Writers are the lifeblood of television shows. After all, it's almost impossible to enjoy an episode of any program riddled with stilted skits, awkward dialogue and senseless plot twists. The Daily Show, then, must have some phenomenal talent empowering it. For no other program has maintained such sharp satire, such mocking wit, for such a long time. Though this latest effort from a Daily show performer is more a limited memoir than a mocking comedy, Ms. Bee displays, here, the charm and the humor that infuses The Daily Show of which she's been apart since 2003.
Born in Canada to wildly eccentric parents, Ms. Bee clearly had an unusual adolescence. Enthusiastically delving into her past, she details not only her awkward sexual encounters -- she appears to have been quite a magnet for older, pervy men --, she unapologetically embraces her early roles as depressive, car thief, and crapped-on girlfriend. About the only noteworthy absence in the life described here is normalcy with which Ms. Bee seems only passingly familiar. But then, when ones formative life is shaped by asshole boyfriends, inappropriate parents and strange, strange men, one is bound to trade in boring, old normal for exciting and exhilarating bizarre.
From horribly awkward family vacations to drug-fuelled concerts, I Know I Am But What Are You is a fun romp through Ms. Bee's entertaining adolescence, but there's very little here about her latter life and virtually nothing about her time on The Daily Show. The writer of a memoir is under no obligation to lay out the totality of her life in a single work, but the omission of her adult life from this piece is quite jarring. There are references to it, of course, brief allusions to her husband and childbirth, but these are little more than glances in the direction of events after Ms. Bee turned 20.
It's no doubt an impulse for comedians to look nostalgically back on their childhoods; after all, these are the years that shaped them into the funny, sarcastic and zany wits that so capably amuse us. And yet, our lives have arcs, trajectories, moments of change and maturity. Ms. Bee is commendably raw and open about the ungainliness of her youth and the moments of painful silence and loneliness that punctuated it, but such tales have been told many, many times before. If it's to be told again, the recipe must be spiced up with a new variation on an established theme.
Despite having her Daily Show six-shooter primed and holstered, Ms. Bee's refusal to draw and fire confines this memoir to conventionality. Amusing and, at times, playfully terrifying, but more than a little disappointing as well. (2/5 Stars)
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