Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

“Good for her, not for me.”

Yes Please by Amy Poehler

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In five words: Memoir, Frank, Wisdom, Femalehood, Funny This is my fifth time reading this book and I know it won’t be the last. Amy Poehler and Tina Fey are two women I admire for their humor. I had the opportunity to see their live show and it was everything I had ever hoped for, seeing these funny women in person, in their element as friends having spent their adult lives sharing a comedy stage, first at Second City and later on Saturday Night Live. […]

“If you are a shy one, then please try not to settle for living in your isolation cage.”

And Away... by Bob Mortimer

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CBR14Bingo: Funky (It’s a good adjective for Bob Mortimer) Honestly I find this cover scary and have to keep it turned over so I’m not confronted with Bob Mortimer’s face all the time, but I do think it sums up his wacky charm, as well as the dark undercurrent in his work. And Away… is a celebrity comedian memoir, but one by a very smart and thoughtful man, and it has a depth of feeling to it that other memoirs under the celebrity umbrella can […]

Aussie Comedian Memoir Double Feature

Ten Steps to Nanette by Hannah Gadsby

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I just finished reading two memoirs by Australian comedians concurrently: Hannah Gadsby’s ‘Ten Steps to Nanette’ and ‘Challenge Accepted’ by Celeste Barber. The parallels and differences between each were, in a word, fascinating, so that is why I am reviewing both together. Gadsby’s tone throughout was dire. She recounted the damage and traumas she’s endured over a lifetime – from her sexuality, her neural diversity, her physical appearance, and her family relationships… she has been through the ringer. She is diagnosed as autistic, has been […]

Turns out, she’s still a genius

Turns out, I'm fine by Judith Lucy

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Last year, Judith Lucy was overwhelmed and dying (according to the name of her podcast) but in 2021 it turns out, she’s fine. Which I am supremely happy to hear, because she’s been one of my favourite comedians since the 90s, not long after she first hit Australia’s scene. This is Lucy’s memoir of a pretty shitty series of life events that she wrangles, as always, into great material. With this book however she goes a bit further in trying sort out life’s shit and […]

This is a book review

This Is a Book by Demetri Martin

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Damn you, pandemic. I legitimately can’t tell anymore whether comedians are mildly amusing, or whether they are sidesplittingly hilarious and I’m just not into laughing these days. I became familiar with Demetri Martin through his Comedy Central series Important Things with Demetri Martin. I definitely recall laughing out loud at some of his drawings, so no surprise that the cartoons and graphs included in This Is a Book are the strongest bits. The essays and short stories in this collection are kind of a mixed bag. […]

Did Amy Schumer and I just become best friends?

The Girl With the Lower Back Tattoo by Amy Schumer

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This was my second reading of The Girl With the Lower Back Tattoo, and I enjoyed every minute of it. I LOVE biographies, especially auto-biographies. I love feeling as if I am seeing behind-the-scenes. In her first of what I hope will be a long line of books, Schumer really delivers. Vulnerability is probably my favorite trait in a human being, and throughout her book, Schumer is unceasingly, endearingly vulnerable. Schumer also holds my second favorite trait – a wicked sense of humor – which pretty […]



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