Is It Just Me? No, Miranda, It Isn't

I first saw Miranda Hart on The Big Fat Quiz of the Year, and subsequently fell in love with her on Call the Midwife where she plays the bright and bumbling, Chummy. But after her hilarious appearances on Would I Lie To You? I knew that this woman's memoir would be a must-read book. I wasn't wrong.

As the title suggests, Is It Just Me? consists of a series of embarrassing anecdotes and hilarious observations about the world that are sometime unique to Miranda but often applicable to everyone. For example, she relates a story about standing up to leave an interview only to have her skirt get caught in the chair and pulled down around her ankles. That feels like something that could only happen to Miranda, but almost everyone has a slightly less horrific tale of embarrassing themselves at an interview. Her writing style is incredibly Wodehousian and will keep you laughing out loud. Beware reading this book in public spaces, because you will get strange looks when you start giggling helplessly. In addition, she uses conversations with her 18-year old self to propel the narrative along, which feels a bit odd at the beginning but quickly turns into an extremely endearing and inspiring dialogue.

Each chapter deals with a particular topic, e.g. Hobbies, Office Life, Weddings, or Health. They contain a mix of amusing stories and genuinely helpful advice about not taking the world too seriously. Her 18-year old self is predominantly mortified by the doings of her older self, who is nowhere near as sophisticated, accomplished, or married as she was expecting. But as the book progresses, we realize that Hart values a different set of criteria for a well-lived life, and these are criteria we could all stand by.

British comedy is still a very male-dominated sphere and famous UK comediennes tend to be wry and sarcastic in keeping with British tradition. Miranda, on the other hand, is an unashamed goofball, thoroughly willing to put her 6'1" frame into any situation and see what happens. She may have put crusty bread rolls under her bra straps to emulate shoulder pads, and worn a scarf as a skirt after an unfortunate "incident," but she can just laugh about these things and turn them into fantastic stories designed to reduce you to a hysterical mess of giggles.

Miranda Hart's ultimate message to her reader (or her preferred epithet of "My Dear Reader Chum") is to just be yourself. Embrace weird, wonderful, wacky you and follow your dreams. And if you ever feel at a complete loss in a particular situation, you can be supremely confident that it isn't just you.