Stop me if you've heard this one--

How many reference librarians does it take to change a light bulb? Well, that depends, what kind of light bulb were you thinking about?


Hello? Is this thing on?

I guess my time and talent is better spent here, enjoying comedy from a safe distance. Recently, I was able to do that by finishing Girl Walks into a Bar: Comedy Calamities, Dating Disasters, and a Midlife Miracle by Rachel Dratch. Dratch may not be a household name, but you may recognize her from her successful run on Saturday Night Live from 1999-2006 with some of her notable characters including the Boston Teens and Debbie Downer.

Girl Walks into a Bar follows a continuing trend of our favorite comediennes penning humorous memoirs about their failures and successes leading up to their current fame. See Bossypants by Tina Fey and Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) by Mindy Kaling to get an idea of what I’m talking about. But what makes Dratch’s book stand out and worth reading is her relative lack of fame. Unfortunately, her post-SNL career hasn’t really taken off like it has for her close friends and colleagues, the aforementioned Fey, Amy Poehler, and Maya Rudolph. After her public ousting from 30 Rock, being replaced by Jane Krakowski, she wasn’t being offered much in terms of roles outside of bit parts in low rated comedies. So, what’s a girl to do with her newfound free time? Find capital L – Love.

Girl Walks into a Bar really takes off as we follow Dratch running a gauntlet of bad dates – from a man who admits loving horsemeat on a first date to going out with a gay man and his husband. The book itself ranges from laugh out loud anecdotes to incredibly poignant moments as she realizes what we have come to expect for ourselves and what the universe has planned can be two very different things.

I may be a little biased here as Dratch was always one of my favorite SNL cast members, but I think she has captured how fun, sad, unexpected, bittersweet, and wonderfully funny life can be in just 200 pages. I definitely recommend this book.

So, good night and have a pleasant tomorrow.

~Meredith T.