There are bad haircuts and a disastrous honeymoon cruise. She talks about photo shoots, which really are as glamorous as they seem, and are, as she says, the FUNNEST. "Some photographers are compulsively effusive. 'Beautiful. Amazing. Gorgeous! Ugh, so gorgeous!' they yell at shutter speed. If you are anything less than insane, you will realize this is not sincere. It's hard to take because it's more positive feedback than you've received in your entire life thrown at you in fifteen seconds. It would be like going jogging while someone rode next to you in a slow-moving car, yelling, 'Yes! You are Carl Lewis! You're breaking a world record right now. Amazing! You're going very fast, yes!'" And then, with the usual foot in reality, it all comes crashing down: "With the wind blowing on your long extensions, you feel like Beyonce. The moment the wind machine stops, you catch a glimpse of yourself in the mirror and wonder,'Why is the mother from Coal Miner's Daughter here?'"
There's lots more, all of it interesting and lots of it funny. She talks about her co-stars through the years, the struggles of women in television and in business in general, she talks about parenting and about the future. Highly enjoyable. And she dedicates it to her mother, noting that "I made this for you out of macaroni."
The next funny lady that I love is Ann Hodgman. Her books are for children, and while sweet and mildly amusing, they don't make me guffaw. What does tickle me, though, are her recipes. I have two of her cookbooks, Beat This and Beat That.
Roz Chast's cartoons make me laugh a lot. The Bad Mom trading cards are my favorite. Sadly, I have committed several of the sins enumerated herein.
I have books I turn to like I turn to comfort food, and two of my favorite authors are Jean Kerr and Betty MacDonald. They are exasperated by their families (but there is also no doubt how much they love them) and their annoyance is our gain. Both are funny ladies. You may have trouble finding these books--they're old, maybe out of print, but the library should have them.
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