Three Funny Women Walk into a Bar

In the past month or so I have read the memoirs of three famous funny women. Each one inspired me in a different way. Each one made me laugh in a different way. I went in with certain conceptions of each and left with a different understanding. I believe there is an ease with learning through laughter. A memoir doesn't need to be dark or overly inspirational to leave it's mark on you.

I have reviewed each of these books separately which you can find on my blog, this is not to discuss the merits of the books but to wrap up the women and how they inspired me (through a really long drunk metaphor) and how I now view them.

There's a particularly popular post on the blogging site Tumblr. It simply asks:

Are you a Wine Mom?
Or a Vodka Aunt?

To those who don't have a tumblr sensibly, I'll explain. There's a stereotype of the middle-age mother who ultimately drinks wine every evening to relax and inevitably lets loose in her tipsy-ness. They over use Facebook and tend to appear in denial about their age.

The Vodka Aunt is the wild and crazy aunt who has no kids and thus no responsibilities. She's loud and the life of any family reunion (even if she's the family disappointment). You'd go to her house if you ran away from your wine mom.

For the purpose of this post, I have made up an entirely different category that you'll see later on.

Wine Mom Tina Fey

She's quirky and supportive. She has a bit of self doubt but can put herself out there. Give her a glass of wine and she'll ramble on about a life story with a sentence wrap up moral. She doesn't always stay on topic, but its usually cause something annoyed her and she wants you to know about it. She's been there, done that, she'll tell you how and the regrets she had that she doesn't want you to have too (or maybe she secretly does for fun).

Vodka Aunt Amy Poehler

She's led the Rock and Roll life. The current world bugs the hell out of her and she's too sober to deal. Due to being pissed off at the man (and men in general) she'll give you awesome advice she probably wished she had at your age. She's loud, up front and sometimes swears like a sailor but she hits home hard with truth. She wont tell you everything she did, but that's likely for your own good. But she'll tell you how to get through your own problems cause she fought through hers.

Tequila* Sister Mindy Kaling

She'll tell you how pretty you are before getting distracted by how pretty she looks. She's the one to call all men jerks and crack up at her own joke. She's the lethal combo of smart/funny/sharp. She can make you laugh and think at the same time. She'll make you feel better about your own problems by joking about her own. She'll convince you to do that thing you were worried about doing because COME ON JUST DO IT!

*Mindy Kaling doesn't drink much but her natural personality is equal to the confidence you get after a shot of tequila so I thought it applicable.



In the end should any of these women walk up to you in a bar, after having the drink of their choice, and see you're in a bit of a funk, they'll likely start to console you by expressing:

Tina Fey: "You don't even know, let me tell you how I got here..."

Amy Poehler: "Trust me, I've seen some shit. Let me tell you how you should handle this..."

Mindy Kaling: "That is the worst! And let me tell you, I'm right there too."