Lizz Free or Die

Publishers Weekly

Co-creator of Comedy Central's The Daily Show and all-around champion of smart, topical humor, Winstead's debut is an intelligent and witty collection of essays cataloging her trajectory from a Catholic childhood in Minneapolis to her current work as comedian and television producer. The book starts off a bit slow, strolling through Winstead's precious but mostly generic youth. Arriving at young-adulthood, the essays become immediately funnier and more compelling. Stories from Minneapolis' "Punk Rock Ghetto"—about rooming with a very young Michele Norris (of NPR fame), witnessing the early moments of Rosanne Barr and Tom Arnold's romance, and listening to Prince perform hometown shows at a local club—are vicarious fun. An essay about an early, disastrous gig is hysterically funny, and her first-hand accounts of the early days of The Daily Show and Air America Radio are fascinating. The collection is inconsistent, and Winstead acknowledges that the book is an experiment of sorts, but frankness about your intentions and experience doesn't save you from the duds. That said, the good ones are very good, addressing the ups and downs of career, family, and friendship with honesty and humor. (May)

Mother Jones

Charming... with insight and understated humor.

American Way

[An] indelible, hilarious, often poignant romp.

Booklist

Political satirist and stand-up comedian Winstead... [is] shrewdly observant, linguistically adept, bravely soul-baring, and caustically smart.

Booklist

Political satirist and stand-up comedian Winstead, cocreator and former head writer of The Daily Show, is not only a funny personal essayist. She's also shrewdly observant, linguistically adept, bravely soul-baring, and caustically smart. Her memories of her Catholic childhood in Minneapolis are pegged to her fear of the creepy, "severed" praying-hands plaque hanging in her home, her disgust over the endless cavalcade of babies in her extended family, her thwarted ambition to be an altar boy, and a traumatic teenage pregnancy. Minneapolis' dynamic music scene in the days of Prince and punk rock and funky comedy clubs with open-mic nights became her havens and creative incubators. While tracing the arc of her comedic evolution, Winstead dissects the opposition women comics face, tells piquantly hilarious tales of disastrous gigs (worst wardrobe malfunction ever) and rescue dogs, and recounts the eruption of her "media skepticism" while watching CNN's coverage of Desert Storm, the impetus for her founding roles in both The Daily Show and Air America Radio. Open-hearted, incisive, and droll, Winstead celebrates the sustaining power of humor and truth. — Donna Seaman

Library Journal

Comedian Winstead's debut collection of "messays" (memoir plus essays) offers a funny, thoughtful look at her life and work. She's not afraid to explore topics like her childhood fear of a praying hands plaque (she thought they were the real severed hands of a sinful child), a wardrobe malfunction that left her "she-joy" exposed, or career low points like opening for Frankie Avalon. Recognizable from appearances on comedy and news commentary shows, Winstead also co-created Comedy Central's The Daily Show (this is covered in one of the book's longer essays) and was part of Air America radio's starting lineup. While she takes the high road in glossing over her departure from The Daily Show, her Air America essay reveals the network's mismanagement, which resulted in her being replaced by Jerry Springer. VERDICT Winstead's showbiz connections will draw in readers, especially those who share her progressive point of view, but poignant essays about an unwanted pregnancy and the loss of her parents resonate most strongly. Recommended. [See Prepub Alert, 11/14/11.]—Terry Bosky, Palm Beach Cty. Lib. Syst., FL

Library Journal

Cocreator and former head writer of The Daily Show, Winstead doesn't just make folks laugh; she's also a sharp social critic. This collection of essays considers how she found her voice, starting with childhood as the outspoken daughter of strict Catholic parents. Winstead has worked mostly behind the scenes, so this book is like a coming-out party; expect lots of media—obviously, given her connections.

Kirkus Reviews

An odd book that falls into the gap between memoir and essay collection and one that lacks the amount of laughter or revelation that readers expect from an author who is known for comedy. Winstead mainly enjoys peripheral name recognition. She was one of the co-creators of The Daily Show and its head writer, but she left the show "a few months before Jon Stewart took over for complicated reasons that are far less important than my wonderful experience of creating and bringing it to life." She subsequently became one of the primary architects of the ill-fated Air America liberal radio network, where she co-hosted a program with an unknown discovery, Rachel Maddow. She also introduced Rosanne Barr and Tom Arnold. "This is a book of essays about life. My life," she writes. "It's not a memoir, per se." However, "essays" might imply a series of pieces that can stand alone, which most of these can't, and it's closer to memoir in its chronological progression and dependence on information provided in earlier chapters to understand later ones. She calls these pieces "Messays," which might seem like an unfortunate aberration if the book weren't subsequently filled with similar neologisms. Her tendency to question her own memory causes her to "Lizzmember," while her family's penchant for interrupting makes them all "Winsturrupters." Yet her life seems richer and more inspirational in the lessons of experience than such cloying affectations suggest--as a liberal Minnesotan raised in a loving, conservative Catholic household, as a feminist in comic clubs where there was too much misogyny, as a daughter who suffered through the declining health and deaths of her parents. Winstead also has a couple of very funny, extended chapters: on the robbery of her parents at an assisted living home and of her experiences with dogs and vets. Intermittently interesting--if only there were more evidence of the "observational humor" through which the author long made a living.