Parodies Books - Page 6

The Comic Toolbox: How to Be Funny Even If You're Not

John Vorhaus

Amazon Price: $10.17 List Price: $14.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Silman-James Press Amazon Marketplace: 48 new & used starting at $8.38

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 39 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Great observations; lifeless humour 3 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Simply put, the book is filled with excellent methods for creating comedy. If you do not have strong comedic instinct, your results will be formulaic. The author comes from a background of cheap laughs and sitcoms like Married With Children. The jokes inside are corny at best. While Vorhaus isn't particularly funny himself, he does have a good eye for what makes a joke funny. If you have a facility towards joke writing, this book will help you perfect your art; but don't look for laughs inside the book because they just aren't there.

Editorial Review:

The Comic Toolbox is a straightforward, often humorous workbook approach to creative problem solving. Vorhaus offers writers and comics, the tools of the trade -- "clash of context, " "tension and release, "the law of comic opposites, " "the wildly inappropriate response" and more. Readers will learn that comedy = truth and pain -- the essence of the comic situation -- and that fear is the biggest roadblock to comedy. Kill your ferocious editor within, and rich, useful comic ideas will flow.

Jeff Foxworthy's Complete Redneck Dictionary: All the Words You Thought You Knew the Meaning Of

Jeff Foxworthy

Amazon Price: $13.60 List Price: $20.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Villard Amazon Marketplace: 48 new & used starting at $5.96

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Editorial Review:

There’s no such thing as too much redneck. And it’s easy to understand why. A veritable gumbo of indigenous ingenuity, this deliciously distinct dialect rolls off the tongue like drool in the presence of a barbecue sandwich. Now, just in time for no time in particular, Jeff Foxworthy’s three bestsellers are rolled into one hilarious redneck reference. This practical, portable A-to-Z crash course will have you laughing and learning your way to flawless southern slang. Say after me:

bay • ou (bi´-ü), v. and n. to purchase for another. “I just walked right up to her and said, ‘Hey darlin’, lemme bayou a drink.’ ”

doo • dle (düd´-el), n. and v. a male person and his predicted actions. “Don’t even look at him, ’cuz that doodle kill you.”

tor • toise (tort´-es), v. and n. to have imparted knowledge or wisdom to a group. “That stupid teacher never tortoise nothin’. ”

Whether you’re a newbie looking to connect with your inner redneck or a seasoned pro hoping to sharpen your skills, The Complete Redneck Dictionary is the only reference you’ll ever need. Picking up Redneck (and this book) has never been easier.

Ask a Mexican

Gustavo Arellano

Amazon Price: $27.64 List Price: $34.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Tantor Media Amazon Marketplace: 26 new & used starting at $14.95

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 35 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

The Mexican as myth debunker and provider of historical context 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

Gustavo Arellano's "Ask a Mexican" is a brilliant book. What's obvious when reading a book's length worth of his answers is how well-researched they are. It's a nice balance of referenced scholarship, combined with the observations of a street-savvy guy. First-time readers beware though: Arellano's work is culled from columns that appear in alternative weeklies, and it's got the language to prove it. It can be jarring and off-putting at times. However, most times it works, because the questions match in tone.

Arellano's main role here is as myth debunker and as one who tries to put Mexican immigration in a historical context for his readers. I've selected this passage from p. 40 as emblematic of his approach. A reader writes "Why don't Mexicans want to assimilate and accept our way of life?" The Mexican answers (in part) that "(i)n the case of reverence for one's roots, it boils down thusly: gabachos long-removed from Ellis Island can love their ancestors without shame because they're the descendants of immigrants, and immigrants made this nation great; Mexicans can't because they _are_ immigrants, and immigrants are turning America into the Third World."

Like that opinion or not, you have to give Arellano credit for superbly crafted sentences like that. The book is rife with them. It makes for a great read.

Editorial Review:

An irreverent, hilarious, and informative look at Mexican American culture is taken by rising star Gustavo Arellano, who uses the best questions from readers of his Ask a Mexican! column in California's OC Weekly to explore the many clichA(c)s applied to Mexican Americans.

An Exaltation of Larks: The Ultimate Edition

James Lipton

Amazon Price: $10.88 List Price: $16.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Penguin (Non-Classics) Amazon Marketplace: 67 new & used starting at $3.50

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 15 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

An embarrassment of riches .. 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

Every member of 'a browse of readers' should have access to this book.

This is considered by many to be the authoritative collection of collective nouns.

From an 'aarmory of aardvarks' to a 'consumption of yuppies', there is something for everyone.

A highly recommended addition to your library of books.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

A riot of nomenclature 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

Frankly, it's not a very readable book. But it's fascinating in that it does list so many group names of animals. It's quite humorous in part, too.

Exaltation of larks 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 3 people found this review helpful.

