TOW #16- (IRB) Bossypants

Most think of Tina Fey as a comedic actor who appears in SNL, 30 Rock, and Mean Girls. Most people, however, do not know that a majority of Fey’s hilarious jokes are from her talent of writing. In her book Bossypants, Fey uses her gift of comedic writing to convey a humorous tone in order to explain her life leading up to becoming the stable writer and actor she is today. She uses a mash-up of personal anecdotes and looks at them through a comedic lens in order to make the issue at hand not as serious as it once was.  For example, after graduating college Fey struggled to find a job. She explains an interview with a local small theatre for the job of a box manager. She says “We talked (meaning she talked) about playwrights we (she) liked. It was between me and another girl for the job… I tried a joke, ‘I like to think of myself as the most beautiful woman in the world. But where will that get either of us, really?’ The other girl got the job” (68). She turns a simple story about interviewing for a job with her comedic recounting of the tail. Also, in many instances Fey points out her own literary techniques. For example in this hilarious quote discussing her resemblance to Sarah Palin she states, “Lorne and I discussed the overwhelming public opinion (hyperbole) that I should play Governor Palin," (202). She put hyperbole in parenthesis herself to use slight sarcasm to show that no, not everything thought she looked so similar to Palin. This is another normal sentence she turns comedic through her hilarious tone. I could use almost every sentence in the book as an example of Fey’s comedy. It is jam packed on every page with comedic comments and stories. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book.