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| My Trip Down the Pink Carpet | 
 enlarge | Author: Leslie Jordan
Publisher: Simon Spotlight Entertainment
Category: Book
List Price: $21.95
Buy New: $12.66
You Save: $9.29 (42%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  16 reviews
Sales Rank: 16312
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 272
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 8.1 x 5.1 x 1.2
ISBN: 1416955550
Dewey Decimal Number: 792.028092
EAN: 9781416955559
ASIN: 1416955550
Publication Date: June 3, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: BRAND NEW!
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Product Description
A hilarious romp from small-town USA to the pink carpet of Hollywood with the beloved Emmy-winning actor, playwright, and gay icon Leslie Jordan is a small man with a giant propensity for scene stealing. Best known for his bravura recurring role as Karen's nemesis, Beverley Leslie, on Will & Grace (for which he won a Best Guest Actor in a Comedy Series Emmy in 2006), he has also made memorable appearances on Ally McBeal, Boston Public, Monk, and Murphy Brown. Raised in a conservative family in Chattanooga, Tennessee, Leslie -- who describes himself as "the gayest man I know" -- boarded a Greyhound bus bound for LA with $1,200 sewn into his underpants and never looked back. His pocket-sized physique and inescapable talent for high camp paved the way to a lucrative and varied career in commercials and on television. Along the way he immersed himself in writing for the stage, and his one-man testimonials have become cult off-Broadway hits. But with success came dangerous temptations: a self-proclaimed former substance abuser and sexaholic, Leslie has spent time in jail and struggled to overcome his addictionsand self-loathing. My Trip Down the Pink Carpet is a rollicking, fast-paced collection of stories, served up with wit, panache, and plenty of biting asides. Filled with comically overwrought childhood agonies, offbeat observations, and revealing celebrity encounters -- from Boy George to George Clooney -- it delivers a fresh, laugh-out-loud take on Hollywood, fame, addiction, gay culture, and learning to love oneself.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 11 more reviews...
 Leslie Jordan and his sordid life! ;) May 24, 2008
10 out of 12 found this review helpful
Leslie Jordan's book is a lot like him...short, quirky and funny. I've seen this little southern diva before in many shows but it was his hilarious recurring role on television's "Will and Grace" and his side-splitting turn as Brother Boy in Del Shore's cult hit "Sordid Lives" that won me over. I've also had the good fortune of seeing him on stage with the traveling stage show of "Sordid Lives" and "Southern Baptist Sissies" in which he gave performances that brought down the house! When I read that he had a book coming out chronicling his life, I had to give it a read.
Jordan jumps back and forth in his book, never telling his story in chronological order. While that is not a bad thing, his story is choppy sometimes and I'm sure he's holding back some whopper-sized tales that would make his family blush if he really let loose and spilled the goods. However, what he does share is funny as well as touching. Through his words he shows how his Southern Baptist upbringing in Tennessee affected him as a young man, dealing with his sexual orientation and a life time of issues that come with that baggage. While he always knew he was a gay man, he was fighting those demons created by his Baptist teachings and the desires in his heart. Unfortunately, he wasted many years hating who he was and trying to numb that hate with drug and alcohol, all the while managing to keep his career moving along.
While he mentions many funny things, such as his celebrity crushes and some great stories about his mom and his overt "gayness", the most touching part of the book, for me, came near the end when he had the revelation of what we all truly should be striving for in life...which is to love and be loved. His revelation, sadly comes through the words of a friend dying of AIDS--words that are extremely relevant in today's world.
Jordan is a talented and wickedly funny character actor. I would love to have heard more about his time on the sets of shows like "Will and Grace" and "Ally McBeal" or on the movie sets he's worked on. It would also been nice to have heard more about his time as a child, his time in high school and his life in college. But all in all, 'My Trip Down the Pink Carpet' is a treat for fans of this diminutive firecracker.
Tennessee Jordan May 28, 2008
10 out of 10 found this review helpful
"It is a terrible feeling when you cannot find your way home," Jordan writes, describing a night out clubbing as a very young man in Atlanta. The sentiment is also a metaphor for Leslie's life, as well as for many of the rest of us. Finding your way home takes years of wondering, searching and facing disappointments.
What I love most about this book is that Leslie Jordan has found his way home, and his famiiy of fans are here for him. The book ends with hope and help.
Like Leslie, I'm a gay Southerner. "They circled the wagons, as only true Southern [I'd add and Jewish] women can do, and created a secret garden where it was okay for little boys to play with dools." They knew, they loved us, and they wanted in their own best way to protect us. God bless our Southern Mamas!
