Parody Books

Jeffrey Metzner is ingenious with a nack for inventing things that one wishes they had invented. This book is a must have and will soon be incorporated into every art history textbook - I'm sure. I had the priveledge of being mentored by Jeffrey Metzner in advertising classes in SVA. All I can say is hopefully these prints are in production in a large scale signed by you! 1 of 1 signed Jeffrey Metzner! I'll pay any amount of money for "The Godfather."

I got this for my birthday. I am an art teacher and this was purchased for the art history portion of the book (I am a movie and history buff as well...so bonus) What a treat looking through this book and trying to guess what each stick person picure might be. I am planning on showing these to my graphic design students, what a great lesson in the making! It was the hit of the party!

This book is great. It offers the right amount of humor and portrays the scenes perfectly to the exact work. Jeffrey Metzner was one of my great friend and mentor when i attended the School of Visual Arts. Hes an aclaimed artist and a great guy to learn from. Highly recommended

Stick is a genius idea and a pleasure to read. This book is filled with interesting stick figure drawings of famous works of art, great moments in history and iconic images. Jeffrey Metzner's style is obviously simple but mentally interactive. And I never thought stick figures could be so beautifully humorous. This would make the perfect gift for literally anyone at any age. I know because I just flipped through the entire book with my 8 yr. old nephew and my 72 yr. old grandfather. We all three enjoyed it equally.

i found this book very funny my friend memorized a few phrases to use on the teachers he doesnt like and best of all even if they look it up they wont know what he meant... (its complicated... kind of)

Woe to this world if Henry Beard ever had to get a desk job. He is a brilliant humorist, who, in recent years, has allowed those of us who slogged through Cicero's speeches, Virgil's Aeneid and Caesar's Gallic Wars to enjoy a hearty laugh. X-Treme Latin is the third in the trilogy of Latin for All Occasions and Latin for Even More Occasions. Now, we are finally able to learn some really useful phrases and lines that would have been unthinkable (not to mention unvocabulariable) 21 centuries ago. Where else would you find snow-boarding lingo, country music song titles, and sushi bar discussions - all in Latin. If this is not proof that the language should have been allowed its respectful last gasps, I don't know what is. Of course, those of us who are corporate desk jockeys will also enjoy Caesar's PowerPoint Presentation. Until you see this book, you don't know how you could have lived without it (probably, pretty nicely, but that is really beside the point). Nevertheless, no longer will doctors, lawyers, and the Vatican have the upper hand when it comes to clever retorts in Latin after you read this book.

This book would be funny for those just learning Latin because the English translations are funny. For those who know a fair amount of Latin the laughs are doubled as you read the English then work through the vocabulary chosen to express the sentiment in Latin! Contains countless phrases to be turned into t-shirts for your Latin geek friends and relatives

This book is great fun: a wildly anachronistic introduction to Latin for C.21. It's very small and would make a handy minor present. It also has unusual illustrations that seem appropriate.

This is a really funny book from Bob Powers, who's one of my favorite writers. Dark, hilarious, and inventive all around.

Bob Powers proves his skills of observation and imagination are totally unlimited with this choose your own adventure book for adults. The possible outcomes are as diverse as they are hilarious. It's a great read and would make the perfect gift for anyone you know who is nearing or in their 30s, and still trying to figure things out.

Great book. Very original and funny. Bob Powers unleashes his beautifully twisted arsenal of ideas in a Choose-Your-Own Adventure for adults.
I love this guy's stand-up, sketch comedy and books. He's a hilarious, genuine artist - one of NY's authentic voices who seems to never lack the kind of deliciously dark concepts that you wish didn't crack you up so hard.

Bob Powers has written a hilarious and very adult version of the classic Choose Your Own Adventure type of book, skewering everything from dotcom mania to a Landmark Forum-type "personal development workshop." The latter advertises that "There is a GEYSER OF PERSONAL POTENTIAL waiting to burst out of you. Find out how to COAT THE WORLD with AN EXPLOSION OF YOU." As you try to figure out the best way for your hero, or, perhaps, anti-hero, to save his girlfriend (or, you know, not), who is being held by kidnappers for $50,000, Powers you to a sex club, an abortionist, 9/11 and beyond. He somehow manages to cram in all kinds of current events with a general sense of generational angst and relationship drama, all while you flip around madly trying to find the best ending. Except all the endings here are kindof messed up, and all the funnier for it.

