You Can Do It!
Speak Your Mind, America
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
An unfiltered and outrageously funny commentary on the threats to free speech in America from the legendary comedian, actor, and Emmy-nominated SNL writer.
Rob Schneider’s childhood in the San Francisco Bay area with parents of mixed-race backgrounds shaped his view of the world: that America affords the greatest opportunity for peoples from all nations and all faiths. But today, in this world gone mad, free speech is under attack. And Schneider keeps finding himself in controversy for questioning what woke ideology is doing to our great nation.
Still, he refuses to be censored. In his debut book, Schneider will make you laugh out loud as he tells his unique story of a Hollywood-comedian-turned-vocal-advocate for open dialogue. He takes readers along for a ride through his life in show business (where he’s starred in 27 movies with his friend Adam Sandler), shares stories from the glory days of Saturday Night Live, and makes a persuasive case for fearlessness in speech and pushing the boundaries in comedy. Comedians matter because they have a unique position in society to stand up against tyranny. In this book, Schneider shares never-before-told personal stories about Chris Farley, Norm Macdonald, Christopher Walken, Dana Carvey, and Martin Landau, and other comedy legends.
You Can Do It! is part celeb memoir, part warning, and part siren call to action. It was said during the days of Covid the difference between a conspiracy theory and the truth was about six months. Influenced by his own experiences in Hollywood, Schneider illustrates his points about free expression with provocative commentary on things you aren't suppose to question, like identity politics, Covid tyranny, "global boiling," medical freedoms and more. Schneider refuses to believe he’s dangerous for saying what he thinks. In fact, the opposite is true—it’s dangerous to not question the narrative. It’s dangerous to not exercise your free speech.
That’s what Rob Schneider’s doing. And as this humorous, shocking, irreverent but insightful book shows readers, you can do it too.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Former SNL star Schneider aims for George Carlin–esque in his first book, an excruciating foray into truth to power comedy that gets bogged down by buzzwords and lands firmly in the realm of abrasive memes. As Schneider runs through a litany of grievances and conspiracies that have rippled across America since the Covid-19 pandemic, there are occasional bright spots, such as his anecdotes about other comedians—Jim Downey, Adam Sandler, Lenny Bruce—and about his time spent on various shoots and sets, all of which are enjoyable, if brief. The remainder of the book is spent punching down and dwelling on culture war minutiae that has long felt dated. Cognitive dissonance abounds as Schneider portrays Democrats as closed-minded moralists, unlike himself: bodily autonomy is sacred and should be celebrated for the vaccine skeptical, but not for transgender Americans; the science is settled on gender, but more research is still necessary on climate change. Elsewhere, Schneider rails against late night talk-show hosts, hammering them for partisan clannishness in their show-opening monologues, yet he sees no problem resorting to the same kind of trite in-group terminology ("SCAMdemic" and "DEI"). In parroting right-wing talking points—especially those about freedom of speech and freedom of thought—Schneider merely demonstrates a lack of originality. This bombs.
