Growing Up Laughing: My Story and the Story of Funny

Very disappointing and hard to read. The book is subtitled My Story. I expected to hear about what it was like to grow up with Danny Thomas as your father and having dinner guests such as George Burns or Jack Benny and yes, you did get some of that and I admit that what there was of it was very good - but I am sure there were many more stories Thomas could have told of her father, her tv series That Girl, and others she worked with. Instead, you got an interruption every other chapter or so where Thomas interviews a comedian such as Jon Stewart, Chris Rock, Jay Leno, and others and asks them questions about their childhood and if they were the class clown. This has NOTHING to do with Ms. Thomas' story. If I had wanted to read about show more these people (which I did not) I would have bought a book on them. It got so that I skipped those chapters to preserve the continuity of what there was of the story of Marlo Thomas. It disrupted your concentration on the text and the enjoyment of hearing those stories to then go into a chapter on a completely different topic and subject. Additionally, Ms. Thomas did not go into the loss of her mother and what affect that had on their family. She devoted a chapter to her mother but never let us know what happened to this interesting personality and comedian in her own right. The interviews with the comedians that so disrupted this book should have been a different book or put altogether in the back. show less

This book is a nice blend of memoirs about Thomas' growing up surrounded by comic geniuses of her father's generation and interviews with the current generation of comic geniuses including Jon Stewart AND Stephen Colbert, Chris Rock, Robin Williams, Whoopi Goldberg, Billy Crystal, and more.

I remember as a child watching Make Room for Daddy with my family and loving the show. I really don't remember it except for Danny Thomas chomping on his cigar and yelling at Uncle Toonus. Perhaps I loved the show so much because I identified with Angela Cartwright, because my Dad too traveled a lot. Staying up late and watching comics and hearing my Dad laugh are happy memories, so of course I picked up the book. After all, who didn't want to be "That Girl" growing up?
I really enjoyed the book, but I have to admit the parts I liked the best were the ones where Marlo told about her family. Mentioned in the text near the end was a book that her father wrote titled, Make Room for Danny. Those who are left wanting more might want to pick show more up a copy. show less

Very disappointing and hard to read. The book is subtitled My Story. I expected to hear about what it was like to grow up with Danny Thomas as your father and having dinner guests such as George Burns or Jack Benny and yes, you did get some of that and I admit that what there was of it was very good - but I am sure there were many more stories Thomas could have told of her father, her tv series That Girl, and others she worked with. Instead, you got an interruption every other chapter or so where Thomas interviews a comedian such as Jon Stewart, Chris Rock, Jay Leno, and others and asks them questions about their childhood and if they were the class clown. This has NOTHING to do with Ms. Thomas' story. If I had wanted to read about show more these people (which I did not) I would have bought a book on them. It got so that I skipped those chapters to preserve the continuity of what there was of the story of Marlo Thomas. It disrupted your concentration on the text and the enjoyment of hearing those stories to then go into a chapter on a completely different topic and subject. Additionally, Ms. Thomas did not go into the loss of her mother and what affect that had on their family. She devoted a chapter to her mother but never let us know what happened to this interesting personality and comedian in her own right. The interviews with the comedians that so disrupted this book should have been a different book or put altogether in the back. show less

Entertaining and heartwarming. An upper of a book. Intermingled with stories of her own life are interviews with funny people about how they got that way. Genius!

Funny book about laughter! Stories from the author's life plus interviews of current comedians. Relaxing and pleasant reading.

Very interesting, I would recommend this one.