Parodies Books

There is a particular freewheeling range in college humor that is different from the kind produced by older people. This collection highlights that variety: from idiocy to sublimity. You also get a good feeling for the decades it covers, and it's amazing how the jokes--especially the political stuff--still stand up today.

I grew up reading MAD, Cracked and National Lampoon. I learned how to interact with others not from Dale Carnegie's "How to Win Friends and Influence People," but from the classic paperback series "Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions." ('Got a flat tire?' 'Nah, the other three just up and inflated on me.') Heck, I'll admit it: I even prefer Weird Al's versions of songs to the originals. So it goes without saying, I LOVE this book.

I remember relishing the Lunatic back in the early to mid to sort of late 80s while I took the long and winding road to graduating from Cornell. And I'll admit it, I was afraid the Reagan, Bush and Bush years might have jaded me to the point where I wouldn't be quite as tickled by the articles and artwork that kept me in stitches all those years ago. But I was wrong. This stuff STILL cracks me up. In fact, I was in tears reliving such classics as Breakdancing Rules for White People.

This is everything college humor should be: bust-a-gut funny, wet-your-pants funny, slap-your-knee-right-out-of-the-socket funny. Trust me, you'll laugh your a** off.

This book is very funny, with many comics including:

The Red Baron
Spy vs. Spy
The Lighter Side of...
And all too many more!

This book is a wonderful collection for someone who loves MAD, or for someone just getiing into it, because it has a wide variety of comics, and shows what MAD is really aobut!

That's my head falling off laughing. A great collection with nearly every page guaranteed to generate a belly laugh. Excellent compilation of Mad's finest recent stuff.

Hayduke is great. You can't go wrong with this stuff. Trust me, I've used some of it. He's great!

If you think you are being singled out by many of the people around you - try and remember what you might have done to them. They maybe out to make you pay for their discomfort. Well, if they have read one of Hayduke's books - you are in big trouble.

My copy of this book has many of the pages dog-eared, for quick re-reads. Only for entertanment purposes only. (But I am ready to act if I have to.)

This book is a stitch! Small children will scratch their heads but adults will enjoy the irony. The illustrations stay with you.

Wilhelm Busch (1832-1908) is known as the author of "Max and Moritz," but the scope of his works is much broader. He is not an author of children's books in the first place. He wrote many stories of satire and slapstick humor not primarily aimed at children, illustrated by his own drawings - for which he is justly famous. Some people even regard him as the father of the modern comic strip. Had he worked in our time, his equals would be the likes of F. K. Waechter, Tomi Ungerer, Jean-Jacques Sempé, and Ronald Searle.

Although the two cannot be compared, Busch's "Max and Moritz" ranks in Germany on the same level as Lewis Carroll's "Alice in Wonderland" in the English speaking world. Wherever an Englishman would quote Lewis Carroll's "Alice", a German is likely to quote Busch.

Children won't catch Busch's gentle satire in "Max and Moritz." The whole concept of satire is not familiar to them, of course. But while the little ones breathlessly follow the naughty pranks, Dad smiles at the fun Busch makes of the adults in "Max and Moritz." Widow Tibbets is a good example. While professing tender feelings for her chicks, she's really rather practical minded. So when Max and Moritz manage to kill her chickens - and the rooster, for that matter - she grieves, but not too deeply:

When the worthy Widow Tibbets
(Whom the cut below exhibits)
Had recovered, on the morrow,
From the dreadful shock of sorrow,
She (as soon as grief would let her
Think) began to think 'twere better
Just to take the dead, the dear ones
(Who in life were walking here once),
And in a still noonday hour
Them, well roasted, to devour.

Finally, a word of warning to trusting parents. Busch shares the mischievous streak in Max and Moritz, and while his two young protagonists play rather violent tricks on the townspeople - a taylor almost drowns and a teacher gets his face burned from an exploding pipe - Busch himself plays the most violent trick on Max and Moritz. In their last prank they cut open the grain sacks of a farmer who finds the two boys in their hiding place, drags them to a mill and has them ground to pieces, which - Gary Larson would have loved that part - are being eaten by two of the Miller's geese:

"In with 'em!" Each wretched flopper
Headlong goes into the hopper.
As the farmer turns his back, he
Hears the mill go "creaky! cracky!"
Here you see the bits post mortem,
Just as Fate was pleased to sort 'em.
Master Miller's ducks with speed
Gobbled up the coarse-grained feed.

