Cack-Handed: A Memoir [9780062961723]

Overview

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 fulfill 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 fulfill 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 Mom, 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.