I read all the time on the subway, and only rarely do I miss my stop because I'm so engrossed in a book. That happened with this one, so be forewarned.

The humor of Jeff Foxworthy reminds me of the old television show "Sanford and Son." The main characters were all black, and most of them were poor. Therefore, they could poke fun at it and even use the stereotypes used to depict poor blacks. It was the only network television show where the word ni**er could be used. Foxworthy claims to be a redneck, so he also can poke fun using the stereotypes of what many people call "trailer trash."
The people are depicted as dumb, toothless, crude and ill mannered. In only a few pages, he manages to hit just about every stereotype. My favorite is on page 32, where he says, "You might be a redneck if your Thanksgiving dinner was ever ruined because you ran out of ketchup." I found some of them mildly humorous, but most of them were a bit silly. I thought the dumbest one was "You might be a redneck if you think Volvo is part of a woman's anatomy." Foxworthy's humor does little for me, but that might just be personal taste. Therefore, if you like this kind of humor, you will probably bust a gut when reading this book. However, if your tastes are more towards intelligent humor, it will probably just bore you.

Fans of the 'redneck humor' of Jeff Foxworthy as seen on TV comedy shows will be glad to know his one-liner observations about what makes a 'redneck' translate well to text and one-panel comics, too. David Boyd's illustrations grace a funny book perfect for the non-reader fully aware of all-too-real 'redneck habits'.

Yep... if the directions to your house include "turn off the paved road" this is the book for you. As a person who has lived off the paved part of the road (and perhaps I've been out of NYC too long) but I recognize the people in this book. There's humor here because of the incredible sense of recognition. I've known people like this and I adore Jeff Foxworthy for pointing out the humor in these comical stereotypes!

this book by the southern flavored performer is a work out for the stomach muscles . foxworthy tells the story of his childhood , teen years and about his present day life in a manner that makes you jealous you didn't grow up with the guy. his stories about deer hunting and playing pranks on his mom will make you break out laughing in the middle of your train/bus ride. if you are a fan of foxworthy (as i am) you will recognise the classic bits and enjoy lots of new and hillariously funny ones. if you want to avoid embarrasing yourselves in public , read this book alone , because you will laugh out loud. click on the add to cart icon you will not be dissapointed

This goes right along with the 'Zombie Survival Guide' book by Max Brooks. It's a must own for any zombie obsessed person such as myself.

But what is up with the seller selling it for $50 some odd dollars. They are selling this at Books A Million for $3.99

Max Brooks manages to not only excel outside of his father's shadow, but he has made a valuable contribution to popular fiction.

love this calendar. my new year's resolution is to pass the knowledge of this calendar on to my good friends. so day-to-day they learn with me, so we will be ready for the zombie outbreak.

Zombies are all the rage. And what better than learning how to survive an attack. I don't know why people think zombies are so hot, but they are and anything that has to do with them is hot as well. You'll love this calendar. Buy it!

Author of: Bad Girls Club

I read a review of this book while traveling through Nashville recently. At first it seemed to slam self help books in general, and as the author of a somewhat quirky book on how to overcome obstacles to daily joy ("Live in the Moment"), I bristled for an argument. In the end, I realize that "Aim Low", is indeed a self help book, only it takes a reverse point of view. "Our happiness doesn't have to depend on results..." was the summation of the review and I couldn't agree more. As long as we're all still striving for happiness!

Cover to cover, this book will seriously make you think about your life...as you're falling off your chair, laughing! Dave Dunseath writes about what we all, at some point, have thought about and wish we could say out loud. Look deeper folks, the wisdom woven between the hilarious pages of this book will surprise you! Loved it and I recommend it...

This book made me laugh out loud..alot! The author hits the nail on the head so many times I lost count. If you want to lighten up and stop pushing against the tide, this book is for you! Great gift idea too.

This book is not a chronology of Fred Allen's life, but rather a selection of his greatest commentaries from throughout his long career. Included in the text is his priceless observation: "To a newspaperman, a human being is an item with the skin wrapped around it." As if that weren't awesome enough, the buyer of this book also gets: "California is okay if you're an orange."

Mr. Allen could make biting observations about journalists and politicians without offending devout Christian people like my older relatives. (They have regaled me with stories about his material.) Fred made biting comments while millions listened to him live, and parents didn't have to send their kids away from the Philco radio or the Zenith TV set. Fred never advocated negative behaviors for juveniles such as the premarital sex and drug use that Lennie Bruce recommended in the late 1950s.

