Product Description

In his award-winning first book, Bob Smith offered up a witty dose of nineties reality with his observations as a happily adjusted gay man. Now, after breaking up with his longtime boyfriend, Smith looks back to his painfully normal childhood to see where all the trouble really began. Like every other American kid, Bob's adolescence was marked by alternating moments of blissful ignorance, hazy confusion, and humiliating self-consciousness. And in these pages, Bob evokes his youth with a vividness that will make you shudder and howl with recognition.

In these hysterically humorous pages, Bob Smith introduces readers to his comically unsympathetic grandmother, who makes light of his carsickness: "Bob only throws up because he's near the window and he can"; to his first teacher crush, whose "five-o'clock shadow could plunge a room into darkness"; and to his first brush with fame, when he fainted from his chair during a biology filmstrip ("Way to go, Smith!"). Sharp, observant, ingeniously ironic and wholly satisfying, this new Lambda Award-nominated collection is at once bittersweet nostalgic fun and a testament to the unquestionable gifts of a highly original comic writer.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #745291 in Books
• Published on: 2000-11-01
• Released on: 2000-11-07
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 304 pages

Amazon.com Review
"The great thing about the shareware between a couple is that the network is limited to the two of you," writes humorist Bob Smith in "Wolf Whistling in the Dark," the first chapter in his second collection of interlinked essays. "No one has ever understood me or known me better than Tom, but recently we seemed to have forgotten each other's access code." The novella-length examination of the breakup of Smith's long-term relationship is one of the highlights of Way to Go, Smith!--but each essay has its gemlike moments. Although some of his epigrammatic quips are gay-specific ("Gay men have a tendency to examine an attractive body almost as if, by some miracle, they might have to identify it later when it turns up in their beds"), Smith's recollections of his childhood experiences at home and school would strike a chord with any reader. His sexuality and the experiences that stem from it are combined with these anecdotes in an unapologetic but also unassuming way that teaches all of us to accept Bob Smith just as he is (though it's hard not to like such a handsome and witty guy)--and, hopefully, to accept others around us for who they are as well. --Ron Hogan

From Publishers Weekly
This second installment in gay comedian Bob Smith's autobiography (Openly Bob was published in 1997) features the occasional laugh-out-loud line and twinge of insight, but for the most part reads like a series of stand-up routines that never made it to the stage. While focusing on the minutiae of Smith's growing up, his quirky family, his coming out and his falling in love with a wonderful man named Tom, Smith's first book sustained a sprightly, entertaining tone. Here Tom and Bob have just broken up. Although Smith's humor is, as usual, tinged with rue (when his mother asks if Tom left him for another man, he notes, "Boy, did that piss me off. My mother still didn't think that I was capable of ruining a ten-year relationship all by myself"), the material is not very compelling. Smith is best when detailing small emotional moments: his descriptions of bonding with his widowed mother over being single have a resonance missing from the rest of the book. All too often, he relies on the old one-two style of comic timing, which works on the stage but feels weak on the page ("When my grandmother made sandwiches, she always buttered the bread first, which explained why she was always on a diet"). In relating his attempts at dating, his memories of his first crushes and how he finally met someone he likes, Smith captures some telling moments in the process of reclaiming one's sexual self after the loss of a relationship, but for the most part does not re-create the zest or emotional warmth of his first book. (Nov.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author
Bob Smith is the author of Growing Up Gay, written with the Funny Gay Males, which was nominated for a Lambda Award. He tours extensively, performing across the country, and has written for numerous television shows, including Roseanne's, Saturday Night Special, and the MTV Video Awards. Smith is set to star in a new gay sketch-comedy series, coproduced by the CBC and Showtime, for which he will write and perform. Raised in Buffalo, New York, he now lives in Los Angeles with his boyfriend, Tom. You can E-mail Bob at bobscomedy@aol.com.

Customer Reviews

Fantastic and (Too) Quick Read
Way to Go, Smith! is a wonderful follow up to Openly Bob. Tender and humourous, it invites the reader to know intimate details of a relationship gone south without having the tell-all tone so common in most media today. Anyone who has had a fight over something as seemily innocuous as spaghetti tongs, read this book!

Great Book!
What a great book! I've read all 3 books Bob has written (Growing Up Gay, Openly Bob & this one.) He's a terrific writer. As I read his books, I think I'm reading my own life's story. I can really relate to his experiences -- love, relationships, family & friends. I looked forward to this new book because it felt like I was catching up with an old friend. Several times I caught myself laughing out loud at something he had written.

I definitely connected with him when he wrote about cutting out pictures in the 4th grade -- his excellent eye/hand coordination as demonstrated by his superb cutting skills did not serve him well when he played baseball. How true!

I've heard Bob Smith perform a couple of times. He's as terrific in person as he is on paper. A truly funny, personable guy!

Way to Go, Smith, is a definite read - as are all of his books. I can't wait until the next one is printed!

YOU MUST GET THIS BOOK!
If you read Openly Bob, you must buy this book. If you've ever ended a long relationship, you really must buy this book! Once again Bob Smith has written a funny, touching, honest book for the gay man of the 90's. I wish this book had been out (no pun intended) when I ended my relationship. It would have been much more helpful than Absolut, Billie Holiday, and Reese peanut butter cups! Get this for yourselves and your friends. It also wouldn't hurt for your straight friends to read this.