About the Book:
A candid, hilarious, and heartbreaking memoir of resilience and redemption by comedic genius Molly Shannon
At age four, Molly Shannon’s world was shattered when she lost her mother, baby sister, and cousin in a car accident with her father at the wheel. Held together by her tender and complicated relationship with her grieving father, Molly was raised in a permissive household where her gift for improvising and role-playing blossomed alongside the fearlessness that would lead her to become a celebrated actress.
From there, Molly ventured into the wider world of New York and Los Angeles show business, where she created her own opportunities and developed her daring and empathetic comedy. Filled with behind-the-scenes stories involving everyone from Whitney Houston to Adam Sandler to Monica Lewinski, many told for the first time here, ‘HELLO, MOLLY!’ spans Molly’s time on ‘Saturday Night Live’ – where she starred alongside Will Ferrell, Adam Sandler, Cheri Oteri, Tracy Morgan, and Jimmy Fallon, among many others. At the same time, it explores with humor and candor her struggle to come to terms with the legacy of her father, a man who both fostered her gifts and drive and was left with the impossible task of raising his kids alone after the loss of her mother.
Witty, winning, and told with tremendous energy and heart, ‘HELLO, MOLLY!’, written with Sean Wilsey, sheds new and revelatory light on the life and work of one of our most talented and free-spirited performers.
My Review:
Fabulous! Molly Shannon narrates her autobiography with incredible warmth and candor and doesn’t gloss over the tragic parts of her early life.
I generally knew that her mother and sister were killed in a horrific car accident when Molly was very young but I did not know that her cousin was also killed and that her father battled alcoholism his entire life. He raised Molly and her sister as best he could, and the Catholic Church was a big part of her childhood life. I loved her stories of parochial school and the different people who were an important part of her life.
Molly is a very engaging storyteller, and I was fascinated by her stories of her days on Saturday Night Live. All of her characters came from a place of love and humanity, which seem to be the guiding principles she has followed her whole life.
“It’s important to go to the people who love you and who want to work with you as opposed to trying to convince people who don’t … No matter how far you’ve come … you’re always going to have to get to the next place, so you might as well enjoy where you are.”
Some people would not have survived the chaotic upbringing that Molly had, but she not only survived, but thrived, and also had a very poignant reconciliation with her father Jim in his later years. Molly Shannon has written a lively, uplifting book that is both funny and tragic at the same time. I felt like I was listening to an old friend tell me stories. Highly recommend!
