Very Punchable Face

Cried when he talked about his mom's experience helping first responders on the morning of 9/11 and laughed at many of his anecdotes.

This was very charming! Jost has a fun voice - not too self-deprecating, but certainly not overly-confident. I also laughed out loud a couple of times, which is very rare when I read! Less rare is making me cry while reading (or watching TV, or movies, or literally just existing) but his chapter about his mom is lovely and did make me tear up.

All in all, a good audiobook experience. 4 punchable faces out of 5.

I had pretty low expectations for this book, but it was pretty enjoyable. Good writing, funny jokes, and even though the book is structured as a series of essays, it does feel pretty cohesive and flows nicely.

I get the impression that the goal of this book is to provide a few hours of light entertainment, and it does its job well.

It's probably unfair of me to read a collection of memoir/essays by a 15-year SNL veteran and then negatively judge the book for a lot of SNL name-dropping, but c'est ça. The actual memoir chapters were quite funny, and I would call this a good audiobook for a road trip with friends (or your husband who never reads fiction). One more caveat - include pictures with audiobooks. It's done all the time. We have the technology. For every picture he describes, and there are a fair number, Jost unhelpfully tells the listener to “buy the book.” That's ridiculous.

This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader as part of a quick takes post to catch up–emphasizing pithiness, not thoroughness.
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Jost tells some jokes about Long Island, himself, cast members of SNL. He talks about growing up on Long Island, some early struggles in his life, his early career and making it to SNL and the ups and downs there, and what's probably next for him—usually the stories are littered with tiny jokes, but not always.

The best—and most heartfelt part of the book—is when he describes the work his mother did in relation to the fire department and 9/11. Not that the book wouldn't have been entertaining without it, but it's that section that made it feel worthwhile.

It's a pleasant way to spend a few hours, and it'll make you chuckle at least a few times.

The sole reason I wanted to punch this book in the cover is because it ended. It's by far one of the best laugh-out-loud books I have read in a long time. The only other authors that made me do the ha ha were Amy Poehler and BJ Novak. God bless these three comedic gems.

(I listened to this as an audiobook but will also buy a physical copy... because it's hard to punch an audiobook—I can't afford to replace my phone's screen again.