From Publishers Weekly
If your experience of lesbian comedy begins and ends with Ellen DeGeneres, say hello to Lea DeLaria, a brassy, foul-mouthed butch who, after traveling the queer comedy circuit for years, has begun to land parts everywhere from network TV (on shows such as Friends) to Broadway (playing Hildy in On the Town). Her first book isn't really a list of rules; it's more a loosely organized series of rants. Overflowing with energy and creativity, DeLaria doesn't just curse, talk about sex and criticize the Catholic Church (although she does plenty of that)--she's out to offend everyone. Here DeLaria, who angered straight-laced lesbians and gays at the March on Washington in 1992 by calling Hillary Clinton "a first lady you could fuck," rewrites the Ten Commandments (replacing Though Shalt Not Steal, for example, with Thou Shalt Not Steal from People Who Absolutely Don't Deserve to Be Stolen From); proudly details her passion for "banging" under-age straight girls; and her views on why "wops" and "micks" (her mother and father, for instance) should never marry. Piercingly smart and occasionally self-reflective, DeLaria knows exactly what she's doing; like Lenny Bruce, she uses both her own sensibilities and the criticism her work inevitably provokes to expose the hypocrisy of both straight and gay folks (she even includes an array of reviews and letters she has received over the years). However, while the book showcases DeLaria's enormous comedic talent, it is also filled with so many self-destructive rationalizations (shades of Lenny Bruce again) that it can be downright hard to read. (May)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Stand-up comic DeLaria has succeeded on and off Broadway and on comedy stages throughout America. She is sometimes over-the-top, offensive, and downright insulting and sometimes howlingly funny, unless one is offended or insulted by, say, her modern "Ten Commandments," such as the flip "Thou shalt not take the name of Susan Sarandon in vain," or the list of women who are OK to sleep with because you will never stand sleeping with them, so sleeping with them really isn't adultery. By the way, as for coveting thy neighbor's wife, thou shalt not, DeLaria declares, unless she is really cute or amply endowed or your neighbor is your ex. Besides that and listing every known slang term for female genitalia, this former nice Italian Catholic girl shares glimpses of life as a butch who is so butch she is often mistaken for a man--by her gynecologist! DeLaria lets it be known that if you don't like it, you don't have to read it. Or you can kiss her ass. So be it.
Whitney ScottCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved