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    Girl Walks into a Bar...: Comedy Calamities, Dating Disasters, and a Midlife Miracle
    Unavailable
    Girl Walks into a Bar...: Comedy Calamities, Dating Disasters, and a Midlife Miracle
    Unavailable
    Girl Walks into a Bar...: Comedy Calamities, Dating Disasters, and a Midlife Miracle
    Audiobook5 hours

    Girl Walks into a Bar...: Comedy Calamities, Dating Disasters, and a Midlife Miracle

    Published by Penguin Random House Audio

    4/5

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    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    In this side-splitting memoir, the former Saturday Night Live star recounts the hilarious adventures and unexpected joy of dating and becoming a mother when she least expected it-at the age of forty-four.

    Anyone who saw an episode of Saturday Night Live between 1999 and 2006 knows Rachel Dratch. She was hilarious! So what happened to her? After a misbegotten part as Jenna on the pilot of 30 Rock, Dratch was only getting offered roles as "Lesbians. Secretaries. Sometimes secretaries who are lesbians."

    Her career at a low point, Dratch suddenly had time for yoga, dog- sitting, learning Spanish-and dating. After all, what did a forty- something single woman living in New York have to lose? Resigned to childlessness but still hoping for romance, Dratch was out for drinks with a friend when she met John.

    Handsome and funny, after only six months of dating long-distance, he became the inadvertent father of her wholly unplanned, undreamed-of child, and moved to New York to be a dad. With riotous humor, Dratch recounts breaking the news to her bewildered parents, the awe of her single friends, and the awkwardness of a baby-care class where the instructor kept tossing out the f-word.

    Filled with great behind-the-scenes anecdotes from Dratch's time on SNL, Girl Walks into a Bar... is a refreshing version of the "happily ever after" story that proves female comics-like bestsellers Tina Fey and Chelsea Handler-are truly having their moment.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateApr 26, 2012
    ISBN9781101564370
    Unavailable
    Girl Walks into a Bar...: Comedy Calamities, Dating Disasters, and a Midlife Miracle

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    Reviews for Girl Walks into a Bar...

    4/5

    216 ratings18 reviews

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    • 3/5
      From my Cannonball Read V review:

      I see two fellow Cannonballers have reviewed this book so far; their reviews actually reminded me that I wanted to pick up this book. Once again I chose the audio book route (at the end of the year I should put together a post comparing all the female-written and -read memoirs I've listened to this year) and am really happy I did.

      As the other reviewers have pointed out, the focus of the book isn't so much a behind-the-scenes SNL expose; yes that gets coverage as it is part of her life but it's only part of her story. It's interesting, it's well-told, and it provides some insight into that world, but it was only about seven years of her life, so it makes sense to not spend the entire book on that time period.

      Ms. Dratch strikes me as pretty laid back, cool lady. She's funny, entertaining, and can write really well. She also strikes me as one of the most self-aware humans on the planet. Pretty close to the beginning of the book, she starts talking about the 30 rock 'incident.' I could hear the exhaustion in her voice, and I don't blame her. I cannot imagine how frustrating and annoying (not to mention hurtful at times) it must be to be responsible for some hilarious roles and yet have her still most talked about role be 'getting fired' from 30 rock.

      And to be clear - she's really not hung up on it. She talks about it because we're interested in it. But because the implication, the suggestion in hushed (and not so hushed) tones in the celebrity media, is that she lost out because she is not as attractive as Jane Krakowski, it's repeatedly mentioned when Ms. Dratch's name comes up. Can you imagine that something that was a bummer for you (losing a job because of a decision to have a different type of character in that position) becomes some giant (celebrity) news story about how you aren't pretty enough? Ugh. She's gracious in telling the story, and while others might be skeptical, I believe that she's made her peace with it and really wishes the rest of us would just move on.

      Some of the best parts of this memoir are her discussions about the types of work she is now offered and about her relationship with her son's father John. Seriously, the entire final third of the book, while not really talking much at all about SNL or 30 Rock, is some of the best writing and the most interesting. I had dinner plans Monday night and was pretty annoyed that my friend showed up just as Ms. Dratch narrated that she'd just checked the pregnancy test and there were two stripes. I knew what was going to happen next (I mean, I knew she had a kid so assumed this was the start of that story), but the writing and the delivery of the words was so compelling I really did not want to turn it off.

