The 50 Funniest American Writers: According To Andy Borowitz (2011) - Plot & Excerpts
Really hit and miss for me; most of it I ended up skipping through.Favorite selections:Beard, O'Donoghue, Trow. Our white heritageBarry. Tips for women: how to have a relationship with menBlount. Gothic baseballFrazier. Laws concerning food and drink; Household principles, lamentations of the fatherSedaris. Buddy, can you spare a tieSykes. It's so hardWilmore. If not an apology, at least a My Bad This was a really good way to get the mind to unwind. I would say that this writing is a mix of humor and funny, as there were at least several that were more humorous than funny. For funny, I am so glad for the entry by Bernie Mac because he made me laugh out loud more than anyone in this book. I thought the entries made in chronological order were an interesting way to organize the book and ended up taking us on a little historical journey through American humor. It is interesting how something written 100 years ago or more can still seem relevant and make you smile. Thank you to Mark Twain and Sinclair Lewis, among others.The selections were quite good for some of the authors. I never enjoyed reading Hunter S. Thompson as much as I did in this selection and the same is true for Dave Barry. Roy Blout, Jr., and Molly Ivins both provide good regional color to the book. Nora Ephrons's take on breasts was interesting but not really funny. Actually kind of sad. David Sedaris and Woody Allen made me laugh, as well, and George Carlins's entry was very witty - as witty as one can be with the liberal use of fuck in all its manifestations - but he has been funnier.Good escape book. Here's how S.J. Perelman ends the evening: "Then I treated my tonsils to five fingers of firewater, jammed on my hat, and made for the anteroom." And as he enters his office and Birdie asks," Mike would - would you tell me something?" "As long as it isn't clean" I flipped to conceal my bitterness. "What's an eight-letter word meaning 'sentimental'?" "Flatfoot, darling," I said, and went out into the rain." 1944, my friends.
What do You think about The 50 Funniest American Writers: According To Andy Borowitz (2011)?
An uneven anthology running the gamut from far from compelling to big smiles to laugh aloud.
—weiannt
Many old favorites and some new ones. Humor is so personal; only a few didn't appeal.
—mattpopsicle
Uneven collection. Some of the older pieces have not withstood the test to time.
—hotshotbooboo
