It's Funny Until Someone Loses an Eye (Then It's Really Funny)

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Pub Date Nov 01 2017 | Archive Date Nov 03 2017

Description

This collection of stories by Kurt Luchs pursues its comedic quarry with the ruthlessness of a pussycat trying to get out of a cardboard box. Luchs, who has written for august literary organs such as The Onion, The New Yorker, and McSweeney's Internet Tendency, and even been published by some of them, is an inspired comic writer in the tradition of P.J. Wodehouse, S.J. Perelman, and Woody Allen, for whom not only the world but language itself is a source of constant delight. Even the hilarity he generates is not an end in itself; the convulsing diaphragms of his laughing readers are in his hands a remotely operated musical instrument bridging the woodwind and percussion sections.



This collection of stories by Kurt Luchs pursues its comedic quarry with the ruthlessness of a pussycat trying to get out of a cardboard box. Luchs, who has written for august literary organs such as ...


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About the Author:

Kurt Luchs has written humor all of his life for nearly every medium. He has contributed to such prominent humor outlets as The Onion, The New Yorker and McSweeney's Internet Tendency. His work has been represented in most of The Onion books, including Our Dumb Century, winner of the Thurber Prize for humor, and in a number of anthologies, including May Contain Nuts (HarperCollins), Created in Darkness by Troubled Americans (Knopf/Random House) and Moms Are Nuts (Vansant Creations). In television, he has written comedy for Bill Maher at Politically Incorrect and Craig Kilborn at the Late Late Show. In radio, he was a staff writer for the comedy prep service the Complete Sheet, and later for American Comedy Network, which he also managed. Since 2002 he has edited and frequently contributed to The Big Jewel, a leading site for literary humor, which he co-founded. As a member of the sibling comedy troupe the Luchs Brothers, he co-wrote and sang the independent hit novelty single Kill Me I'm Rotten, the world's first (and still only) Sex Pistols parody. The Luchs Brothers' original WWII propaganda parody script, Dirk Scabbard—Home Front Hero, won the American Radio Theater scriptwriting contest. Kurt Luchs also writes poetry, which he has published in such publications as Former People Journal, Into the Void, Minetta Review, Poydras Review, Triggerfish Critical Review, Otis Nebula, Sheila-Na-Gig, Right Hand Pointing, Roanoke Review, Fjords Review, Verse-Virtual, The Ibis Head Review, and Burningword Literary Journal, among several others. He is preparing to publish his first volume of poems, tentatively titled One of These Things Is Not Like the Other. In addition, he is currently writing an autobiographical novel with the working title of Honey Street, under the theory that because it's a novel, no one will be able to sue him.

About the Author:

Kurt Luchs has written humor all of his life for nearly every medium. He has contributed to such prominent humor outlets as The Onion, The New Yorker and McSweeney's Internet Tendency...


Available Editions

EDITION Paperback
ISBN 9781944697402
PRICE $19.95 (USD)

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Featured Reviews

Exceptional Word Play

The blurbers for this book have invoked, as comparable writers, such diverse talents as P.G. Wodehouse, Woody Allen, and S,J. Perelman. O.K., I'll play along. To me this feels a good deal like Woody Allen, especially if Woody had written more for The Onion.

Like good stand up this type of humor writing requires the printed version of "timing". The set up is followed by a brief throwaway, or an extra beat, or an aside, or a surprise parenthetical that suddenly twists the sentence and sends it somewhere unexpected. And the timing here is exceptional.

So, these pieces aren't "jokes", and they aren't shaggy dog stories. It's not really observational humor, and you don't have to read pages of dry cuteness just to get to the punch line. They are bits, but written with care and real regard for how words and sentences work. To paraphrase Chesterton, it's easy to be heavy but hard to be light. Luchs can do light right - and that's a real treat.

Of course, some premises work better than others. But even the "usual", (like a letter of recommendation for a terrible employee), is remarkably fresh and very tightly constructed. And, since every piece runs only about 2 to 4 pages this is like a humor sampler, or a bag of very funny mental potato chips.

That was all fine by me, and I enjoyed and admired this collection. A nice find.

(Please note that I received a free advance ecopy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)

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