I would like to see somebody read this book and then claim that anyone other than Fred Allen was the first thinking man's comedian in the United States. Can you do that ? Many latter day comedians (e.g. Father Guido Sarducci) agree with me that Fred Allen was the first such American artist. If you haven't read this book and you don't recognize his name, will you consider agreeing with us ? Or are you "going to talk back ?" (as Fred's sidekick John Doe used to say).

Another Allen sidekick was Senator Claghorn. He is in the book, too. What more can I say ?

Fred Allen, the only satirical comedian of radio's golden age, is revealed as a true American humorist, in the pantheon with Thurber, lardner and Twain. This book contains a wide selection of his writings, clear-eyed, wsitty, biting, compassionate. Excerpts from his two meoirs have the quality of what Frank McCourt wrote 50 years later in Angela's Ashes. Allen, we see, was the father of contemporary comedy and his influence prevails today. Letterman, Carson, Bob & Ray, Keillor, Your Show of Shows, Sat. Night Live - all are arguably legatees of his original sparkling style. This is perhaps the most deeply funny book I've read in years and will bring joy to readers of all ages. And it's a perfect gift for young people to give to parents and in-laws who, if they remember, say, tyhe Dionne Quintupl;ets, will be thrilled to get to oknow the great wit Fred Allen again. If there were 10 stars, I would award them to this book.

In ways that many (if not most) of his disciples down the generations still have yet to fathom completely, Fred Allen was his generation's most permanent and pungently elemental humourist, a first-class writer who never tired of refining and elevating his craft. Without vulgarity, he lanced America's fooleries and amplified her misappreciated fineries, often in the same slash. Most of what subsequent comic generations and their fans considered the cutting edge of those generations would have been impossible without him, though he himself might not always enjoy what his disciples wreaked on behalf of the art. And, as the selected letters even here should show, Mr. Allen had a quality that even his stickiest barbs could not long obscure: he was a genuinely warm, humane man, whose affection and friendship was probably coveted even more than his impeccable wit.

Ideally, the unpublished material included in this book would be augmented to republished editions of Mr. Allen's two memoirs (1954's "Treadmill to Oblivion," addressing the radio years that graduated him to his stature as the medium's most mordant satirist; 1956's "Much Ado About Me," an affectionately objective recollection of both his bittersweet New England childhood and his arduous vaudeville career, not to mention a splendid examination of vaudeville itself) and posthumous selection of letters (1965's "Fred Allen's Letters," whose original jacket art bequeathed the Hirschfeld caricature that announces this book). But until such justice is done, "All the Sincerity in Hollywood" re-introduces a man whose wit was too deep, too enduring, to leave him frozen in time as a mere ancient radio star.

This is a delightful parody of several of The Bard's more famous plays including Hamlet and MacBeth. Written in the "High Style" and foleyed in Firesign Theatre's usual excellence, you will actually believe that you have been transported to Castle Phlegm.

Anythinge You Want To (Shakespeare's Lost Comdie) has unavilable for years so make sure you add this to your collection before it's toad away.

Well, I'm glad to see that the other reviewers (so far, anyway) have liked this album. It is my favorite Firesign album but the online Firehead community in general rate it in the middle of the pack. The work is presented to the listener as a play and, perhaps because it was meant to be performed live, is one of the most linear and accessible of the Firesign albums. The feature-length play is the only thing on the album. This gives the guys a lot of room to work in and they make full and glorius use of all of it!

I first heard this play in much shorter form on the "Not Insane" album. It was fleshed out considerably for the original release of "Shakespeare's Lost Comedie" which benefited from several new acts and characters. This latest version has been enlarged even further to resemble a BBC presentation of a stage play. A narrator who sounds vaguely like Principal Poop with an English accent opens and closes the play and provides awkwardly humorous color commentary during the intermissions.

It is the juxtapostion between the Olde Englyshe phrasing and the modern references I find so appealing. These are the multiple entrendes that Shakespear might have written in if he had Nuclear power and Hollywood to make fun of. In one speech, an alchemist wonders aloud "am I then doom't to lyve oot my lyfe on zis island but 3 myles wide und watch ambitions melted down to smoking slag?" In a later segment of almost 5 minutes, while all the nobles are assembled discussing war, the dialog works seamlessly as though it were taking place on either the battlefield, the boardroom of some corporation or on a movie lot. Pure genius and every act in the play has _at least_ two subtexts going on so you can listen to it over and over finding something new each time.

