Book Review: Keith and the Girl's What do We do Now?

For all your rude but effective relationship advice

There’s a new relationship guide on the market and it has a bit of an attitude, as the subtitle indicates: smart answers to your stupid relationship questions. Not for those devoid of a sense of humour, clearly. The writers of What do we do now? are themselves a couple and they run one of the biggest podcasts out there: Keith and the Girl. They ‘air’ five free podcasts per week, each one with a run-time of somewhere between one and two hours. Topics are varied: news, celebrity gossip, personal experiences and relationships, all given a comic spin. It helps that within the varied supporting cast there are a lot of stand-up comedians to join in with entertaining banter.

The show is known and loved for being very un-PC while having its heart in the right place. N-words, F-words and plenty of other bad, bad words are regular visitors and it may take listeners a couple of shows to figure out that there’s no reason to take offense here, as it’s all coming from a good place. You might not always agree with the opinions that are being aired, but if you get riled up about something, there is room for discussion on the message boards at the Keith and the Girl site. Time difference permitting, you can even sound off and give feedback during the taping of the shows in a live chat room.

KATG has been keeping itself alive and running with the help of sponsors and merchandise sold through the site, but has now branched out into the publishing world with their book full of ‘modern advice for modern couples’. The book is divided in chapters by topic (In-Laws, Money, Sex and Kink, etcetera.). After a short and personal preface on the subject at hand, Keith and Chemda (aka ‘the girl’) reply to conundrums presented by their listeners. They do this separately, sometimes disagreeing with each other and getting into a discussion. The playful tone is apparent from page one, with Keith gate-crashing the introduction by his editor and berating him. Soon after, Chemda ‘speaks up’ for the first time:

Keith: Hey, baby! When’d you get here?

Chemda: They just edited me in, I guess.

Their advice tends to be funny, broadminded and blunt. As with the opinions on the podcast, you might get rubbed the wrong way from time to time, or just disagree, but you’ll easily get over that because you’ll find yourself smiling for much of the rest of the way. If the dynamics of relationships interest you, then this is a lighthearted sounding board for your own thoughts on the topic and a good book to read with a partner and discuss.

A sample chapter can be found through this link. Also check out a video promo for it. If the book tickles your funny bone, remember there are also over a thousand very entertaining free Keith and the Girl shows to feast your ears on, available through iTunes and the KATG-site. What do we do now? Now we buy the book.