Memoirs are tricky because how does one write about oneself subjectively? Usually too self-praising, or the other extreme self-deprecating. Leslie gets that tone just right. "I would never be the kind of actor who could disappear into the roles he or she played. And quite frankly, I have never been asked to play a character I felt was more interesting than me in real life."
And how true! "I've decided almost all gay men my age have what I call 'Marilyn Monroe syndrome.' We love to fall apart. We love to take pills and cry and carry on. We love self-recreated drama."
This book is funny, well-written (and well-edited) concise and a short-read. Enjoy it laugh and take away the few important lessons at that end.
Rich Merritt, author ofSecrets Of A Gay Marine Porn Star and Code of Conduct
HILARIOUS - read it! May 29, 2008
3 out of 7 found this review helpful
I haven't read a story this funny, and in some ways sad, but ends with an uplisting message since Rich Merritt's Secrets Of A Gay Marine Porn Star. Both men are from the South, grew up in religious homes, came out as gay. The key difference is that while Merritt joined the Marines, Jordan went to Hollywood. His behind-the-scenes tales from tinseltown are over-the-top funny but in a way that remains respectful of all the cebrities he's work with. No wonder they love him so much! and you will too if you read this book
Not a Sordid Life at All June 1, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Jordan, Leslie. "My Trip Down the Pink Carpet", Simon and Schuster, 2008.
Not a Sordid Life at All
Amos Lassen
With thunderstorm warnings in Little Rock today and the thought of summer school starting tomorrow, I was sitting here feeling quite down. Then I noticed a package I had not opened and in it was Leslie Jordan's "My Trip Down the Pink Carpet" and it was just what I needed to lift my spirits. Most of us know who Leslie Jordan is but I am not sure all of us know "Brother Boy's" real name. Now that we have established who he is let's get a look at him physically. He is small but he can steal a scene from the best of them. How many of us cannot forget his entrance to his mother's funeral in "Sordid Lives" or his guest appearances on "Will and Grace". "Murphy Brown" and "Ally McBeal" or the night he won the Emmy for Best Guest Actor in a Comedy Series.
Jordan was raised in the South in a conservative family in Chattanooga, Tennessee. He went to Hollywood and his life changed forever. And he tells it all to us. His life is like the man, jumpy and inconsistent. He shows us his Southern Baptist upbringing and how it affected him and he deals with his homosexuality with some very funny stories (I am sure that he has more stories that did not make it into the book). He fought the demons that preached against homosexuality and he fought his own sexual bent. He lapsed into drugs and alcohol and still managed to keep his career on track.
Memoirs are quite difficult to write because the author has difficulty being subjective about himself. We have seen memoirs in which the author's conceit or self-hatred seem to show on every page. Jordan manages to avoid both traps and he comes across as very real, very honest and sincere
Jordan also does not hold back mentioning names. The divas like Faye Dunaway, Tammy Faye Baker and Beverly D'Angelo are here as are the men he has had crushes on or acted with, Boy George, George Clooney, Luke Perry, Dean Cain and Robert Downey, Jr. He takes us on a journey from Tennessee, through the AIDS epidemic, to the 90's and "Sordid Lives" to the present and he keeps us laughing. I, personally, loved the chapter, "The Tears of the Israelites" and how he explains how he learned that the word "Jew" was not a verb and how his he relates Del Shores' story of a Jewish woman in Texas was asked by a friend to participate in a local church's "Pack the pew with a Jew".
Jordan certainly had a lot to tell us and he did not tell all. This is my one complaint. When I closed the book, I wanted more. It's a quick read and one that will keep you laughing for quite a long time.
Leslie Jordan...always such a delight! June 9, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I met Mr. Jordan several years ago when he was in town performing his one man show, Like a Dog on Linoleum. I was coming down the street and noticed his small frame immediately as 'Beverly Leslie' from Will & Grace, among other appearances. I walked up to him, absolutely thrilled to see him right there in the flesh. I hadn't got but a few words out when he hugged me like an old friend...not too difficult to do, since I'm honestly not much taller than him myself. I've been a fan ever since and have eagerly looked forward to reading this book. No long analysis here, folks, suffice to see that this delightful little read is like a drink of cool water on a hot day! Thoughtful, funny and totally capitivating, I found myself laughing out on the bus on my way to work as I read this! I can say my only criticism of the book is that is wasn't longer, as I was left very pleased with my read, but greedily wanting more. Well done, Leslie, well done!
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