From the Publisher

...about President George W. Bush: "Sometimes I feel like we're trapped on a bad reality show. He's not really a president. He's a construction worker. If he gets reelected, he gets a million dollars and we get screwed." Michael Jackson: "He still hasn't molested as many boys as the Catholic Church." Abortion: "It's nobody's business to tell another woman what to do with her body. Let's leave that up to Joan and Melissa Rivers."

Imbued with her razor-sharp voice, sidesplitting candor, and her trademark brand of comedy, the essays in Yeah, I Said It showcase Wanda at her uproarious, uncensored best.

Publishers Weekly

Humor books by popular comedians are a tricky proposition-reading the routines can rarely compete with watching the performance-and Sykes's gathering of jokes and rants suffers from its medium. Her introduction, in which she claims that she's only writing the book for the money, could be either clever sarcasm or amusing defiance ("let's face it, right now, I'm on fire; did you see Pooty Tang?"), for example-but it's funnier as the former. The rest of the material-short takes on Clinton's affair, vanity license plates, Martha Stewart, love, and professional sports-is mixed. Good lines can get lost on stale topics: there are jokes about last year's California recall election and complaints (recently rendered moot) that no one had seen the 9/11 Commission's findings. Time-tested race relations jokes include suggestions that a black man could never steal as much money as a white executive, because "[t]here are just not that many liquor stores in the country," while observational humor includes the likes of "[a]n ugly man with a six-figure salary becomes `kinda cute' to most women," and "[t]o some women, marriage is really the wedding." Sykes's irreverence can be refreshing, but some of her jokes need that same energy. Agent, Mel Berger at William Morris. (Sept.) Forecast: Sykes's starring role in a Comedy Central show this fall could give this title a boost. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

What People Are Saying

Jane Fonda
I laughed out loud all the way through!

Tavis Smiley
And I'm glad you said it, Wanda! Keep on entertaining and empowering us.
—Author, Television and Radio Host

Bob Costas
Considering all the endless nights Wanda and I have spent clubbing 'till dawn - I have no earthly idea how she had time to complete this book, but all fans of great literature are thankful she did.
—Broadcaster, NBC and HBO

Dave Chappelle
Throughout my career I've heard comedians say, in one fashion or another, that "chicks ain't funny." The world of stand up comedy is generally a man's world. It's hard for a woman to express her gripes with life, and practice the art of crowd control, without sounding whiny, or (for lack of a better word) bitchy.

But then there's Wanda. I've seen her since she started in '89 shatter that myth on a nightly basis. As a matter of fact, not only did we male comics respect her, many feared following her. NO man wants to get beat by a girl. She's an anomaly, and one of my favorite practitioners of stand up comedy from any gender. Everytime I watch her work I smile, because she makes me remember why I wanted to do comedy in the first place. Do your thing Wanda.

Product Details

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Read a Sample Chapter

Yeah, I Said It

Atria

Chapter One

I don't mean to disrespect the president... that's bullshit. You know I do. Hasn't anyone noticed that his eyes are getting closer and closer together? Pretty soon his left and right eye will be the same eye. If you look at him in just the right light (i.e., the light of truth), he resembles that weasel from the Kipling story, Riki-Tiki-Tavi. Talk about beady. And I'm supposed to trust this guy? He's either the greatest hypnotist since Svengali or we're just stupid.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't we get rid of one president for lying about a government-sanctioned hotel break-in? And didn't we oust another because he lied about whom he had sex with? Last time I checked lying to us to justify a war trumps breaking into a hotel room and a blow job. Note the key word: lie. The only thing Bush II has done is get caught in lie after lie. Lies about the deficit, tax cuts, Social Security, the Iraq war. But we let him just keep on keeping on. What's wrong with us? Would we put up with that kind of treatment from anybody else in any other situation? Hell no!

Are we nuts? Why aren't we having a fit? Bush said that Saddam was an "imminent threat to our security." He said Saddam had weapons of mass destruction. He lied. We didn't find shit. Then he tried to twist it by telling us they found some equipment that could possibly be used to make WMDs. What kind of bullshit is that? Either he's retarded or he thinks we're retarded. I took a physics class when I was in high school, that don't mean that I'm at home whipping up bombs.

Why aren't we in the streets screaming for him to be impeached? Are we under some fear spell? He lied. I've seen people more upset when Whitney is a no-show. Let Streisand cancel a performance. It's chaos. "Babs said she'd be here tonight. She lied! That cockeyed bitch lied!"

See, to me, America is like my car. I love my car. And my car is supposed to take me wherever I want to go as long as I keep the "governing" fluids changed and get regular tune-ups. That's what elections are: a nationwide tune-up - every four years. So that makes the president sort of like... our mechanic. And all we want from him is to just keep our shit running good. That's all. If he can do that without costing me an arm and a leg, cool. But, what if my mechanic was not only incompetent, but constantly lied about what's wrong with my car. A real-live Mr. Badwrench. Actually, more like a Mr. Fucked-up Wrench. Never fixed the car, just kept washing it. That's all, just washing it over and over and over again. My car's falling apart, but "it looks clean." Wouldn't I get a new mechanic? Or at least give another mechanic a shot? Wouldn't I report him to wherever bad mechanics get reported? Damn right. Look, in November, since we can't just up and buy a new car, can we at least get someone to get this bitch up and running?

