Re: Laugh-out-loud-funny SF

Rob St. Amant wrote:
Randy Money <rbmoney@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes:


Gene Ward Smith wrote:

David Tate wrote:


S.J. Perelman & James Thurber

The stuff I've read is amusing, but easy to put down. Not even close
to (say) a Dave Barry level of reaction.

You were recommended The Wonderful O, but I think Fables for our
Times
is more laugh out loud.

I agree some of the fables are funny, but some show the
curmudgeonliness Thurber developed with age. With _The Wonderful O_ he
was trying to amuse children and it worked on me.

Probably I should note that Dave Berry is hit and miss for me. When he
works, he's very funny; portions of _Big Trouble_ had me holding my
breath to keep from laughing aloud in public, and that is the kind of
reaction I have more often with Christopher Moore.


I think of Christopher Moore as being closer to Carl Hiassen's style
of humor than Dave Barry's: humor that's more derived from the way
situations unfold in absurd ways, rather than illogical, funny
juxtapositions of ideas. (Not that Hiassen and Barry represent
different categories of humor, necessarily, but I guess I associate
them because of the Florida connection.)

I haven't read Hiassen. What I was responding to in Moore and Barry is the good-natured tone of voice the works are written in. And, too, there's a dog in _Big Trouble_ and a dog in _Personal Demonkeeping_ (or was it _The Stupidest Angel_?) and the ways in which they worked and worked into the story seemed similar to me.

Of course, that may be being a bit too specific to build broad comparrisons on.


Randy M.

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Laugh-out-loud-funny SF
    ... to a Dave Barry level of reaction. ... Probably I should note that Dave Berry is hit and miss for me. ... reaction I have more often with Christopher Moore. ... of humor than Dave Barry's: humor that's more derived from the way ...
    (rec.arts.sf.written)
  • Re: What I admire about quakers is their inability to refrain from Hypocrisy!
    ... eric volkel-barno wrote: ... >I did not at all perceive your statement to be "snide sarcasm," and was ... >a bit surprised at Timothy's reaction. ...
    (soc.religion.quaker)
  • Re: Growing up gifted
    ... Guy Barry wrote: ... suggests to me that it's an issue that still has some resonance for ... experiences. ... because of the reaction you'd previously had in similar ...
    (soc.singles.moderated)
  • Re: Late mortgage payments and foreclosures hit record
    ... We know Barry did. ... Thus, in my circle of Black acquaintances, James is call James, not Jim, Jimmy or Jamie. ... Robert is called Robert, not Bob, or Robby. ... You would be David, not Dave. ...
    (misc.news.internet.discuss)
  • Reply to Tim 9-30-05
    ... because I post on the internet? ... >> Rocky - Barry has proven me right before ... ROcky. ... You have forgotten about Barry proving Dave wrong and why Dave no longer ...
    (misc.transport.trucking)
Loading