Tina Fey is not funny.

I know, everyone else thinks she is, including my sister. And it hurts me to disagree with my sister, if not with everyone else. But I've been saying it for years and I'm sticking with it: Tina Fey is not funny.

Checking out her new memoir Bossypants from the library was my last-ditch effort to find her funny, so I could agree with my sister and all would once again be right in my familial circle. But I can't do it. I read the first few chapters, some bits in the middle, and then some of the excruciating conclusion when she gave the play-by-play (seemingly minute by unending minute) of her stint impersonating Sarah Palin on Saturday Night Live. Now, I'm not saying she's not talented. Or a bad person. Or that she wasn't just spectacularly in the right time and place to be an unnerving lookalike for a famous politician whose accent is really easy to impersonate. All I'm saying is: she's just not that funny.

Okay, well, there's one funny bit in the very beginning, when she describes how her mother told her about menstruation by giving her a box of Modess pads and leaving the room; evidently Modess used to put pamphlets in their "feminine products" in which a fake correspondence between friends was supposed to help illuminate the mysteries of the process. Here's Fey's re-creation of that pamphlet, in a sidebar:

"Dear Pam, I'm supposed to go to a pool party this week, but my 'Aunt Blood' is still in town. Can I go?

Dear Tabitha, Of course you can still go! Modess makes great feminine protection products that are so thick and puffy, you'll be super comfortable sitting on that bench near the pool telling everyone you're sick." (p. 14.)

Okay, I got a mild giggle out of that, but that's about it. (And by the way, I personally think "Aunt Flo" would have been funnier than "Aunt Blood," but maybe AF was too obvious? Copyrighted?)

So, even though I should find Tina Fey funny, and there's lots of bits in this book about being an older lady with a baby, which I should enjoy, as a similarly older lady with a baby, there's just not that much for me here. I can't even get myself to track down any bits with Alec Baldwin, although I LOVE Alec Baldwin. It's just going back to the library.

Update (before I posted, even!): Unruly Reader just posted a review of this (audio)book on her blog, and it hurts me to disagree with Unruly. So I went back and read one of the last chapters, on breastfeeding, which, by rights, I should find HI-larious, as my experience with breastfeeding made (makes) me think my breasts should be revoked by some sort of "Real Women" judging panel. I can't resist the pun: I got a few titters out of the chapter, but that's about it. Yes, I'm just not that funny. But neither is Tina Fey.

Comments

[Beth]

i LOVED bossypants. i listened to the audio and i as literally crying in my car at some points i was laughing so hard. like milk snorting out of my nose funny.

i'm really worried we can't be friends now CR.

[Citizen Reader]

Oh, Beth, we can be friends. We'll just have lots of conversational material because maybe you can explain to me what is so funny about Fey. I'm not trying to be difficult. I JUST DON'T GET IT.
Evidently I have to listen to the audio of this book; that's what Unruly Reader did too.

[Melissa]

CR, it's not just you. I don't find her all that funny either - and being that she grew up in the Philadelphia area, like me, it is practically sacreligious of me to say so. Everyone I know is reading/has read "Bossypants" and I had the same thoughts as you ... maybe I'd read it to see what I'm not getting. But now, maybe not so much.

[Savvy Working Gal]

Oh no. I’ve never liked a book that you’ve disliked which means I’m not going to like Bossypants either. And I was so looking forward to it. It has been awhile since I read a funny memoir. My husband loves 30 Rock so I catch a few episodes here and there. For the most part I haven’t found her to be funny either. I prefer Amy Poehler’s Parks & Recreation.

[Unruly Reader]

CR -- I find it endlessly fascinating when I love something another (trusted) person dislikes (or vice versa). So this is grand!

I'm pretty sure the audiobook makes all the difference. While I was listening, I was certain I was getting the best version *ever.*

That having been said, humor's a tricky thing. And darn near impossible to reader's-advise, so I usually end up stocking people up with lots of different options, hoping that at least one of the books (and the author's sense of humor) will be a good match.

Doggone humor. There are things that make me howl with delight, and other people just go, "Wha...?" : )

[lee / wild mountain]

I've never thought Tina Fey was funny or particularly talented. Amy Poehler on the other hand is both. I only occasionally watch 30 Rock and it's to catch Alec Baldwin. You are not alone.

