Name Drop: The Really Good Celebrity Stories I Usually Only Tell at Happy Hour

Comedian Ross Mathews (Man Up!) loves celebrities and, as a red-carpet reporter for nearly two decades, he's interviewed a lot of them. He compiles his favorite encounters in Name Drop. As he notes in the subtitle, these are tales he usually tells friends only at happy hour after being plied with cheap two-for-one cocktails and appetizers. So he helpfully begins each chapter with a witty, related recipe (or "Rossipe") for a cocktail and appetizer. His cocktail recipe for "Barbara Walters Old Fashioned with Extra Bitters" prefaces his tale of co-hosting the View and his unpleasant encounter with Walters. Seconds before the live show started, he asked Walters for any advice and she replied, "I'd like to tell you to go out there and be yourself, but I hope you won't."

All of his encounters are fun and entertaining. Describing his brief backstage meet-and-greet with Celine Dion, he writes, "It was like the first time I had sex--an eternity of anticipation and excitement followed by three seconds of awkward bliss and an anticlimactic ending." His interview with Dame Elizabeth Taylor went downhill quickly after he accidentally greeted her as "Dame Edna." Some encounters turn into real friendships, like Lady Gaga and Rosie O'Donnell (who inadvertently talked him into sleeping with a gay Republican). There's also backstage stories about Celebrity Big Brother and RuPaul's Drag Race, his long friendship with Jackie Collins and a (platonic) mile-high bromance with Jason Priestley.

This pun-filled and fun-filled entertainment offers a delightful mix of sweet and sour celebrity experiences, and Mathews is the perfect tour guide. --Kevin Howell, independent reviewer and marketing consultant

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