First published 2011
Calvin Trillin has spent forty years crafting humor for The New Yorker, The Nation, USA Today, and his own books. This collection gathers his best comedic pieces organized by theme. Trillin tackles high finance with his investment strategy based entirely on Publishers Clearing House Sweepstakes. He explores the literary world where books have shelf lives between milk and yogurt. He recounts witnessing voodoo economics ceremonies and solving the mystery of his mother feeding the family nothing but leftovers for thirty years. A team of anthropologists now searches for the original meal. Trillin explains airport shoe removal as the work of Khalid the Droll, England's one terrorist with humor who bet his cell he could make everyone remove shoes at airports. He memorializes Sarah Palin with "On a Clear Day, I See Vladivostok" and John Edwards with "Yes, I Know He's a Mill Worker's Son, but There's Hollywood in That Hair."
Genres: satire, essays, literary-fiction, humor
Vibes: intimate, thought-provoking, whimsical
Tropes: parody, satire
Setting: The New Yorker, The Nation, USA Today, Vladivostok
Period: 40 Years
368 pages · Hardcover · Random House