Look Over Here!

We have U.S. soldiers being killed every day over in Iraq because of an unjustified war that Bush started. The economy is in the toilet. The education system is failing our kids. The deficit is out of control. However, instead of fixing any of this shit, the president focuses on nonproblems. We won't think about what is really going on if he makes us think that the real problems are steroids in sports, space travel, and gay marriage. You've got to be kidding me. Sometimes I feel like we're trapped on a bad Fox reality show, Joe President. He's not really a president. He's a construction worker. If he gets reelected, he gets a million dollars and we get screwed.

Enhancements

In what will hopefully be his last State of the Union Address, George W. said that we needed to crack down on the use of steroids in professional sports. When he said that, I was like, "Nigga, what?" I'm sorry, I rarely use that word, but he deserved it for saying some dumb shit like that. With all that's going wrong in this country, steroids in pro sports should not even be on his radar. Steroids are flying right above Nick and Jessica. Right now the president should not be concerned about athletes who are playing "too" good. The guy who has been unemployed for the past six months doesn't give a shit about millionaire ballplayers getting in trouble for using performance-enhancing drugs to elevate or in some cases sustain their careers. This broke guy isn't going, "Hey, I think there might be an outfielder position opening up in San Francisco. I better get my résumé together." This guy is wishing he could have taken some performance enhancers; maybe he could've kept his computer engineering job. Who is Bush trying to fool? Not me.

Now why shouldn't athletes be allowed to take performance-enhancing drugs? They get to wear performance-enhancing clothes, don't they? What the hell do you think a kneepad, or a bat, or cleats are for? To enhance performance. A football player isn't born wearing a face mask. But you'd think Jerry Rice was nuts if he went on the field without one, wouldn't you? I never saw Barry Sanders blast one up the middle without wearing a helmet. Or Ken Griffey Jr. slap a line drive down the third base line with his hand. So we shouldn't be upset if athletes take the "equipment" to the next level and make it "internal equipment."

How about shoes? Ever try driving the lane while barefoot? Don't shoes enhance normal human performance? Of course, but they're perfectly legal. So what if steroids can alter mental ability and capacity for clear thought? Talk about fun players, I'd love to see somebody get tackled during the National Anthem. There'd be bench-clearing brawls after the game. My kinda players.

So what if steroids eventually destroy the prostate and testicles and totally kill the sex drive? Hey, some of those guys need their sex drives tamed a bit. Holla at me, Denver! Hell, these guys need to take something with all that pressure they're under. It's not easy being a multibillion-dollar franchise player or even a benchwarmer. They've got so much to worry about: the games, the interviews, the parties, the checks, the chicks, endorsements, paternity suits, late-night car crashes, DUIs, murder investigations. No wonder they need some drugs to help them compete. Let them take all the steroids they want, if you ask me. Let 'em shoot up on the field, or snort during the half-time interview. Who cares? We just want a good game.

Space Program

Bush announced an initiative to spend twelve billion dollars to create a permanent moonbase by 2020. That's the first smart thing that he has proposed. He knows by the time he gets through, we will be so fucked on this planet that we're going to be needing another home real soon. We're not getting our deposit back on this one. We're going to have to sneak off and move in the middle of the night. Between the pollution, lowered emission standards, drilling, and pissing off every other country on the planet, Bush knows it's time for us to start packing up.

NASA, the JPL, it's the welfare for nerds. It is a billion-dollar welfare program for really smart dorks. Where else are they going to work? They're too smart to do anything else. They can't fit in with us. They know a bunch of stuff that us regular folks could give two shits about. They would annoy us to the point of hurting them. "Hey Wanda, did you know that the atmosphere on - " Pow! "Shut it up, dummy on the moon."

What have we learned from our space travels? Seriously? What have we learned or discovered that affects our daily lives? Nothing. We're spending billions of dollars in outer space for what? Why don't we spend just half of that to find out who shot Tupac?

I don't give a damn about space travel. I don't even have a passport, so you know I don't give a fuck about the weather on Mars. Shit, I'm not leaving the country, get caught up in a coup. Whenever they do discover something, the vast majority of us have no idea what it means. "Scientists discovered today that stars can be consumed by a black hole." What? Sounds like a report about Lil' Kim to me. "NASA discovered that an area of Mars was once drenched in water." And? Even the news anchor who reports the story don't know what the hell they're talking about. When it comes to that shit, they are just reading the TelePrompTer. Even Peter Jennings has that blank stare when it comes to that space shit.

Approximately twenty percent of Americans currently own a passport, so why are we dicking around in space? Ain't no happy Mars movies. Star Trek went there and shit went bad. I do believe that there is life on other planets. I also believe that we are the dumbest creatures in the universe. The Fox network is proof positive. I bet they don't dare have shows like The Littlest Groom or The Swan on Neptune.

