First published 2008
Michael Ian Black opens his collection by defending salami as the ultimate lunch meat with the passion of a food critic and the logic of a comedian. He moves through topics that occupy his restless mind, from the inner monologue of Billy Joel approaching a party where he knows a piano awaits to observations that transform mundane experiences into comic gold. Black writes as both performer and everyman, turning his neuroses and pop culture obsessions into shared moments of recognition. Each essay reveals his talent for finding the absurd in the ordinary while maintaining the irreverent tone that made him famous on The State and Stella. The collection captures a comedian's brain at work, dissecting everything from celebrity culture to lunch choices with equal intensity and discovering humor in places most people never think to look.
Genres: essays, humor, american, non-fiction, comedy, 21st-century
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: everyman, observational-humor
224 pages · Hardcover · Gallery Books