by Bob Odenkirk
First published 2014
This collection assembles the warped imagination of comedy writer Bob Odenkirk into written form. The book opens readers into a world where Martin Luther King Jr. bombs on stage, where dinner parties feature Hitler as an unwelcome guest, and where the inventor of Mad Libs receives a peculiar obituary. Odenkirk crafts intentionally terrible theater pieces alongside avant-garde fiction experiments. His free-verse poetry tackles subjects with more wit than established literary figures manage. Each piece functions like a sketch from an imaginary comedy show playing inside the reader's head. The author suggests reading everything aloud in Bob Newhart's distinctive delivery style. The tension emerges from Odenkirk's ability to find humor in the most inappropriate scenarios while maintaining his signature absurdist sensibility. At its core, this represents a comedian's attempt to translate the energy and timing of live performance into static text, creating something that feels both familiar and completely unexpected.
Genres: fiction, humor, contemporary, comedy
Vibes: absurdist, irreverent, thought-provoking, witty
Tropes: dark-humor, free-verse, intentionally-terrible
143 pages · Hardcover · McSweeney's