[Nancy Wilson]

I totally do not get the Tina Fey love. I find her bland.

[Citizen Reader]

Melissa, Lee, Nancy,
THANK YOU. I feel much better. I was starting to wonder if it was yet another girl/boy thing; I had breakfast with a guy friend the other day who revealed that he actually dislikes Fey. (I don't dislike her, I just don't find her all that hilarious.) So I thought maybe women find her funny and men don't or something.
I agree about Amy Poehler; at least she's kind of enjoyably weird, which is the level on which I enjoy Amy Sedaris as well. "Bland" is a pretty good descriptor word too.

Savvy,
Oh, don't get up on it just yet. DO consider listening to it, but either way, give it a try. There are some bits that will make you laugh. It wasn't that I didn't like it--I just get annoyed because people act like Tina Fey is proof that women can be funny, and I always wish they would find a funnier woman for that proof. In fact I do hope you read it and let me know what you think!

Unruly,
Yup, humor's a tough one. Very mood-driven; I always feel a lot of humor depends not on the humor itself but the mood you're in when you come across it. Unless it's something like Calvin and Hobbes. Then it's just always funny. :)

[Shanna]

Hi there, I just wanted to add my two cents that Tina Fey has to be the most overrated "comedian" of our time. Seriously?! She's not even remotely funny. Amy Sedaris - now she's genius funny. Merritt Weaver from Nurse Jackie - funny. Justin Kirk's character on Weeds epitomizes all that is funny and witty and darkly entertaining. Even Hank Moody on Californication. But 30 Rock and Tina Fey? No thanks. I applaud you for standing against the barrage of followers.

[Citizen Reader]

Shanna,
Yes, I'd go with "overrated" too, although I'll admit a lot of my problem with Tina Fey comes not just from Fey herself but from the media hoopla around her ("she's the funniest woman ever," etc.), which she can't really help.
Never seen Nurse Jackie, although I've been interested in it--I hear it's dark, dark, dark.

[Rebecca]

ohhhh, funniest line I have read in a long time: responding to someone who says she doesn't have a funny bone in her body, she pens a letter to them ending with, “P.S. You know who does have a funny bone in her body? Your mom, every night for a dollar.”
COME ON. I am laughing right now just typing that. (Then again, I sometimes have the sense of humor of a twelve year old boy, sad to admit!)

[Beth]

Rebecca, I LOVED that line. That woman just cracks me up.

[Citizen Reader]

Oh, Rebecca (and Beth):
Meh. Of course, those who know me know I do not like being told what to do. So I think most of my problem with Fey comes from people really wanting me to think she's funny!
It's an okay line. But I think Russell Brand responding to hate mail is funnier:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhSbaIq3GGY

[Rebecca]

LOL. I loooove Russell Brand. : )

[Mary]

I agree, the audiobook is great,although I will admit some parts are better than others. Tina reads it herself, and that can be a tricky thing to do, I know lots of authors who are awful at reading their own work. The only place she totally lost me was toward the end where she spent too much time agonizing over having a second child, to me this whole issue should not have been mentioned at all.

[Henry]

Some people think Adam Sandler is talented, I supouse is the same with Tina Fey. I personally find it's humor excruciating.

[Citizen Reader]

Henry,
I guess I find both Sandler and Fey "every now and then" comedians--every now and then, I find each of them funny. (Sometimes Sandler is so over the top I get a giggle--I always think of him yelling at the golf ball in Happy Gilmore: "go to your home! Are you too good for your home??!?") But not enough to seek them out. And most of the time "excruciating" is indeed a better word, especially where Sandler is concerned. Mostly I find Fey too boring to even be excruciating.

[Hugo Gástrico]

Tiny Fey is not overrated as a comedian. She shouldn't even be classified as a comedian. I can't understand what people see in her and the in rest of the cast of Saturday Night Live from the past five years or so. The only thing she has ever done that I find remotely good is her imitation of Sarah Palin, but then again, Sarah herself provided all of the material.

[Citizen Reader]

Hugo,
Well, I'm pretty much with you, although I would still classify her as a comedian. Just not one who does anything for me. And I still think the whole Sarah Palin thing, including Fey's strong physical resemblance to her, was more a matter of luck than skill. Who couldn't make fun of Sarah Palin, after all?