This album has been in print in various formats but never for too long at any given time. If you are a Firehead, just curious or perhaps a fan of "The Reduced Shakespear Company" and never even heard of Firesign Theatre you really owe it to yourself to get this album. If you don't like it you can always wait til it goes out of print again and auction it off here on Amazon!

(Note - I use album here in it's original sense: a collection of something in one format. Whether we speak of LP, CD, Tape, MP3, it is still an "album" in this sense.)

Someone was very smart to get this back in print. I heard this at my public library years ago and was rolling on the floor in laughter. It's a parody of various scenes from Shakespeare's plays, all rolled into one new, very strange, and very funny, play. I just can't begin to describe how well it's done and how funny it is. I don't know what I'd have thought of it if I hadn't been a Shakespeare fan, and I'm not sure if very high-minded Shakespeare fans might be offended by what Firesign has wrought... But I can say I personally rank this album among the very funniest comedy records I've ever heard (and I've heard a lot.)

picture two characters who inhabit the newsroom of a daily newspaper only in the night hours in the 1920s and 30s. a cat who believes and acts as if she s the reincarnation of cleopatra and a cockroach who writes his boss - that s in quotes - who s a reporter on the paper. but writing comes so hard that it is, well n-o-t what is written in the - booklist - review in amazon s internet review. i quote from the review - the cockroach, archy, couldn t hold down shift and hit another key. - wronggggg.,.,., i quote from don marquis s description - he did not see us, and we watched him. he would climb painfully upon the framework of the machine and cast himself with all his force upon a key, head downward, and his weight and the impact of the blow were just sufficient to operate the machine, one slow letter after another. he could not operate the capital letters... - can t you just cry with pain as you picture archy, or rathe! ! r, don marquis, writing his material, any and all material , for us. and suggesting that many writers must suffer as did archy to give us their thoughts, their beliefs, their observations, their opinions, their joys, their sufferings.... b-u-y- t-h-e b-o-o-k .,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,., - imagine caps, or parentheses - i can't do it, you see....

These are some of the most wonderful humorous writings ever. I first encountered them back in the '40s (1940 that is). Even copied them on an old manual typewriter (like Archy used). Have had the copies for over fifty years. It's great to get them in a book (my pages had become yellowed and crinkley). I hope to get the other books to go with these. For fun and entertainment and a good chuckle, you can't go wrong with "archy and mehitalbe"

Of course there's a value in teaching Emily Dickinson to our children. And no one would debate that every college student should immerse themselves in the likes of T.S., Joyce and Williams. But why are teachers missing out on such a classic collection of incredible poesy? wotthehell? Give it a read and see if you don't immediately take a copy to your next PTA meeting.

Who would think that Elvira, Mistress of the Dark would write a children's book that you'd want to have in your home? Not me! But this book is awesome! That's right - Cassandra Peterson, one of the co-authors, is better known as Elvira.

Co-author John Paragon has a pet Dalmatian named Andy, who was no doubt the driving force of inspiration for this hilarious book of few words, but non-stop laughs.

Cathy Pavia's illustrations are to die for! Andy's expressions are priceless and if you've ever had a dog be naughty, you will understand everything that is going on.

Andy's owner is going out to the grocery store and tells Andy to watch the house - but there is a naughty glint in Andy's eye. After the door shuts, Andy runs to the window to make sure the coast is clear, leaving a big nose smear on the glass.

Andy has a brief "Risky Business" moment as he rifles through his master's dresser and dons his briefs and shades and slides into the livingroom. Andy gets into the garbage, smokes a cigar, pukes on the rug, has a female poodle come over to play and generally wreaks havok in the house.

When he hears his daddy coming home, he has to clean up - and quick. If only real dogs cleaned the house!

As Andy tears up his home - we can see photos of dogs, especially one of Andy on Santa's lap. We see statues of dogs, an Andy Warhol print on the wall (one would guess Andy is named after the artist - his hair is the same color, anyway!) and other clear homage to life with dogs.

Life with dogs can be so rewarding and life with a Dalmatian is not for the faint of heart - but not without its own set of rewards. The authors clearly appreciate the fun spirit of dogs more than they disdain their naughty antics. A hoot for children and adults.

Cathy Pavia's inspired illustrations keep us coming back and finding more of Andy's bad deeds! When is she coming out with her next book? Is she in line for a Caldecott?

Have all the "Carl" books and HAD to buy "Bad Dog Andy" to round out the collection.