- It's Ellen DeGeneres.
- She is hilarious.
- It's too short.
- Some of the jokes are not exclusive to this book.
- The Funny Thing Is... by Ellen DeGeneres
- Hardcover, 177 pages, $23.00
- ISBN 0-7432-4761-2
- Copyright 2003
The Funny Thing is…is a bunch of humorous essays that often read like Ellen’s stand-up routine. She covers everything from embarrassing moments to how she named the book to personal trainers and things that bother her.
If you expect this book to be in anyway biographical, you’re in for disappointment. The most revealing chapter is her tour diary. And even while I’m sure there’s some truth in what she writes each day on her tour, her main point is not to reveal her true self, but to make you laugh. And she does.
As I read The Funny thing is… one thing that kept coming to mind was: Where does she come up with this stuff? One of the funniest chapters is also the most off-the-wall. Imagine having a weekly Sunday brunch with Paula Abdul, Eminem, Gloria Steinem and Diane Sawyer. Yes, it gets outrageous. Yes, I laughed out loud.
The book is short, only 177 pages and I whipped through it in no time. The only disappointing thing was that as I read certain chapters, I had the feeling that I had heard these jokes before. I’m not sure if she’s told these jokes on her show, in her HBO special or while on tour, but some of them I definitely heard before. All the material is not exclusive.