[aab]

There is something about Tina Fey, I can not watch her. She is not funny, and I feel as if she is a mean person, or vindictive or something.

[Derek]

The only thing Tina Fey has going for her is that Adam Sandler is more overrated than her. Both of them represented the death of SNL with it's consistently shallow and repetitive routines. She brings the same crap to 30 Rock: slapstick in words.

[Cassie]

Thank you, thank you. Agreed, Tina Fey is not funny! I was puzzled and then suspicious with her rising popularity on SNL, especially performing next to Rachel Dratch (very funny!), and Amy Poehler, no comparison. I feel embarrassed just watching Tina. I eventually decided Lorne Michaels was just getting old or she had something on him or someone else in power was the only explanation. Obviously everyone is afraid to speak the truth about her lack of talent. I know some people who think Mark and Brian are funny too...

(I agree with poster aab's comments above about there being something about her that doesn't sit right.)

[Eric Albertson]

Fuck you! Fuck you! Fuck you! You fucking cocksuckers! Tina Fey is hot and funny! Anyone who disagrees can go fuck themselves!!!!

[Jessicalisaac@gmail.com]

Aunt Blood is the funniest part. It's a play on the ridiculousness of a "subtle" code name like Aunt Flo. Everyone knows what we are talking about.

[Citizen Reader]

Huh, I missed a few comments here; sorry about that.

Jessica,
I don't know, I still think something funnier than "Aunt Blood" could have been found. But I've mellowed on Tina Fey--if you find her funny, more power to you.

And to Eric above, well, if you want to find her funny and hot, knock yourself out. Obviously you feel very strongly on this matter.

[mgael56]

Agreed! If not for Sarah Palin, she wouldn't be the A-list Wunderkind everyone makes her out to be. It's actually a toss-up between Fey, Louis C.K. Amy Poehler, Adam Sandler and Will Ferrell as to who is the, "not-funny champion," of American comedy. Who needs water-boarding when you can duct tape a terrorist to a chair and force them to watch these five on a continuous loop. I know I would tell where the WMD's are in a minute.

[Citizen Reader]

Mgael,
Well, it's lowbrow, but I get a chuckle out of Ferrell sometimes. It must be his willingness to do anything. And I can live with Poehler, mainly because she isn't heralded as the only funny woman in America (as is Fey). But I can't say I'd like to watch any of the comedians you mention for a real long time. To each their own, I suppose, but you're right, it's the "wunderkind" label that grates on Fey, particularly when "30 Rock" is MADE by Alec Baldwin.

[DellC]

It wasn't "Aunt Flo" because some people might not get the joke. Fey in a nutshell.

[Mark]

That's the last thing the world needs: yet another mother who stands up on stage and whines about "the perils of motherhood" under the guise of their experiences being "funny".

Yeah, you're a woman. You get your period, your period doesn't arrive one day, you're pregnant, you have children, you breastfeed them, blah blah blah. Stop complaining already. It's not has if it hasn't been done at least seven billion times before.

I'd love to see the Tina Feys of the world try to go through a whole ten minutes of comedic prose without mentioning (a)motherhood,(b)menstruation,(c)shopping for clothes and (d)making some "dick joke".

Funny women do exist. It's just that they tend to be the opposite of Tina Fey.

[Citizen Reader]

Mark,
Well, I don't even know that her subject matter is what bothers me--god knows there IS enough material in modern motherhood to keep plenty of comedians busy--I just don't think her jokes on these subjects are that novel.
But perhaps I am just not the right audience. I did, after all, find Seth MacFarlane's "Boob Song" the high point of the 2013 Oscars. All a matter of taste, I suppose.

[Michael]

Tina Fey does nothing for me. She is not funny, she's not even embarrassingly NOT funny, like Will Ferrell or Adam Sandler. She's just not at all interesting. I don't care much for Palin, and I certainly don't care to hear some idiot lampooning her. Tina Fey is liberal poop.

[Citizen Reader]

Michael,
Yeah, that's about where I am too, she just does nothing for me. I was appalled to open a magazine this week and see an ad for her movie "Admission," with Paul Rudd (who I love). Can't see it, though, that would be way too much Tina Fey.