Funny. Intriguing, heart warming. Overall a very enjoyable and endearing read. Loved listening to the audiobook as well.

I was excited to read START WITHOUT ME when I found out that it was written by Gary Janetti, creator of the hilarious Will & Grace tv series. I was expecting the laughs when I started reading but what I didn’t expect is how heartfelt it would be.

I also really loved listening to the audiobook format, which was read by the author, and always an added bonus for me.

*many thanks to Macmillan Audio/Netgalley for the gifted copy for review

I really love memoirs, especially when they are narrated by the author. This is a pretty cheeky one that tells about Janetti’s life growing up. A quick memoir that had me laughing at moments and feeling some emotions in others. Thank you to @netgalley @garyjanetti and @macmillan.audio for this audiobook review copy that comes out April 26th.

I was not going to leave a review for this book. But I decided I needed to be fair to myself and remind my future self to be more careful about what books I choose to read. This book was also horrible in that I was skipping over parts just to try and finish the book. It was not as described at all. I should never have asked to receive it. Honestly, if you want to feel horrible about life read this book.

Gary Janetti is hilarious and very relatable. Perfect for a quick fun read that feels like having a gossip session with a good friend.

I received an audiobook version of this in exchange for my unbiased review! I found this to be a refreshing bit of audio. Gary’s narration style is very unique and kept me tuned in. His perspective on growing up queer was fascinating. Looking back in history to the progress we have made was eye opening. Grateful for the glimpse into Gary’s life, well told.

I follow Gary Janetti on Instagram and I knew he was hilarious. This book confirmed it. It was laugh out loud funny and was a much needed remedy for this post-quarantine, but still pandemic world. I will definitely be buying this for my library.

This book was exactly what I needed after a few heavy reads. I was literally laughing out loud listening to this book while walking my dog, while driving and making dinners. You will know Gary Janetti best from his hugely popular Instagram account of witty one-liners, however he is also a tv comedy writer (The Family Guy, Will and Grace). This book brings us more hilarity but about his own life. A collection of essays about neighbours, career, destination weddings, and my favourite: his hatred of school gym class (something I can totally relate to - I was always trying to think up ways to get out of it). This book really is a funny escapist read, though it also has a lot of heart and emotion as Gary’s humour is rooted in the challenges he has faced in his life. Check it out! You will love it!

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 Love this audiobook! Start Without Me(I’ll be there in a minute) by Gary Janetti is hilarious, heartfelt and a keeper. I really enjoyed listening to Gary Janetti as the narrator himself. It felt as if he was accompanying me on my walks. He was a great companion! I will probably listen to it again sometime… I’ll be recommending it for sure! Thank you @macmillan.audio @netgalley for this opportunity to review this audiobook.
ISBN# 9781250225856

A quick and funny memoir that most readers over the age of 35 will find relatable. The narration was to robotic which really distracts from the wonderful stories Janetti shared.

⭐️⭐️⭐️ 3 stars for a great book that I wish I had read rather than listened to.

Can I please attend an event that Gary is invited to? Haha if he shows up! Ok jokes aside this book is hilarious. I loved hearing his stories about growing up and idolizing Carol Burnette that chapter had me calling my mom and repeating the story! I definitely will be checking out his other book Do You Mind If I Cancel… I found many similarities to how Gary feels about hanging out and my own social status so it was a comforting read for me.

Gary Janetti is back with Start Without Me, a new book of essays about growing up and growing older. The bestselling author of Do You Mind if I Cancel? and a producer and writer for Will & Grace and Family Guy, among other shows, brings his ironic, acerbic take on life.

There are the stories about his childhood, like how much he loved that one day every year when The Wizard of Oz was on television (it was before streaming, so you only had one chance a year to catch the primetime airing of the movie). And the year that his parents bought a new television set and he found out that part of the movie was in color was a revelation to him.

There are stories about him in his 20s, reading books in New York’s great gay restaurants and tanning his way around Europe. There are tales of his Catholic high school and how he got out of his physical education classes while the class was playing football. And there are the snippets of his life now, and how he’d rather move than spend time talking to his neighbors.

There are the stories about the friends he made while on the cruises that his family got to take on account of his father working for a cruise company. And the stories about his family, like how hard it was to talk his mother into letting him stay up for The Carol Burnett Show (until the one night that the police knocked on the door (I’m not going to tell you what they said, but that story alone is worth the price of the book).

Janetti includes a commencement address that skips over the platitudes and tells the truth. His Trip Advisor review goes in to details about the issues on his vacation. And his rant about destination weddings is what we all think and don’t say.

