Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Heads up: This is less like a review, and more like ten paragraphs of me gushing about how much I love Amy Poehler.

Before you continue reading this Yes Please by Amy Poehler review, please take a moment to watch this video. I’ll wait.

Thanks for watching that, wasn’t it wholesome and hilarious?

The thing you just watched was from the 2011 Emmy Awards. I didn’t watch it when it aired, but when I saw this clip for the first time, I cried actual tears. All these women were up for the best lead actress in a comedy, and all of them coming up to the stage and holding hands like they were in a beauty pageant was a great comedic bit. But it crosses the line into truly wholesome and heartwarming when Melissa McCarthy is announced as the winner and all of the other women are genuinely overjoyed as they embrace and celebrate with her. It stands out among all of the glitz and gossip of the Hollywood awards gala circuit as a moment when a group of hardworking, hilarious performers supported and appreciated each other’s achievements in a true moment of female friendship.

And Amy Poehler came up with it, because of course she did.

This is one of the many incredible moments in Poehler’s career that she recounts in her 2013 memoir Yes Please. It may have taken me ten years to read it, but I’m so glad I made time for this book.

In Yes Please, Amy Poehler recounts her Boston-area upbringing, her earliest experiences with comedic writing, the grind of trying to break out in the Chicago and New York City comedy scenes, and coming to terms with her eventual stardom. It’s a gleeful and heartwarming trip down memory lane, following her through her journey from being a college theater nerd to becoming one of the most recognizable and celebrated women in comedy (my words, not hers).

You can tell that this was written by Amy Poehler. It’s not sleek and organized like a ghostwriter did it. It sparkles with all the chaos, joy, stress and hilarity that seems to encapsulate Poehler as a person. Poehler mentions a lot that writing a book is hard, and even has guests come in and help out with chapters—one chapter is written by Seth Meyers, and recounts how he and Poehler met at improv shows long before they became Weekend Update hosts on SNL. Another section, the one about the creation of Parks & Recreation (the sitcom starring Poehler than ran from 2009-2015), was annotated by show creator Mike Schur

I loved reading about her early comedy days, and all the work she put into building up her performance chops, writing a lot of awful skits, and now and then a few really really good ones. She did so much, including helping found the Upright Citizens Brigade (which still operates as a comedy theater and workshop in LA), before she even auditioned for Saturday Night Live.

Sprinkled throughout this book are tidbits of advice and wisdom from Poehler on such varied subjects as sex, chasing your dreams, becoming a parent, and getting nominated for an award. Amy Poehler can’t be my mom, as much as I would like that, but hearing about how she’s navigated major life events with grace and humor is maybe the next best thing.

Normally this is where I would talk about the things I disliked about a book, but I actually loved pretty much everything about Yes Please. Even, sometimes especially, the imperfect bits.

This book was published in 2013, ten years before I’m reviewing it in 2023. Since then, Amy Poehler has continued to be hilarious and awesome. After Donald Trump was elected president for some reason in 2016, Vox published a letter from Leslie Knope to the nation. I’m not actually sure if it was written by Poehler or another member of the Parks & Rec writing staff, but it was in-character as the Leslie Knope that Poehler made famous. I remember feeling so deflated and demoralized after that election, and that letter was the one thing that made me laugh and feel less alone. That’s the power of Amy Poehler and the characters she creates.

Of course I’m rating Yes Please a beautiful and perfect five stars. I forsee this being a book I reach for any time I’m feeling demoralized or demotivated, because there’s nothing like Amy Poehler’s determination and joyous optimism to help me get out of my own head and get shit done.

Are you a huge Amy Poehler fan? What did you think of Yes Please? What’s your favorite memoir or autobiography? Talk with me about this and more in the comments!