"The New Yorker" is, of course, a bastion of superb essays,
influential investigative journalism, and insightful arts
criticism. But for eighty years, it's also been a hoot. In fact,
when Harold Ross founded the legendary magazine in 1925, he called
it "a comic weekly," and while it has grown into much more, it has
also remained true to its original mission. Now an uproarious
sampling of its funny writings can be found in a hilarious new
collection, one as satirical and witty, misanthropic and menacing,
as the first, "Fierce Pajamas." From the 1920s onward-but with a
special focus on the latest generation-here are the humorists who
set the pace and stirred the pot, pulled the leg and pinched the
behind of America.
S. J. Perelman unearths the furious letters of a foreign
correspondent in India to the laundry he insists on using in Paris
("Who charges six francs to wash a cummerbund?!"). Woody Allen
recalls the "Whore of Mensa," who excites her customers by reading
Proust (or, if you want, two girls will explain Noam Chomsky).
Steve Martin's pill bottle warns us of side effects ranging from
hair that smells of burning tires to teeth receiving radio
broadcasts. Andy Borowitz provides his version of theater-lobby
notices ("In Act III, there is full frontal nudity, but not
involving the actor you would like to see naked"). David Owen's
rules for dating his ex-wife start out magnanimous and swiftly
disintegrate into sarcasm, self-loathing, and rage, and Noah
Baumbach unfolds a history of his last relationship in the form of
Zagat reviews.
Meanwhile, off in a remote "willage" in Normandy, David Sedaris is
drowning a mouse ("This was for the best, whether the mouse
realized it or not").
Plus asides, fancies, rebukes, and musings from Patty Marx, Calvin
Trillin, Bruce McCall, Garrison Keillor, Veronica Geng, Ian
Frazier, Roy Blount, Jr., and many others.
If laughter is the best medicine, "Disquiet, Please" is truly a
wonder drug.
"From the Hardcover edition."
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