The 50 Funniest American Writers*: An Anthology of Humor from Mark Twain to The Onion Hardcover – October 13, 2011

I pre-ordered a copy of this book for one reason only: I wanted to support Andy Borowitz who has provided me with so many laughs on so many days that I thought the least I could do in return is to buy his book. I simply don't know how Andy's daily emails can be funny every damn day. He never misses.So on the book. This is a delightful collection of all sorts of writers and many are topical, modern, diverse and also laugh out loud funny. Not "funny" the way something you read in English Lit in 8th grade was supposed be be funny but wasn't. Really laugh out loud at a funny movie funny. Who couldn't laugh at Wanda Sykes, for example?The other thing I like about this book is that each author gets about five or six pages so you don't have to commit to reading an hour at a time. You can pick up the book as the coffee is brewing and get a good laugh. Plus, you can just skip around and read the selections in any order.I will add (seriously) that this book would be a perfect holiday present for all those hard-to-buy for people on your shopping list, including sullen teenagers, old grand-dads, faux intellectuals, real intellectuals -- anyone. Buy a dozen or so and your shopping will be done.In short, we all need a break. We all need a laugh, and this is just the book to help us do so. Great job, Andy!

For people who appreciate humor writing, this book is a must read. It represents a sampling of the best humor writing in America over the years. Andy Borowitz himself is hilarious, especially in the current Alice-in-Wonderland political times, and he has selected a great sample, with some nice surprises I had not expected. My only regret is he omitted PJ O'Rourke, who deserves to be among the top 50.Readers should know that in the interest of balancing the chronicle across the years there are selections that, while funny for their time, do not travel well to today. They are of interest more because they indicate the roots of American humor and provide some historical perspective, but they are not funny by our standards. I might call them "droll" or "amusing", but not "funny". But the funny quotient picks up in the last 2/3 of the book and there are many enjoyable moments.It is worth reading the mini biographies at the end, especially among the writers from the 1960s to 2000, to see the many ways these people combined and recombined across a series of movie and magazine projects to bring us some of the best humor of the last century. There are many common threads through National Lampoon (magazine and movies), SCTV, and others.

I'm generally fairly scattershot when it comes to the manner in which I approach a typical anthology: I'll thumb through, choose selections at reckless random, set it aside for months, perhaps pick it up later, and likely completely forget about the 44% I never managed to get to. Dust ultimately collects, as dust is wont to do.I've long been deeply amused by damn near EVERYTHING that Mr. Borowitz has to say (whether it be in The New Yorker, via Twitter, or on his masterfully produced satirical website (BorowitzReport.com)), and I was intrigued by the notion of perusing the work of writers that HE considers to rank among the country's most amusing, past and present. I decided, what the hell, worst-case scenario? One more anthology, one more potential dust-collector...This book will NOT be receiving the 56%-read solution, just to be cast aside like so much stultifying yard-sale fodder. As a matter of fact, my original copy is currently in the hands of a third grateful reader. And I'm maintaining a bit of a wait-list.THIS book is one of the most well-considered, thoughtfully-ordered, skillfully-constructed collections I can recall chancing into. In addition, as I read it cover-to-cover in the order Mr. Borowitz plainly intended (well played, Andy!), I laughed aloud often enough to leave my eyes significantly tear-swollen, and hard enough to prompt a fair ache in my sides.Beginning with Mark Twain's 'A Presidential Candidate' (stunning in its latter-day prescience) and finishing with Larry Wilmore's 'If Not an Apology, at Least a "My Bad"' (a drolly hysterical examination of ways "white guilt" might be more effectively expiated), the collection presents some of my favorite writers (Davids Rakoff & Sedaris, Dorothy Parker, Calvin Trillin...) along with a few that were less familiar to me (as if I'm unsophisticated enough to list them - ha!). The progression from story to story, as aforementioned, feels adroitly manicured without coming off as affected, and neither satire-fatigue nor comic-habituation ever threaten to set in. It's rare that I feel "approaching-the-book's-end-remorse" when tearing through a digest such as this, but as I neared the final four pieces, I discovered that I'd slowed my pace as if to somehow extend the book by just a few pages more... High praise, indeed, for a compilatory effort, in my opinion.Bottom line: This book is consistently hilarious, brilliantly constructed and worth every moment invested in enjoying it. I'd normally hesitate in waxing so trite, but THIS one is an absolute must-read.

It's inevitable that an anthology of the 50 funniest American writers will be a mixed pleasure. Some of the pieces are riotously funny (John Hughes Vacation 58 for example). Others are mildly amusing (Garrison Keillor The Tip Top Club). Some are far out (The Onion, Clinton deploys vowels to Bosnia). Some really seem entirely serious (excerpt from Lenny Bruce, for example). Some seem distinctly of their time and place (parodies of Hemingway or Chandler). Still, overall, certainly enough - and enough variety - to hold the attention. Well worth the price of admission!

As the editor points out, and a few reviewers note, humor is subjective and what one person finds funny another person says, "What!!"It quickly became apparent that my idea of humor didn't match that of the editor and maybe 3 of the 50 stories were somewhat funny for me.Had I looked at the editor's website before making the purchase I would have realized that we weren't a humor match and I would have some some money and a lot of reading time.Your mileage may vary.