wheels68's review against another edition
5.0
I laughed through the whole thing. The audio is the way to go.. Steve does it and it is so funny.
kilcannon's review
3.0
Hit or miss. Some five-star pieces and some one-star pieces. But the five-star pieces are, well ... five stars.
offbalance80's review against another edition
5.0
The funniest book I have ever read, hands-down. I hope Martin compiles a sequel, and soon.
jammasterjamie's review against another edition
5.0
Short, smart, and witty, this is pretty much the perfect bathroom book for people who like to laugh while they do their business. The only problem is that Martin's writing is so addictive that even though the longest essay in here is only about six pages, you'll end up sitting for much longer than you need to because you want to just keep reading to see what he's going to say next. This could lead to hemorrhoids, so maybe I should only give this book four stars for the sake of your anal health, but then again, your ass is your own business. Five stars it is!
judyward's review against another edition
3.0
This is a collection of short essays, many published in the New Yorker magazine, which highlights Steve Martin's skill in comic writing. It was hard to pick a favorite, but the essay about membership requirements for Mensa ranks in the top three. Martin comments on the minimun 132 IQ cutoff for inclusion--until he meets someone with an IQ of 131 and it all becomes clear. A short, very enjoyable book.
lisa_mc's review against another edition
2.0
I’m a fan of Steve Martin’s movies (well, some of them), and his music, but this book was … meh. Most of the short-short pieces weren’t funny or amusing or even mildly interesting to me, though I did laugh out loud at the one about typography and punctuation, probably because I work with words for a living. However, the book delivers a step above what the title promises, and if you like his brand of humor, it’ll entertain you.
jakekilroy's review
4.0
Long ago, I read a line about what made Steve Martin's stand-up so enticing back in the day and it was essentially that he played a buffoon while offering the dissection of a buffoon. He has the time of his life portraying a persona as an exaggeratedly confident idiot, but his basis for such goofs comes from his love of so many wonderful things. Even in his movies, like "The Jerk" or "Bowfinger," Martin so very clearly thrives playing someone who thinks he can so easily get the upper hand without acknowledging or even knowing how or why his plan should really work. It's not just a doofus, but a doofus who is more or less detached from reality with an impressive depth. He knows things; he just doesn't know what to do with them. He appreciates the arts, but he misunderstands what makes artists who they are. It's a bit that never punches down, nor could it, but rather self-deprecates or suggests the real dummies are those who think the upper hand is entitled to punch down. This book is a screwball collection of absurd short stories, often in the first-person, though rarely as Martin himself, and it's just instance after instance of nonsense or character after character who thinks he can outsmart others with no sense of cunning or subversion. (It's why Kevin Kline's character Otto in "A Wish Called Wanda" kills me as well.) I'm so delighted by its balance of wholesome goofery that doesn't try to make its weirdness open invitation. I just adore someone using real creative brain power to sharply assemble absolute silliness and give a laughable existence its sincere tribute.