Prompted by a discussion with my son about collective nouns, saw and purchased a copy for each of us. More than pleased with the service, and with the content of the book.In fact , there's more than either of us bargained for....its certainly comprehensive and really easy to browse for information.

Editorial Review:

For word lovers everywhere, a classic anthology of collective nouns--now vastly expanded and with a new introduction. Infectious in spirit, beautifully illustrated with over 250 witty engravings by Granville, Durer, and other artists, this work is a word lover's garden of delights.

Motel of the Mysteries

David Macaulay

Amazon Price: $10.40 List Price: $13.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Houghton Mifflin/Walter Lorraine Books Amazon Marketplace: 124 new & used starting at $0.96

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 34 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Gentle poke at our preconceptions 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I've carried my copy of this book over many moves. It grows on me each time I read it. Originally it seemed just a humourous retelling of the Carter discovery of Tutankhamun and the Egyptian hysteria that accompanies it. Later on, after getting much more involved in arguments over interpretations of Roman historical artifacts, I realized how to the point the book is about the way we see the past and argue over the meaning of what we see. Still really funny though.

Editorial Review:

It is the year 4022; all of the ancient country of Usa has been buried under many feet of detritus from a catastrophe that occurred back in 1985. Imagine, then, the excitement that Howard Carson, an amateur archeologist at best, experienced when in crossing the perimeter of an abandoned excavation site he felt the ground give way beneath him and found himself at the bottom of a shaft, which, judging from the DO NOT DISTURB sign hanging from an archaic doorknob, was clearly the entrance to a still-sealed burial chamber. Carson's incredible discoveries, including the remains of two bodies, one of then on a ceremonial bed facing an altar that appeared to be a means of communicating with the Gods and the other lying in a porcelain sarcophagus in the Inner Chamber, permitted him to piece together the whole fabric of that extraordinary civilization.

Don't Make a Black Woman Take Off Her Earrings: Madea's Uninhibited Commentaries on Love and Life

Tyler Perry

Amazon Price: $10.36 List Price: $12.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Riverhead Trade Amazon Marketplace: 89 new & used starting at $1.20

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 91 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Funny but true! 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Great book to read, some situations were true, and others were just down right funny, Tyler Perry is so talented.

Don't Make a Black Woman Take Off Her Earrings 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I am reading this book right now and I am totally enjoying myself. If you love Madea, you will want to read this book. I had to have it when I first saw it.

Hilarious..Worth Every Penny 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I was glad that Tyler Perry turned this into an audio book. It is worth every penny to hear him read this as Madea. This is one audio book that you will definitely listen to over and over again. I didn't even consider buying the paperback. I just had to hear Madea tell her story.

So Frikkin Funny! 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I laughed my behind off reading this book. I love Madea, if you're a fan of Madea as I am, you'll love this book. It's full of her VERY uninhibited commentaries on her life. Hilarious.

Editorial Review:

If you can count on one thing from "Madea" Mabel Simmons, star of the smash hits Diary of a Mad Black Woman and Madea's Family Reunion, it's that she's got something to say. Now the beloved, sharp- tongued, pistol-packing grandmother has her own book-part memoir, many parts hard-won, hilarious, straight-up in-your-face words of wisdom.

Jeff Foxworthy's Redneck Dictionary: Words You Thought You Knew the Meaning Of

Jeff Foxworthy, Fax Bhar, Adam Small

Amazon Price: $6.99 List Price: $6.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Fawcett Amazon Marketplace: 97 new & used starting at $0.01

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 21 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

My 11 year old loves this dictionary but... 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

My 11 year old son loves the redneck words and he makes them up all the time but some of the definitions are racey so I went throught it first and used white out! Worked for us! Funny material! We are definatly red necks!

Jeff Foxworthy delivers big laughs 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Pure clean belly-laughing fun. Great for a party warmer or to kill an hour of bordom.

Editorial Review:

Hey, you! The one holding the book. Have you ever seen a volume like this? Well, whether you realize it or not, it’s the one you’ve been waiting for. Jeff Foxworthy’s Redneck Dictionary will teach you how to speak this unique Southern dialect fluently. Whether you’re blue-collar or hoity-toity, swimming in cash or betting your bottom dollar, a little bit country or a lot of city slicker, this practical reference to redneck words and turns of phrases will give you hours of laughs.
So expand your horizons and learn another language with this fun, instructive, and hilariously illustrated book as your guide. After all, speaking redneck is a heck of a lot easier than speaking French!


From the Hardcover edition.

MAD About Politics: An Outrageous Pop-up Political Parody

The Usual Gang Of Idiots

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Mad...about Mad About Politics 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 2 people found this review helpful.

This is the Mad Magazine that I (mostly) remember.

Political satire by the Usual Gang of Idiots is inspiring, if you can call it that. Perhaps, a better word might be re-inspiring. A good motto for this book might be Lived it, read about it, time to laugh about it.

