BUZZ BOOK: TV comedy writer’s home life full of chuckles, too

TV comedy writer Liz Astrof (“2 Broke Girls,” “King of Queens”) periodically takes her two kids on so-called “Guilt Trips” (so named because she works overtime all the time). It’s one of countless hilarious tales relayed in “Don’t Wait Up: Confessions of a Stay-at-Work Mom” (Gallery Books), out now.

On one such journey, she and her mom-friend, Julie, take their kids to an indoor water park/hotel. “There was a giant wave pool, where masses of children bobbed up and down,” she writes. “It reminded me of the end of the movie “Titanic” — and, I guess, the real one, too.”

She imagines she will be able to relax with Julie while the four kids play. Worried about the bacteria levels, among other things, of a pool full of young kids, she is grateful that she “wouldn’t have to dip a toe in.”

It all goes awry when Julie abandons ship after her daughter Quinn possibly gets strep throat, which Liz tries to shrug off. “I told her she was coddling Quinn.”

With the other kids gone, her two kids beg her to go down the tallest water slide. “This is about them, not you. You love them,” she repeats to herself. So she does. And she laughs and spits water out of her mouth and goes again and again. The next day, they spend “immersed in rotavirus and joy.”

And what about the title? Astrof (inset) does anything she can to avoid dealing with her kids’ bedtime — goes to the mall, a yoga class or waits in her parked car — before making it home in time for a kiss goodnight.

Still, her love for her family shines through as she offers a brutally honest look at motherhood, marriage and work, rarely losing her sense of humor even while totally exasperated. She relays tales of having brain surgery (while “King of Queens” was on hiatus), dealing with two illegal baby turtles the kids brought home from Chinatown and working for various “monsters” in the TV industry (she compares these to the ones under her kid’s bed) and her terrible upbringing as a chubby kid (who is sent to fat camp).

Astrof is gorgeously shameless, honest and funny, and manages to be insightful and poignant at the same time.