I bet our Opportunity Rover is on the Martian news. "Those simple earthlings are at it again." To them, our rover is probably like the mosquitoes and the West Nile virus to us. "We're going to have to spray again."

Gay Marriages

It's spreading. The gays are going marriage crazy across the country. Massachusetts passed a law legalizing gay marriages. Also in San Francisco gay couples were lined up for miles because the mayor was issuing marriage licenses for same-sex couples. So now President Bush, under pressure from the conservatives, and needing any distraction to get our focus off the shit he's got us in, put his foot down and proposed a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriages. The president starts another attack, the war on the nuptials of Sam and Greg.

Bush said the amendment to define marriage as only between a man and a woman would "fully protect marriage." I don't think marriage needs to be protected from same-sex couples. The biggest threat to marriage is divorce. Divorce is kicking marriage's ass. Divorce is what ruined my marriage, not Stacy and Anna getting hitched. Most marriages end in divorce. If Bush and the Christian conservatives really want to protect marriage they should propose a constitutional amendment to ban divorce. Divorce is in direct opposition of their Christian beliefs more so than gay marriages. When you get married, and it's from the Bible, they say, "What has been joined by God let no man put asunder." See? Marriage should be like the Mafia - once you're in, you're in. Ban divorce. The murder rate would go up, but the institution of marriage would be strong and healthy. They're all just a bunch of hypocrites.

If you're not gay and you don't want to marry someone of the same sex, why do you care? Yet still in the twenty-first century people are trying to put a ban on things that don't even affect them. Remember those people who wanted to ban gangsta rap? They don't listen to the music, so why do they care? You never saw Tipper Gore riding in her Escalade sitting on spinning rims, with the seat set way back bumping to some Ice Cube. "Naw Al, I'm not feeling this new Cube." The same thing goes for the same-sex marriage law. If you're not a gender sleeping with the same gender, what makes this issue affect you to the point of making signs and marching to ban it? I'd only put that much effort into an issue if there were something in it for me. "What? They want to ban the sale of alcohol after ten o'clock? Where's my damn sign? I'm gonna go protest right after I sober up."

I'm so sick of these busybodies like Gary Bauer who are going around the country trying to ban gay marriages. Why do you care? Are you really losing sleep, tossing and turning at night in your bed because Bob and Jim are getting married? Why do you care, unless you were planning on fucking Bob or Jim? "That Jim is hot; now he's off the market." Somehow gay couples being married affects their straight marriage. What, are you afraid that gays are going to be more successful in their marriages? Your wife is going to throw it in your face. "Dave and Jake are so happy. They never argue." And you're thinking, Yeah, well, if you let me fuck you in the ass a couple of times maybe we'd communicate a little better, too. I'm sure that'll cheer things up around here.

The lame argument that they use is that marriage is a sacred union that is meant to be between only a man and a woman. By recognizing any other union, like a same-sex couple, it will desecrate the holy institution of marriage. I don't think the only prerequisite for a legal marriage should be that it has to be between a man and a woman. If you want to make marriage sacred, you need to be even more selective. Like, where the hell were Bauer and the protestors when Liza Minelli married David Guest? Y'all should've been out there trying to stop that shit, too.

It seems to me that the conservatives are hung up on the word "marriage." I say, let them keep marriage. It's just a word, terminology. Gays just want their union to be legally recognized across the country. What they really want are the same benefits that marriage offers, which in my opinion are none. So gay couples should just come up with a word other than marriage that means the same thing. Hell, come up with something that's better than marriage. Call it Mardi Gras! "I just got my invitation to Carol and Janet's Mardi Gras." Come on, who don't like a good Mardi Gras? You can't be mad about that. "Jake and Lester been Mardi Gras'd for thirty years." Don't let a word get in the way of your rights. Mardi Gras would be perfect. Gays love a good parade; have your Mardi Gras on a float. Give each other matching Mardi Gras beads. Write your own Mardi Gras vows. It will catch on. "Is this her first Mardi Gras?" "No, this is her second. She has three kids from a previous Mardi Gras."

A Mardi Gras would be wonderful. You don't have to subject your best friend to all that damn planning and inconvenience. No one has to worry about what to wear that day. Just come to party. You don't have to remember some unimportant words you spent the night before trying to memorize. Married couples would look at gays in complete jealousy. It's like married couples have to live up to the standards of what everyone thinks marriage should be.

Recently Married Person: Damn, I gotta go to the in-laws for Thanksgiving. I hate going over there. They're always pressuring me about how much money I make and about having children.

Recently Mardi Gras'd Person: Well, since our parents rejected us because we're gay, why don't we have Thanksgiving together with all of our other rejected friends? We can all get drunk and go out dancing until the early morning.

Recently Married Person: Damn, I wish I had a Mardi Gras.

He He He

The first time I saw George W., there was something about him that I didn't like right out of the gate. His laugh. The president shouldn't laugh like a villain. The man laughs like he just tied somebody to the railroad tracks. Now it all makes sense.

Continues...

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Excerpted from Yeah, I Said It by Wanda Sykes Copyright © 2004 by Wanda Sykes. Excerpted by permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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