That's exactly what we can do. From Bill Clinton and his wanderings, to the current campaign to replace George W Bush, the sheer idiocy of their strategies to convince voters of their integrity is highlighted. Really, the Presidential Candidate Choose Your Own Adventure Book is probably the best paste on. I only wonder exactly why Sarah Palin doesn't show up on Lance Rivers? SNL is getting old. What exactly is physically wrong with Dick Cheney? His pocket book is fine, isn't it?

I am marginally surprised that the Bush years center piece is so short. Perhaps it was either adding 20 pages of pop-ups, fold overs, and spinning wheels.

If there is any tastelessness in the book, it's focused on Bill Clinton. Any president who thinks with something other than his brain, is certain to be lampooned for his lack of integrity. The presidential portrait with the optional Lewinsky pull just pushes the boundary. (But so did Bill).

One more time, if I could vote, my write in ballot, Alfred E Newman. The most scary scenario, if Alfred won, who would make decisions for the American people??? Perhaps Al Feldstein might yet return to public service with his well developed sense of sarcasm and graphic design.

Who needs to watch the news, read Mad About Politics!

Tim Lasiuta

Editorial Review:

From the demented pages of MAD Magazine comes a depraved and uproarious look at contemporary politics' juiciest scandals. Revel in the salacious animation of our fearless leaders' most embarrassing moments. Hunt with Dick Cheney, learn how to spell with Dan Quayle, take speech lessons with George W. Bush, and find out why Alfred E. Neuman is running for President...again and again and again.

Mad About Politics: A Pop-Up Book spares nothing at the expense of our elected officials, highlighting the unbearable truth about who's in charge. With precise pop-up ingenuity American power players have never looked so enjoyably foolish. If you're wondering who to vote for on Election Day let Mad About Politics give you some pointers. Suitable for the sardonic this tome of asinine political parody will have anyone with a sense of humor rolling in the aisles.

Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos

H. P. Lovecraft

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Total reviews: 24 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

"The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown."
--H. P. LOVECRAFT, "Supernatural Horror in Literature"

Howard Phillips Lovecraft forever changed the face of horror, fantasy, and science fiction with a remarkable series of stories as influential as the works of Poe, Tolkien, and Edgar Rice Burroughs. His chilling mythology established a gateway between the known universe and an ancient dimension of otherworldly terror, whose unspeakable denizens and monstrous landscapes--dread Cthulhu, Yog-Sothoth, the Plateau of Leng, the Mountains of Madness--have earned him a permanent place in the history of the macabre.

In Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos, a pantheon of horror and fantasy's finest authors pay tribute to the master of the macabre with a collection of original stories set in the fearsome Lovecraft tradition:

 ¸  The Call of Cthulhu by H. P. Lovecraft: The slumbering monster-gods return to the world of mortals.
 ¸  Notebook Found in a Deserted House by Robert Bloch: A lone farmboy chronicles his last stand against a hungering backwoods evil.
 ¸  Cold Print by Ramsey Campbell: An avid reader of forbidden books finds a treasure trove of deadly volumes--available for a bloodcurdling price.
 ¸  The Freshman by Philip José Farmer: A student of the black arts receives an education in horror at notorious Miskatonic University.

PLUS EIGHTEEN MORE SPINE-TINGLING TALES!

How to Rule the World: A Handbook for the Aspiring Dictator

Andre de Guillaume

Amazon Price: $9.95 List Price: $9.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Chicago Review Press Amazon Marketplace: 38 new & used starting at $5.25

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 16 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

To dictate or not to dictate 4 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

How to Rule the World... sounds simple enough, and with this guide, it makes it all the easier. You'll learn the tell tale signs of whether you should rule the world, set yourself in position so as to takeover and what to do once you are there. You'll learn how to dress extravagantly, where to hide your money, what earthly objects you will need to show off your wealth, and even what to do when you are ready to retire and put the next person of your choosing into power.

All this and snappy little history lessons based on past world rulers and their mistakes and proper procedures. While most book along this line tend to throw in alot of humor, this one cuts back on it, providing just enough tongue-in-cheek to make it a light-hearted affair while getting a history lesson on world rulers. It's not Machiavelli but if you wanted that then you should read that.

Overall, it's imaginative, light hearted, and informative. Well worth buying, Only down part is the artwork really put me off to begin with as it is seemingly done by a child, however, it grows on you and then I think it becomes more appropriate with these caricatures rather than more realistic portraits.

Editorial Review:

Everyone wants to rule the world, but only a precious few have the skills to create an ironclad plan of attack. Simple, direct, and delightfully unprincipled, this guide contains tales of global power mongering from every age and endeavors to show dilettante dictators and tyrants-to-be just how it's done. Tips are provided on creating a personal flag, what type of puppet government to establish, how to squelch free speech, and, most important, how to handle enemies. Also included are humorous full-color illustrations, sidebars on admirable despots, and self-quizzes that allow readers to see if they have what it takes to conquer the world.