people’s favorite actor, comedian, and writer. But I must say that he isn’t mine. He is known for his voice roles in several adult animated series, such as Sterling Archer in Archer, Bob Belcher in Bob’s Burgers, and Carl in Family Guy. However, I haven’t watched any of those shows. He may be a really funny guy, but this self-proclaimed “attempted memoir” fell a little flat for me.

Actually, I enjoyed watching Benjamin in the Star Trek: Short Treks episode “The Trouble with Edward”. This is how I became aware of him and decided to seek out this book. He is so good at playing an inept starship scientist that I thought a self-deprecating memoir might be funny. (As stated above, I was wrong.) But if you have access to Paramount Plus or some other way to watch this short episode, please do. Benjamin plays a scientist on a Star Trek research ship where his experiment gets a little out of control. The Tribbles backstory is expanded here, and fits perfectly into the Star Trek canon regarding Klingons hating the constantly reproducing little fur balls. As Edward’s captain sits before a governing board trying to explain how her first mission resulted in such chaos and how it was all the fault of one crew member, she simply says, “He was an idiot.”

Contemporary Romantic Comedies

Selected by Ambrea 

 

Cindy loves fashion.  She’s even earned her degree in design, because, one day, she hopes to be the name others are wearing.  To jumpstart her career, Cindy decides to volunteer for the reality show Before Midnight and quickly becomes a body positivity icon.  As the only plus-size woman on the dating competition, she’s definitely made a splash.  Cindy, however, doesn’t expect to find love in the most unexpected places—on television.  Will Cindy be able to find her happily-ever-after, or will she have to choose between her fashion aspirations and Prince Charming?  Find out in If the Shoe Fits by Julie Murphy.

In By the Book by Jasmine Guillory, Isabelle—Izzy to her friends—is an overworked and underpaid editorial assistant.  She has spent years working for the same publishing house and meeting the same dead ends.  When she’s given the opportunity to work with grumpy Beau Towers to produce his tell-all memoir, she jumps at the chance.  But helping Beau write his book is much more difficult than she expected, especially when she’s inspired to write her own book—and, more surprisingly, finds herself falling for the prickly celebrity.

 

After the death of her treasure-hunting—and notoriously absent—father, Lily is left with nothing but a skill for solving puzzles and a bunch of hand-drawn maps.  To keep her head above water, she starts offering fake treasure-hunting tours, letting tourists and thrill-seekers walk in the steps of Duke Wilder.  It’s during one of these tours she stumbles across Leo Grady, her first and greatest love.  But Lily has no money, no patience, and no love lost for all the men who have left her behind.  Can Lily and Leo learn to put their shared past behind them, or will the Canyonlands tear them apart for good?  Check out Something Wilder by Christina Lauren.

 

Ari Abrams loves weather.  As a TV meteorologist, she’s living the dream—except her boss, legendary weatherwoman Torrance Hale, and the station director, Torrance’s ex-husband, are always at each other’s throats.  Ari is at her wits’ end, until she hatches a plan with sports reporter Russell Barringer.  Through hijinks and well-meaning meddling, Ari and Russell work to bring the couple back together.  When they find themselves unexpectedly growing closer, Ari can’t help but wonder if blue skies might be on the way in Weather Girl by Rachel Lynn Solomon.

Dad is Fat by Jim Gaffigan

 

 Reviewed by Christy


    Jim Gaffigan is a popular stand-up comedian well known for his diatribes on junk food (like Hot Pockets), fatherhood, and being, well, fat. In this 2013 memoir, Gaffigan focuses on life as a father of five in a two bedroom apartment in New York City.

    I checked out this audio book via READS to have something to pass the time. In these stressful times, I wanted something light and fun, and this certainly seemed to fit the bill. It ended up being just kind of ok. If you’re a fan of Gaffigan’s stand-up, like I am, you’ll find a lot of this material familiar. While there are new anecdotes, a lot of it is pulled from his act so it ends up feeling repetitive. I understand the temptation to use what you’ve already written but if you’re marketing towards your fans, wouldn’t you want it to feel fresh? Was this an attempt to reach non-fans? Do people often pick up books by comedians they’ve never listened to? Maybe they do. If not, I’m not sure who this book is for.

    I got a little tired of hearing how much his wife does and how little he does (exaggerated as it may be). How his children are little terrors. How much he wants to be alone. I think these bits work better in a stand-up routine when it’s worked in with more varied jokes. Fleshed out as a full book it just feels a little too much. I don’t want it to sound like I hated this book because I didn’t. Gaffigan reads it with his characteristic wit, and that was enjoyable. But ultimately, I think this is a celeb memoir you’re fine skipping.

In Such Good Company: Eleven Years of Laughter, Mayhem, and Fun in the Sandbox by Carol Burnett

Reviewed by Kristin

With her self-deprecating sense of humor, Carol Burnett revisits the 276 episodes of her variety show featuring hundreds of musical acts, guests, and her regular compatriots: Harvey Korman, Vicki Lawrence, and later Tim Conway.

Some of the show’s most famous sketches are described.  Anyone else remember the dentist sketch with Korman and Conway?  The newly minted dentist (Conway) is so nervous that he jabs himself with Novocain, rather than applying it to his patient (Korman.)  With physical comedy that goes on, and on, and on, Conway was known for ad libbing extra bits that had not been previously rehearsed.  No wonder the actors broke character and laughed once in a while!  (Burnett jokingly estimates that they cracked up around 7% of the time.)

Who could forget Burnett’s portrayal of “Starlett O’Hara” in their production of “Went With the Wind”?  Just thinking of her walking down the stairs in the green velvet curtain dress, curtain rod still attached, makes me laugh.  Bob Mackie designed this dress and it was later displayed at the Smithsonian, confirming its honored place in American television history.

I really enjoyed this book.  However, since I read Burnett’s 2011 memoir This Time Together: Laughter and Reflection just a few months ago, I found a lot of repetition.  In fact, the beginning section had me wondering if there would be any new material at all. Once she gets to the sections on recurring sketches and special guest stars over the years, Burnett does break out some new stories, at least ones that I hadn’t previously heard.  This Time Together did spend more time on her childhood with Nanny and her adult life with husbands (3) and children (also 3.)  In Such Good Company, Burnett jumps right back into the hilarious stories that defined her show.

One final interesting bit: Burnett describes her character work on the show as being extremely stress relieving.  She said that because she could have a tantrum as “Eunice” or do her Tarzan yell, she never built up physical stress as her body would just let it go while she performed.  Even now, Burnett claims to relieve her stress by going someplace private and letting out a big Tarzan yell.  That, I would like to hear.