The good and upright people of the village are so relieved. Good riddance to Max and Moritz, they think. But of course they put that more politically correct:

Through the place in short there went
One wide murmur of content:
"God be praised! the town is free
From this great rascality!"

In short: this is great stuff for the kids if you manage to explain the fine points. As a starting point I recommend to brand the pranks of Max and Moritz as "very naughty" and take it from there.

[this review refers to the Dover Publications edition translated by Walter Arndt, ISBN 0486201813]

This intentionally self-deprecating book is not only hilarious, it also makes you realize just how ridiculous you're being if you're just having "one of those days" when you're feeling sorry for yourself. Surprisingly, seeing those self-pity thoughts in writing actually helps dissolve them!

When you have self-pity, this book is a good place to start. It puts life in proper perpective as compared to how we can mistakenly take things too personally. Nice book to share with others who understand the humor involved!

I won't waste a lot of time but I will say that you shouldn't live life without reading this book. Buy it - You'll be glad you did!!!

This parody will keep you laughing cover to cover. It contains not only life's little destructions, but life's little white lies and excuses, life's little self destructions. I brought this book to a party and everyone wanted to see it. It was a hit! After reading this book, you might get a few ideas of your own

Hmmmm, a bit scary to identify with so many of these cleverly observed poems. Vivid imagery particularly close to the hearts of ladies on the better side of 40. A tonic for grumpy old women and the men who they can't live without. So like "an exocet mouse" my husband has disappeared somewhere with my copy.

This is a lovely book of comic/nostalgic poetry 'for women of a cetain age' and cheered me up on a 'low' day; I keep it handy in the kitchen and dip into it....it never fails to make me smile, whichever poem I choose at random. QUITE AN ACCOMPLISHMENT.....you need a copy in your kitchen too!

This collection of short poems is an ode to the person whose age is sixty or better. Some are light, describing the pleasures of age and how your perspective changes. When that hurdle is jumped, many of the things that were so critical before now become superficial. This is summed up in the last two lines of the last poem in the book.

But now that I'm sixty I've got to confess
That more often than not, I couldn't care less.

Some of the others are less light hearted, describing the downside of aging. Financial fears, forgetting simple things, having to face young criminals and ways to try to recapture some of the exuberance of youth are all mentioned. However, even these topics are dealt with in a light-hearted manner, so there is never a point where the tone turns depressing.
Whatever your perspective is on turning sixty, this book will make you smile at some of the consequences of reaching that mark. Matthew is a very good poet and his prose will lighten your feelings, no matter how dark they are.

my son gave me this book on my 60th birthday. I grew up with the milne books and read them to my boys. In fact, our oldest, Christopher, is named after Christopher Robin. Get out your old book of Now We Are Six, and keep it next to you while you read this book. So charming. So clever. Makes me feel like a kid again and it makes me smile....alot.

I have every episode of The Office including the specials and I can't get enough of it. I highly recommend this book to any enthusiast of this comedy phenomenon, especially if you're an American.

I consider myself pretty quick to pick up on the subtleties of British humor, and I think I catch pretty much everything, but I cannot deny that Brits speak much faster than I am used to and therefore welcome any reinforcement that the scripts give. I also like to quote funny lines from The Office and this helps me to get them right...stupid huh?

Anyway, there are also some good photos of the TV scenes as they play out in the scripts. Cheers Office fans =)

One would imagine that the mere written words that make up The Office scripts would lack the dark humor and timing of the show. Fortunately that ain't the case as the scripts are just as funny and draw attention to elements that may go missed on the show. And from a writing point of view, it's interesting to see how well characters and situations are developed with the sole use of dialogue and minimal action description.

The scripts are printed on glossy paper with 2 or 3 high-res photos per page and are book-ended by funny e-mails and notices from David Brent himself. A definite must have for fans of The Office.

Deftly handling a subject as sticky as it is diverse, this "How To" book really tells it well. With comedic presentation and careful illustration, this should be on everyone's "Halloween How To" shelf.

Careful, it's hard to put down, as is the book!!

This book is not only the most creative effort of the Duct Tape Guys (by far), it's colorful (full color throughout), funny, and actually useful as a year around costume idea book. Their sixth book, "Duct Tape Halloween" definitely sets the new standard for duct tape books! HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!