Cack-Handed
The British comedian of Nigerian heritage and co-executive producer and writer of the CBS hit series Bob Hearts Abishola chronicles her odyssey to get to America and break into Hollywood in this lively and humorous memoir.
According to family superstition, Gina Yashere was born to fulfil the dreams of her grandmother Patience. The powerful first wife of a wealthy businessman, Patience was poisoned by her jealous sister-wives and marked with a spot on her neck. From birth, Gina carried a similar birthmark – a sign that she was her grandmother’s chosen heir, and would fulfil Patience’s dreams. Gina would learn to speak perfect English, live unfettered by men or children, work a man’s job, and travel the world with a free spirit.
Is she the reincarnation of her grandmother? Maybe. Gina isn’t ruling anything out. In Cack-Handed, she recalls her intergenerational journey to success foretold by her grandmother and fulfilled thousands of miles from home. This hilarious memoir tells the story of how from growing up as a child of Nigerian immigrants in working class London, running from skinheads, and her overprotective mum, Gina went on to become the first female engineer with the UK branch of Otis, the largest elevator company in the world, where she went through a baptism of fire from her racist and sexist co-workers. Not believing her life was difficult enough, she later left engineering to become a stand up comic, appearing on numerous television shows and becoming one of the top comedians in the UK, before giving it all up to move to the US, a dream she’d had since she was six years old, watching American kids on television, riding cool bicycles, and solving crimes.
A collection of eccentric, addictive, and uproarious stories that combine family, race, gender, class, and country, Cack-Handed reveals how Gina’s unconventional upbringing became the foundation of her successful career as an international comedian.
Gina Yashere has appeared on countless TV shows both in the UK and US. Here she was the first and only British comic to perform on Def Comedy Jam. She has performed on The Tonight Show, has been featured as a correspondent on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, has three comedy specials currently streaming on Netflix, and is an executive producer, writer, and series regular on the CBS sitcom Bob Hearts Abishola, which she co-created with Chuck Lorre. She has three comedy specials currently streaming and appears in The Standups: Season 2 on Netflix.