Failure Is an Option

May 15, 2018

Benjamin, comedian and star of animated shows Archer and Bob's Burgers, presents a brief and very funny account of how his life's failures added up to an accidentally successful career. Each chapter recounts a different stage of failure in Benjamin's life: failing to have a childhood sleepover, neglecting to have a successful threesome in college, going on unsatisfying vacations with his partner in which they might or might not have been at risk of being eaten by a bear, failing to purchase a motorcycle on eBay (he did eventually ride it for 45 seconds), and one spectacularly vivid scatological disaster attending his first press event as a TV star. Interludes among the biographical material include pitches for failed books, undesirable strains of marijuana, and a running gag in which Benjamin writes to history professors begging them to write part of his book for him so he can make his deadline. Benjamin's narration makes the text feel like a one-man show. VERDICT A fun glimpse into the personal life of a much-beloved cartoon voice actor that will appeal to fans of comic memoirs such as recent works by John Hodgman or Tiffany Haddish.--Jason Puckett, Georgia State Univ. Lib., Atlanta

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