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helpfulsnowman's review against another edition
3.0
Mike Sacks is a funny guy, and if you’re into stuff like McSweeney’s online whatever-the-hell-they-call-it, you’ll enjoy this book.
The book does suffer a bit from a couple of comedy diseases that are really prevalent.
The first, Onion Fatigue Syndrome, a disease commonly found within the pages of joke newspaper the Onion, is all about how you read comedy. The Onion, like this book, is absolutely hilarious in small-to-medium doses. But if you read the entirety of the Onion front-to-back, you don’t even give a shit about the last couple articles, no matter how hilarious the headlines may be. So if you’re interested in this book, pace yourself.
The second, SSNL (Syndrome Saturday Night Live) is all about taking a hilarious premise and running with it long enough that it’s just not funny anymore. Schweddy Balls is a funny thing to hear Alec Baldwin say, but after a couple go-arounds of “your balls are so sweet” and “your balls would really please my toddler” you get the joke. Then you get it again. And then you start yelling at the TV that you get it in the vain hope that someone will hear you and move on to the next sketch. This book can go down that road in places too. Good premises all around, but occasionally you’re ready to skip to the next piece quite a bit before the end.
But hey, for one guy to have a collection this funny is pretty rare.
The book does suffer a bit from a couple of comedy diseases that are really prevalent.
The first, Onion Fatigue Syndrome, a disease commonly found within the pages of joke newspaper the Onion, is all about how you read comedy. The Onion, like this book, is absolutely hilarious in small-to-medium doses. But if you read the entirety of the Onion front-to-back, you don’t even give a shit about the last couple articles, no matter how hilarious the headlines may be. So if you’re interested in this book, pace yourself.
The second, SSNL (Syndrome Saturday Night Live) is all about taking a hilarious premise and running with it long enough that it’s just not funny anymore. Schweddy Balls is a funny thing to hear Alec Baldwin say, but after a couple go-arounds of “your balls are so sweet” and “your balls would really please my toddler” you get the joke. Then you get it again. And then you start yelling at the TV that you get it in the vain hope that someone will hear you and move on to the next sketch. This book can go down that road in places too. Good premises all around, but occasionally you’re ready to skip to the next piece quite a bit before the end.
But hey, for one guy to have a collection this funny is pretty rare.
bkeniston's review against another edition
3.0
Not perfect, but a fun read with some good chuckles. I especially enjoyed "What in the Hell is that Thing? FAQ" (p. 92) and "Game-Show Catchphrases that Never Quite Caught On" (p. 156). Oh, and "My Parents, Enid and Sal, Used to Be Famous Porn Stars" (p. 158) is kind of hilarious.
mirage811's review against another edition
4.0
Funny, weird book. A quick read. I have no idea how this guy comes up with ideas. His mind is probably a scary place.
csmoore13's review against another edition
5.0
Easily one of the funniest books I have ever read. The first story alone will sell the book.
courtney_mcallister's review against another edition
3.0
It's difficult to evaluate this collection as a whole. There were pieces that had me laughing up a storm. Others I didn't really "get." So...an uneven collection, but not a waste of time. I guess that about sums it up.
cemeterygates's review against another edition
4.0
Like all collections, some pieces are great while others are skip label. The strong pieces are amazing, though, making this book extremely enjoyable.
pearseanderson's review against another edition
2.0
Connection: the company I interned for this summer (Tin House) released this book when I was 13 years old.
I did not laugh for long stretches of this book. I was not laughing for so long that I soon looked up and tried to listen to how loud my silence was, and that told me to stop reading. I stopped on page 122, right before the one titled "Arse Poetica." I think this book is hard to do in a world of The Onion + Clickhole, pubs that I think Sacks worked for, but perhaps because of their diverse group of authors you get more variety of jokes: his turn to awkward male nakedness/sexuality feel flat for me constantly! Sorry.
I did not laugh for long stretches of this book. I was not laughing for so long that I soon looked up and tried to listen to how loud my silence was, and that told me to stop reading. I stopped on page 122, right before the one titled "Arse Poetica." I think this book is hard to do in a world of The Onion + Clickhole, pubs that I think Sacks worked for, but perhaps because of their diverse group of authors you get more variety of jokes: his turn to awkward male nakedness/sexuality feel flat for me constantly! Sorry.
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