Bossypants

I just want to get in there and say that I’ve always liked Tina Fey. I liked her before the whole Sarah Palin thing: I was aware of her from Saturday Night Live; and she was the teacher in Mean Girls who was hotter (and definitely better company) than the mean girls. When I saw she’d written the film, I liked her all the more. Her turn in Date Night is the strong point of the film.

In fact, if Emergency Contact was to accidentally fall down those badly tiled and sometimes very slippery stairs on the front landing and die, I would take a crack at getting Tina Fey to be the next Mrs Grey Area. I have a feeling there’d be the use of ether and restraints if we were going to make it work, but while there’s breath there’s hope.

I’ve just finished reading her book, Bossypants. It is the type of book that appeals directly to me. She’s got a really nice turn of phrase, I like her sense of humour (I’m aware that’s not a universal thing) and she’s no dummy.

I am left perplexed and a little disappointed, though. I’m hoping I can get over it so that our relationship can continue without my nagging feeling of doubt. See, the book has just a few too many references to God and matters religious to make me think she was being purely ironic.

Her Mother's Prayer for Its Daughter is funny. A non-believer would write it that way, as a sketch. It is the correct vehicle for that monologue, but still the doubt remains.

The phrases God given and Intelligent Design appear. Admittedly, on the latter she says that’s why she likes Ikea, so if it's for the sake of a joke, fine. As I mentioned, she's no dummy and I'm one of those weirdos who has quite the thing for smart women, but it's hard to truly admire someone who believes in a being who can listen to all our thoughts and is content with the amount of human suffering they can hear. I suspect that Tina Fey truly believes.

The following assertion is not scientific, but I base it on the material (often anti-dogma) and the intelligence (manifest): There aren’t many religious comedians.

From the ancient Greek observation that a thinking man views the world and is forced to laugh, a feeling man must cry: comics and comedians tend to fall into the first category and being in that category requires scepticism and smarts. Religion usually doesn’t sit well with those two qualities. I think Fey must be a very rare thing if she really is a theistic comic writer.

But, here’s the value of her book. I laughed out loud several times. I will even take on board some of her management tips and I will try and look past her possible religiosity as I go about hosing down those tiles on the front landing.