      I'd definitely recommend this book to others. It's not particularly long (5 1/2 hours on audio; most of the books I've listened to have been between 6 and 8 hours) but it's interesting, clever and sweet.
    • 5/5
      Loved it! Very relatable -- Rachel is hysterical and a good writer, to boot! I love memoirs, but I don't normally go for ones written by celebrities; however, this one called to me from the shelf (yes, I realize how ridiculous this sounds) and I knew I just had to read it. Well worth it -- I highly recommend it to everyone!
    • 2/5
      Fairly dry memoir of actress Rachel Dratch, which resembles in many ways the character she was famous for on SNL - Debbie Downer. Two philosophical nuggets I found is her approach to acting and life: 1) Yes And - be aware that your words can halt somebody or complete their character; it's your choice. 2) negging - presenting a gross, overexagerated negative at the right moment can diffuse a situation and put the moment in proper light.
    • 4/5
      This is one of the best comedy memoirs I've read in a while - I would rank it right behind Tina Fey's on my favorites tally! The audiobook is read by Dratch and really benefits from her delivery, but the writing itself is at turns hilarious, poignant, and surprisingly honest. I'm not into "baby stuff" at all and thought the latter half of the book (about Dratch's surprise pregnancy in her mid-40s and decision to become a mother) would turn me off, but I should have had more faith!
    • 5/5
      This is a great book that made me laugh and laugh.
    • 5/5
      An interesting autobiography. Fun to listen to. It's very relatable at times, and others weird and fantastically hilarious.
    • 5/5
      Loved this book. I couldn't wait to hear what happened next. Very good funny story teller.
    • 3/5
      I think she's honest. What I worry about is that when I read books by women, a recurring subject is/are men and children, and eventhough I agree it's important, I would like to hear about other aspects. In this book, rachel has a funny tone, speaks her truth but in the end it all comes down to having a baby and a baby dady and I think it could have included other aspects of life more.
    • 4/5
      Audio quality is bad but I really enjoyed the story.
    • 4/5
      A funny memoir that went through Rachel's life at college, in improv troups, and on SNL. I loved the anecdotes about dates gone wrong, and it had a heartwarming ending about Rachel's pregnancy and son when she thought children just weren't going to happen for her. I haven't seen much of SNL and I'm not sure I've seen her on it, but I imagine if I was an SNL fan I'd have enjoyed this even more. I'd give it a solid 3.5-4/5. The narration of the audiobook was particularly great, and I'm glad I listened to it over reading a paper copy.
    • 4/5
      Well I loved her spiritually, she was so honest about her inner struggles and fears. I thought she was funny on SNL and a little of a wallflower. But she is beautiful inside and out. This is a great book to make into a movie.
    • 3/5
      Cute little memoir, in the same vein as "Yes, Please" by Amy Poehler. Many of my complaints are the same -- not enough of the personal life, not enough of the SNL life. Some of the writing style is the same, when it morphs into a fake interview or letter to herself. Don't get me wrong, I love Rachel Dratch. I loved her on SNL and was very sad when she left. It covers material much like Amy Poehler's book does -- the years on SNL, how certain sketches came to light, early years in improv, gushing over fellow actors. But it divides when she leaves SNL and talks about why she doesn't act anymore. But now we have the unique experience of the NY dating scene mid-career, finding a relationship, and then the anxiety of having a baby when older and unmarried. The subtitle is definitely there for a purpose -- clarifying what the book is about. If you liked "Yes, Please", you'll like this.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 2/5
      A very funny and quirky memoir about Rachel's life turned a corner in the last third of the book. Suddenly, the book became a story about her pregnancy. I'd have given it a higher rating if she has left the pregnancy and baby stories for another book.
    • 2/5
      Rachel Dratch tells her story in the latest in a line of hilarious memoirs from SNL alums. Where Tina Fey and Amy Poehler were more entertaining and gave more life advice, Dratch seems to dwell on coming to terms with being type-cast. She also talked a lot about getting offered bad roles and how her career changed after her time on SNL. She also had an interesting turn of events that drives the book. She unexpectedly got pregnant when she was 44. Because of this she talks more about dating issues in her 30s and then struggles when she became a mom. The audiobook is fun because the author reads it. It even includes some Debbie Downer SNL clippings. BOTTOM LINE: Easy quick read, but I would recommend Fey or Poehler’s book instead.
    • 4/5
      I wanted to add that this is quite funny and well-written. I hope she writes another soon!
    • 3/5
      Started off sorta slow, ended up real cute.
    • 4/5
      This is kind of a telling of the American Dream. Rachel Dratch is a normal-abnormal or abnormal-normal woman in her 40's with an asymmetrical face, a good mind, a great education, a wicked sense of humor, lots of friends, enough money to do just about anything she wants, a flagging career and no love life. Aside from the fact that she goes lots more places than I do with a greater variety of friends (and has a rather poor ability to relate to dogs), this could be my story - or yours. Dratch is very business-like when talking about her career and the fact that she is considered so ugly by Hollywood standards that the only comedy parts she can get are as a bull dyke or some other unf***able. She's very business-like when talking about the fact that she had been hired as a regular on her friend Tina Fey's TV show 30 Rock, but then they decided to "go another way", as in, they replaced the asymmetrically faced Dratch with the beautiful Jane Krakowski. Dratch just tells her story. Some times she comes off smelling like a rose, sometimes her life stinks; but I think most any woman could relate to it.
    • 3/5
      Perhaps I should have paid closer attention to the subtitle. The "Midlife Miracle" becomes the main focus of the book and suddenly it as if the funny woman who I was interested in reading about is hijacked by motherhood and that makes her profoundly happy but also much less interesting. Motherhood, and for that matter, happiness in general, is not that interesting despite the protestations of those in the midst of either state of being.