But while he is entertaining us with his stories of growing up in Queens in the !970s and ‘80s, of going to college on Long Island, of living in Manhattan as a young man, Janetti is drawing us in to his life. He offers up snarky stories and poignant memories, but really he is offering up his own heart and soul on a silver platter. These are personal stories, but he uses his vulnerability to show how alike we all are, even if we don’t actually want to talk to each other.

There were moments I laughed so hard at Start Without Me that I had to stop the audio and wipe the tears from my eyes. And there were moments I could feel the sadness coming through Janetti’s voice. He narrates the audio himself, which just adds to how honest these stories sound. I thought that there were moments where he sounded a little robotic reading these stories, but that just made his punch lines zing with extra flair, so the more I listened, the more charmed I became.

I’m not sure this book is for everyone. I think you have to be a fan of Janetti or his work in Hollywood to appreciate it. It helps if you were a child of the ‘80s or a theater kid or a true fan of Judy Garland to truly understand some of these stories. But if you were socially awkward as a kid or grew up in Queens or just really want to lay out and get a good tan, then you might just find that Gary Janetti is one of your people, and you will enjoy these stories with gusto and guffaws.

A copy of the audiobook for Start Without Me was provided by Macmillan Audio through NetGalley, with many thanks.

I love Gary already, so this was a fun audiobook for me (it was read by the author himself). So full of wit and humour, I found myself laughing out loud at times! Such a fun little book about Gary’s life growing up - and fun stories along the way.

Thanks so much to MacMillan audio for a copy of this one for review! It released last week, so go find a copy!

This was funny!!! Had me LOLing almost the whole time. I’ve followed Gary on Instagram for a while so I was excited to listen to this. His narration was great and I flew through it! Highly recommend if you’re in the mood for a good laugh.

Thank you to Netgalley for the audio version of this book. This book is read by the author Gary Janetti. He is absolutley hilarious! I was laughing at how he narrated his book and his overall writing! He is just so amazing to read and listen too. This was a shorter book but well worth the read.. he tells about growing up gay in a time that it was not accepted. He does an amazing job at grabbing you the reader and keeping you wanting to hear more. He is very down to earth and real! He is a little all over the place but really it was a style I enjoyed and can relate to.

Thanks to NetGalley for the audiobook ARC!

Gary Janetti definitely knows how to entertain. Start Without Me is funny, poignant, irreverent and witty by turns, and is definitely a must-read for fans of humor writing and memoirs..

3.35 stars.

This is the second memoir I've read this week written by a gay man born in New York. This time, the author/narrator is American TV writer, producer, and actor Gary Janetti, whose credits include being an executive producer on Will and Grace and co-creator and writer of the British sitcom Vicious. I read his previous book—Do You Mind If I Cancel? (Things That Still Annoy Me)—soon after it was published in October of 2019.

Early in this volume, Janetti talks about the importance of The Carol Burnett Show to his childhood (as did Randy Rainbow in his memoir released this week; I loved it as a child, too—I often watched with Granny). Other topics include piano lessons, his sneaky method of getting out of gym class during the football unit, how we contacted friends before texting was a thing, and differences in childrearing between the 1970s and now. A few times, I laughed out loud . . . loud enough for my partner to hear from another room and check on me.

Janetti's narration was inconsistent—sometimes spirited and conversational; often dull, almost robotic. Regardless, the memoir is a quick, fun read.

Thank you, NetGalley and Macmillan Audio, for the audio ARC of the book in exchange for an honest review. Publication is expected April 26.

Gary Janetti‘s clever and dry humor is exactly what I need more of. His narration is spot on. I laughed and smiled through every moment of this audiobook. Totally recommend!

I really enjoyed Gary Janetti’s prior book, Do You Mind If I Cancel, so I was equally excited to receive Start Without Me to review, which is a collection of stories about the the times in his life that defined him, and let me tell you, this book is just as good. It is a quick read, and I was chuckling throughout, as he does not hold back with his thoughts and stories that he told. The audio is absolute perfection, as Gary does the audio himself, so it really doesn’t get any better than that.

All of these stories are great, but there are a few that stuck with me and had me rolling. HIs love of The Carol Burnett Show and the Wizard of Oz, his dislike of knowing his neighbors, and pen pals he reunited with later on - hilarious. At this point I should just list them all here because really each of the stories were wonderful in their own way, and there really is no reason you shouldn’t pick this one up when it is out on Tuesday 4/26. It’s absolutely fantastic and you won’t be disappointed!

Thank you to @HenryHoltBooks and @NetGalley for the ARC and ALC to review.

Gary Janetti never fails to make me laugh. His economy of words and sharp wit combined deliver sharp barbs that made me laugh out loud. A short “read” and a pleasure to listen to the author read.

With thanks to NetGalley and a Macmillan Audio for access to the e-ARC of this book.