[.ca] Joy Shtick (ISBN 0786864230)

if this book were a snack it'd be a rice cake. plain. mini.:
This book is really skimpy. I'm sorry, Joy, I do like your humor as it comes across on the tube, and I really like your style when it comes to discussing Hot Topics or whatever on The View. I even admire some things I've heard you say. I was just disappointed in the book. This sure feels to me like the obligatory publish-it-while-you're-hot-and-scoop-a-few-bucks "humor" book. It's empty. (I blame the author's agent or some other advice-giver.) It takes maybe an hour to read and at the end you think, I kept reading waiting for the good stuff and now I've fallen off the end of the book and never found the good stuff. It sorta reads like you dropped your index cards full of one-liners for standup, and they got scrambled up, and you picked 'em up and started reciting them one after the other anyway. A lot of it's half-baked, not fleshed out enough. Needs a lot more editing and time put into it. Get rid of some parts, flesh out some others. I found the biographical bits, the part about the grad student husband and the parts about therapy, worth the read. But not the rest. Joy is best at sarcasm, off-the-cuff wit, and comebacks -- stuff which requires context, and live action, and just don't work in a book like this. Maybe she could write a good novel, but this kind of collection falls flat, to me. It would be a shame for someone to read this book and have that be their only impression of Joy Behar's humor. She's much better in motion.

This book is really funny, and emotional!:
This book is really awesome! Joy personally sent her book to me and autographed it, which really means ALOT to me! I read it in a day and a half. I would have read it in a few hours, but the emotions this book throws at you, just makes you like Joy even more! It's a great book, and if you want to read something, read this! WE LOVE YOU, JOY!

Hysterically Funny:
"Joy Shtick" is a real kick! Joy Behar has written a book that is hysterically funny about relationships, family, women, men, Italians, and free advice. I also enjoyed her sections on eating, dogs, marriage, birth control, Viagra, and doctors. I think that people who will especially appreciate this book will be feminists, writers, Italians, comedians, married people, those with a good sense of humor, and a those with high IQ. Laugh softly and carry "Joy Shtick."

Don't Bother...Couldn't Be Worse:
I love Joy on The View with her wit and comidic jabs but this book was more than disappointing. I come from an Italian family, my parents from Italy and the only subject I could mildly relate to with any humor was the Italian funeral. I wonder what she was thinking writing this book and who ever critqued it and told her it was any good at all? She babbles on about nonsense and who give a darn about any of the subjects. Babble, babble. This book isn't even mildy funny. It stinks big time. Thank goodness it only cost me a few bucks. Stick to The View, Joy and forget about writing. Great if you can't sleep....better than any pill.

Belly laughs and wry photos:
Ms. Behar, lately of ABC's "The View," gives us some standup shtick here along with a little flavor from her life, loves, relatives, and encounters with various show biz celebs. I liked the photos of her, especially the sexy one (p. 50) with the elbow pointing out and the pouty mouth. (That's mouth with a pout, not "potty mouth," although she can do that too.) I also like the shot of her (p. 6, "Coffee break from the bell jar") that makes her look like her mother played by Carol Burnett as Mary Hartman in a out take from "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman." Best piece: at the Friar's Roast, where she quips, "Welcome to the sixteenth century. Actually, it's quite an honor to be the first female roastmaster in ninety-three years. Which is ironic, because ninety-three is the average age of most of the Friars." Best exchange: (in therapy) "Joy: I hate Long Island. Shrink: Why? It's so lovely here. Have you visited the new outlet center? Joy: I shoplifted...I mean, I shopped, there. I know it well. Shrink: A Freudian slip. Joy: No, actually just a cute top." Behar is a big city girl from Brooklyn who can conduct a lesbian hour and fawn over Harrison Ford at the same time. She manages to be both Jewish and Italian, a dumb brunette and a feminist icon. She can take apart Pat Buchanan with her bare hands while worrying about the cannoli she had with lunch. She can laugh at herself, which is what a comedian has to be able to do. This little collection of uptown wit is like a box of cherry bon-bons: you'll devour the whole thing in an hour.