 | |  | | | You're Not Doing It Right: Tales of Marriage, Sex, Death, and Other Humiliations | | | | | | | |
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| | Description | “You’re not doing it right.” Michael Ian Black has been hearing these five words all his life. And now—on the eve of his fortieth birthday—he is finally beginning to wonder why. . . . As a husband and father living in the suburbs, Michael asks the question so many of us ask ourselves at one point or another: How did I end up here? (And also: If Fat Kevin Federline succumbs to his own wasted potential, what does that mean for the rest of us?) The answers to these questions, and others that you probably would have never thought to ask, are painstakingly detailed in You’re Not Doing It Right, Michael Ian Black’s debut memoir. Darkly humorous and told with raw honesty, Michael takes on his childhood, his marriage, his children, and his career with unexpected candor and deadpan wit in this funny-because-it’s-true essay collection. He shares the neuroses that have plagued him since childhood and how they shaped him into the man he is today. Stories include: How his lesbian feminist mother raised him to be a tough but sensitive New Seventies Man like Alan Alda; how his camp girlfriend dumped him for a guy nicknamed Taco; how he backed into marrying his wife by breaking up with her first; how he is completely undone by hearing a Creed song on the radio on the eve of becoming a father; and how he learned to use Santa Claus as a “Bad Cop” threat to control his kids year round. From the comedian who brought you Stella and The State, Michael Ian Black says the kinds of things you’re afraid to admit. Here he is: naked, exposed, a little chilly, and understandably shriveled. |  |
| | Product Details | | Author: | Michael Ian Black | | Hardcover: | 256 pages | | Publisher: | Gallery Books | | Publication Date: | February 28, 2012 | | Language: | English | | ISBN: | 1439167850 | | Package Length: | 8.5 inches | | Package Width: | 5.8 inches | | Package Height: | 1.2 inches | | Package Weight: | 0.8 pounds | | Average Customer Rating: |  based on 55 reviews |
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| | Customer Reviews | Average Customer Review: ( 55 customer reviews )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 12 found the following review helpful:
Buy this book and then read it. Mar 03, 2012
By Brian
This book is 243 pages long, and every one of those pages is great. Michael Ian Black has been making me laugh since 1993, but it wasn't until late in 2011, when I heard him do a piece on 'This American Life' about his late father and about Michael becoming a dad himself, that he made me cry. That piece is in this book (Chapter 9: Dead Dad Kid) and it's as heartfelt as anything I've heard or read in years. The rest of this book is just as good.
Don't get me wrong: I still laughed out loud during every chapter of 'You're Not Doing It Right.' But there's as much heart as there is comedy in its pages. Please buy it and read it and then read it again later. Then tell people you read it. When they ask to borrow it, tell them to buy their own. That's how we ensure we get more books in the future from this great writer.
17 of 20 found the following review helpful:
Legitimately Legit Mar 22, 2012
By sweetdanger
Wow. I did not expect to love this book so much. I totally expected it to make me laugh my face off, because Michael Ian Black is good at that, but I did not expect it to bring me to near tears several times. Maybe almost as many times as it made me laugh out loud (Disclaimer: I was PMSing while reading a good portion of this so... reaction may have been slightly influenced by my enraged uterus, but as I am generally not an overly emotional person during any time of any given month, I don't think that is the case.)
Every page of this book is funny, but that's not what impressed me. What impressed me was the way Michael can take some common experience we all go through and write about it in a way that is both original and totally relatable. I found during the course of this book that we think very similarly, which is great because I love people who think just like I do.
Michael's brand of humor is generally not the kind that appeals to a broad population. You have to be a little smart to appreciate it. But I think his humor in this book is the kind that almost anyone could appreciate, and if you can't, you'll probably at least respect the brutally honest treatment he gives every aspect of his life from dating to marriage to having babies, owning pets, and even buying a car. The whole time I was reading this, I was like "Damn, I can't believe how much I am loving this book." What's more, I actually learned a few things from this book. Things about myself, even. Yes, Michael Ian Black gave me several epiphanies. One on an airplane, another on the subway.
I agree with the other reviews. Get this book, read it, and then tell everyone you know to read it. Michael's shameless pimping on Twitter annoyed me at first, but now I get it... this book deserves to be a best seller so much more than most best sellers out there.
7 of 8 found the following review helpful:
 More like 4 1/2 Stars Feb 29, 2012
By Cheryl
I mostly remember Michael Ian Black from the TV show Ed, though I know I've seen him in various things over the years and always thought he was funny. My sister won an ARC of the book and she loved it and recommended that I read it and I'm very glad I did. In You're Not Doing It Right Black's not just funny, he's laugh out loud hysterical. The book doesn't touch on much of his acting career, but focuses on his family, from his lesbian mother who holds Alan Alda up as the ideal man, his seemingly emotionless father and his own wife and kids.
Black is unflinchingly, and sometimes cringe inducingly, honest about his childhood, dating, marriage and his kids. He says he hates his wife and kids on multiple occasions. I'm sure he was exaggerating at least a couple of times, and I'm sure that he and everyone I know who has kids really do love them, but this book is going into evidence that people with kids push those of us who don't want them to have them because sheer, unadulterated, neverending misery loves company.
I also assume that no one had any say in what he wrote and it never ceases to amaze me what people will disclose. Case in point, his wife, Martha, cheated with him while she was living with someone else (very classy, both of you, made me think you deserved all of the fights you had) and she had slept with that guy's brother, too (so gross). I admit though, I almost fell off my moral high horse while reading those stories because I was laughing so damn hard. There's not a lot, but there are a couple of stories about serious, sad events that happened in his life and Black handles them just as well as the funny parts. He really is a talented author and I would definitely check out future books by him.
5 of 6 found the following review helpful:
Darkly Humorous Feb 28, 2012
By Natalie
Better than his twitter feed, and that's saying a lot. This book has the same clever, laugh-out-loud humor we all expect from a great comedian like Michael but also has incredible heart and depth. Let's just say MIB did this one right.
2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
Hilarious book Mar 20, 2012
By Frank W. Olson
This book was funny, even when it was sad. Great story about growing up with disfunctional parents, having a great 20's as a bachelor in NYC, then becoming a husband and dad in the suburbs of New York. I also liked his last book, My Custom Van. I will read anything Michael writes from this point on.
See all 55 customer reviews on Amazon.com
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