Fired!: Tales of the Canned, Canceled, Downsized, & Dismissed

Fired!: Tales of the Canned, Canceled, Downsized, & Dismissed
by Annabelle Gurwitch

Fired!: Tales of the Canned, Canceled, Downsized, & Dismissed
List Price: $19.95
Our Price: $0.01
You Save: $19.94 (100%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions


(Click here)
Buy this book at online book store in your country
Canada | UK | Germany | France

Book Summary Information

Author: Annabelle Gurwitch
Contributor: Bill Maher
Contributor: Felicity Huffman
Contributor: Bob Saget
Contributor: Robert Reich
Edition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2006-02-28
ISBN: 0743289854
Number of pages: 256
Publisher: Touchstone

Book Reviews of Fired!: Tales of the Canned, Canceled, Downsized, & Dismissed

Book Review: Cleaning the Grease-Trap
Summary: 5 Stars

As a teen, I was fired from my job as deep-fry cook at Kentucky Fried Chicken for failure to adequately clean out the grease-traps. I have carried this mortifying secret with me for years, and after reading FIRED!, I am emboldened to share it with the world.

As for FIRED!, I should quickly point out that virtually all of the book's 50-plus entries about being canned are by successful show-biz types. Thus, their stories are generally atypical of the workplace experience. So if you're looking for hardcore blue-collar stories, this ain't the place; the author you're looking for is Studs Terkel.

But can these show-biz types write? Surprisingly, yes, most of them can. There are a few duds in here (I don't have the heart to dis them in this review), but most entries have a smile in store for you, and some are "LOL," as we hipsters say. Of interest to me was the fact that, due to the editor's National Public Radio association, there are a number of NPR contributors herein, among whom Sandra Tsing Loh distinguishes herself nicely.

As pointed out elsewhere on this reviews page, this book's highest ambition is to be a book of amusing trifles and anecdotes, and it succeeds on its own terms. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a grease-trap that needs tending. (And no, I am not speaking metaphorically.)

Summary of Fired!: Tales of the Canned, Canceled, Downsized, & Dismissed

If you've ever been fired, you're in good company. That's what actress and writer Annabelle Gurwitch discovered when she was fired by her idol Woody Allen ("You look retarded"). She confided her tale of woe to her friend Felicity Huffman, who made Annabelle laugh with her own stories. Annabelle realized that there was a world of people out there waiting to laugh at the experience that virtually everyone shares, and she began to collect stories of being fired from friends and colleagues. Soon she was contributing regular "Fired!" segments to Day to Day on NPR and gathering friends to appear with her in sold-out performances of Fired! in Los Angeles and New York. Fired!, her documentary film inspired by these stories, comes out in 2006.

This book is a collection of hilarious but true tales from people who've all gotten the ax, the boot, or been canned at some point in their lives. In "That's a Fact," Andy Borowitz tells the story of being fired as a writer for the television sitcom The Facts of Life after being informed that he just didn't "get" Tootie. "Take that hanger off your head, you idiot!" were the last words Jeff Garlin heard before being fired from Spec's Music store after only one day on the job, just one of the many firings he recounts in "That Garlin Boy." In "Jimmy the Idiot," Dana Gould sums up his firing from the cast of the sitcom Working that led him to become a producer of The Simpsons: "In the second episode, I was a math genius, in the third -- a motocross racer, and in the fourth episode I was replaced by a chimp, but nobody noticed." In "Poor Judgment," Illeana Douglas tells about being fired after a few hours of working as a coat check girl: "How is it possible to be fired from hanging coats? I have arms. I know what coats are. I don't come home and throw my coat on the floor. I hang it in a closet. I have experience." How did Bob Saget find out he was being phased out of his job on The Morning Program? "One day I showed up and my hosting chair was gone!"

With an all-star cast from Tim Allen to Morgan Spurlock, from Anne Meara to David Cross, and contributions from people from all over the country, this book proves it's not the bounce that counts, it's the bounce back.

Humor Books

Book Subjects
Most talked about in Humor Books
Snuff ImageSnuff
by Chuck Palahniuk
Anchor; Published: 2009-04-07; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.95
Price in other shops: $14.95
Don't Eat This Book ImageDon't Eat This Book
by Morgan Spurlock
Penguin Audio; Published: 2005-05-19; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $4.89
Price in other shops: $29.95
I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell ImageI Hope They Serve Beer in Hell
by Tucker Max
Penguin; Published: 2006; Paperback; Book
The Saber-Tooth Curriculum ImageThe Saber-Tooth Curriculum
by J.Abner Peddiwell
Mcgraw-Hill; Published: 1959-06-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.00
Miss America ImageMiss America
by Howard Stern
It Books; Published: 2010-08-24; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.71
Price in other shops: $16.99
101 Places Not to See Before You Die Image101 Places Not to See Before You Die
by Catherine Price
Harper Perennial; Published: 2010-06-22; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.49
Price in other shops: $13.99
My Life and Hard Times (Perennial Classics) ImageMy Life and Hard Times (Perennial Classics)
by James Thurber
Harper Perennial Modern Classics; Published: 1999-10-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.83
Price in other shops: $11.99
Equal Rites: A Discworld Novel (Discworld Novels) ImageEqual Rites: A Discworld Novel (Discworld Novels)
by Terry Pratchett
Harper Perennial; Published: 2005-09-13; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.26
Price in other shops: $13.95
Mirth of a Nation: Audio Companion, Fellow Traveler and Friend for Life--Laff Tracks From America's Most Trusted Humor Anthology ImageMirth of a Nation: Audio Companion, Fellow Traveler and Friend for Life--Laff Tracks From America's Most Trusted Humor Anthology
by Michael J. Rosen
HarperAudio; Published: 2002-11-12; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $4.51
Price in other shops: $29.95
Red, White & Liberal ImageRed, White & Liberal
by Alan Colmes
HarperAudio; Published: 2003-10-28; Audio Cassette; Book
Best price: $0.01
Price in other shops: $25.95
Similar Books and other products
Corporate Confidential: 50 Secrets Your Company Doesn't Want You to Know---and What to Do About Them ImageCorporate Confidential: 50 Secrets Your Company Doesn't Want You to Know---and What to Do About Them
by Cynthia Shapiro
St. Martin's Griffin; Published: 2005-09-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.99
Price in other shops: $14.95
Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life ImageBird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life
by Anne Lamott
Anchor; Published: 1995-09-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.24
Price in other shops: $15.95
Fired! ImageFired!
Release date: 2007-06-05; Amazon Instant Video; Movie
Best price: $2.99
At Least in the City Someone Would Hear Me Scream: Misadventures in Search of the Simple Life ImageAt Least in the City Someone Would Hear Me Scream: Misadventures in Search of the Simple Life
by Wade Rouse
Broadway; Published: 2010-06-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.79
Price in other shops: $14.00
You Say Tomato, I Say Shut Up: A Love Story ImageYou Say Tomato, I Say Shut Up: A Love Story
by Annabelle Gurwitch, Jeff Kahn
Crown; Published: 2010-02-23; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $1.99
Price in other shops: $24.00
You Say Tomato, I Say Shut Up: A Love Story ImageYou Say Tomato, I Say Shut Up: A Love Story
by Annabelle Gurwitch, Jeff Kahn
Three Rivers Press; Published: 2011-02-08; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.71
Price in other shops: $14.00
Book store. Illustrated catalog of books on different categories