How Do I Un-Remember This?

June 1, 2022

Pellegrino's background as a comedian and podcaster works to his and listeners' advantage because he knows how to write and perform his clever and hilarious material. He gives a lively, sly, and perfectly-timed reading of his pop culture--laden "unfortunately true stories" of growing up gay in the Midwest. Whether he's mortified to discover he's accidentally returned a burial urn to Kohl's on Christmas Eve, reliving a slumber party that turned into a naked run, or trying to figure out how to subliminally bring up the movie Judy after his boyfriend has forbidden him from mentioning it, Pellegrino is a delight. Sprinkled throughout are "detours," where Pellegrino jumps out of the stories he's spinning to allow himself to get sidetracked on important topics like how there's not enough nudity in the Magic Mike sequel or how the theme song to The Nanny is the greatest of all time. Pellegrino's secret weapon is that his tales are not only very funny but also tender and possess real emotion. VERDICT Pellegrino's boyish voice brings warmth and tenderness to his hilarious tales of growing up gay.--Kevin Howell

Copyright 2022 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 20, 2021
Podcaster and comedian Pellegrino (Fancy AF Cocktails) takes a humorous and heartfelt trip down memory lane in this candid account of the moments that shaped him. Growing up during the ’90s as a “closeted kid” in a small Ohio town, Pellegrino had his fair share of misadventures—from streaking through the night on a dare to the unexpected trials of trying to get a family vacation off the ground, with very shaky results. For all the laughs his recollections induce, there’s an equal amount of introspection and vulnerability on offer in his shrewd articulations of universal human anxieties: “Every year on my birthday, a sense of melancholy washes over me.... I feel judged by my peers, and all the while I’m scrolling IG and judging the celebrities... with a leftover Roadside Slider from the Cheesecake Factory in my free hand.” He also elegantly writes of the challenges he faced and the gradual steps he took to openly admit to being gay (“Those years when you’re figuring it all out can be mental torture, but... life doesn’t stop when you come out. In fact, life begins because you’re finally living it authentically”). Readers will adore this witty account of navigating life—and finding the joy in marching to the beat of one’s own drum.