cover image Lea's Book of Rules for the World

Lea's Book of Rules for the World

Lea Delaria. Dell Publishing Company, $15 (224pp) ISBN 978-0-440-50854-0

If your experience of lesbian comedy begins and ends with Ellen DeGeneres, say hello to Lea DeLaria, a brassy, foul-mouthed butch who, after traveling the queer comedy circuit for years, has begun to land parts everywhere from network TV (on shows such as Friends) to Broadway (playing Hildy in On the Town). Her first book isn't really a list of rules; it's more a loosely organized series of rants. Overflowing with energy and creativity, DeLaria doesn't just curse, talk about sex and criticize the Catholic Church (although she does plenty of that)--she's out to offend everyone. Here DeLaria, who angered straight-laced lesbians and gays at the March on Washington in 1992 by calling Hillary Clinton ""a first lady you could fuck,"" rewrites the Ten Commandments (replacing Though Shalt Not Steal, for example, with Thou Shalt Not Steal from People Who Absolutely Don't Deserve to Be Stolen From); proudly details her passion for ""banging"" under-age straight girls; and her views on why ""wops"" and ""micks"" (her mother and father, for instance) should never marry. Piercingly smart and occasionally self-reflective, DeLaria knows exactly what she's doing; like Lenny Bruce, she uses both her own sensibilities and the criticism her work inevitably provokes to expose the hypocrisy of both straight and gay folks (she even includes an array of reviews and letters she has received over the years). However, while the book showcases DeLaria's enormous comedic talent, it is also filled with so many self-destructive rationalizations (shades of Lenny Bruce again) that it can be downright hard to read. (May)