MAN CAVE: Bossypants is a comedy nerd's dream come true

I don't know where all this weekend leisure time came from, but I plowed through Tina Fey's Bossypants and got most of the way through Hunter S. Thompson's collection of "Hey Rube" articles published in a book of the same name.

options

MAN CAVE: Bossypants is a comedy nerd's dream come true

POSTED: Monday, August 15, 2011, 12:00 PM

Filed Under: Man Cave Books

"A comedy nerd's dream come true."

Man Cave is a testosterone-laden Monday feature that highlights the weekend haps of a pop culture-loving Philly dude.

I don't know where all this weekend leisure time came from, but I plowed through Tina Fey's Bossypants and got most of the way through Hunter S. Thompson's collection of "Hey Rube" articles published in a book of the same name.

Bossypants (Reagan Arthur, 2011) is amazingly quick-readable — a comedy nerd's dream come true, Fey takes us behind the scenes at SNL — like, way behind the scenes into Lorne Michaels' office. She shares in graphic detail the 30 Rock creation process, and offers in-depth commentary on the Sarah Palin-impersonation phenomenon. It's laugh-out-loud funny with Fey's usual vivid wordplay and self-depricating sense of humor. She also offers a poignant interpretation on the male-female double standard within the comedy world, which Fey experienced firsthand.

Thompson's Hey Rube: Blood Sport, the Bush doctrine, and the Downward Spiral of Dumbness (Simon & Schuster, 1995) is a collection of his short essays for ESPN.com's Page 2 (written at the turn of the millennium). ESPN showed a lot of integrity to let Thompson do this regular column, since it was not just overtly critical to the incumbent president, but at times it was hardly tied into sports. A lot of it is about gambling and the adventures of one's emotional responses to sports betting. If there are two main things I learned from this tome, it's that the bread and circus is an essential part of any empire, and that it's important to gamble with your brain and not with your heart. Betting on the birds over the Cowboys might seem safe this year, but it won't always be safe — and way back in the day, it was hardly ever safe!

(ryan.carey@citypaper.net)

Posted by Ryan Carey @ 12:00 PM Permalink | Post a comment

Comments (0)

Q&A with SHARI SOLANIS: "The goal isn't pornography"
What we're trying to do this weekend
SEXY TIME Q&A: I've never had an orgasm during sex with a man — and I'm 30!
NOW SEE THIS: Transit cop arrests marijuana activist for alleged disorderly conduct.
CONCERT REVIEW: Primus (3D & quadraphonic sound) @ The Tower 10/17
Q&A with Tony Goldwyn: "Life is gray, and relationships are, too"
ICEPACK ILLUSTRATED: The Archbishop meets the Geator, the Mayor goes suit shopping, Le Bec Fin fin.
ICEPACK ILLUSTRATED: Indian fare rules, Dunder Mifflin lives on, Tom Jones is a god
SWIMMING HOLES: Some of our favorite places to get wet
Q&A with Goon’s Seann William Scott

About this blog

Featuring everything from event roundups to concert reviews and sex talk, City Paper's Critical Mass is a space for off-the-wall coverage of Philly's A&E scene.

Follow Critical Mass editors Patrick Rapa and Emily Guendelsberger on Twitter:

@mission2denmark | @emilygee

Search this blog:

Topics:

Blog archives:

May
April
March

February
January

Past Archives: