Coyote V. Acme

From the Publisher

"Mr. Frazier makes me laugh out loud."—Christopher Lehmann-Haupt, The New York Times

"Can you imagine Wile E. Coyote suing the Acme Co. for all those faulty explosives devices that failed to work in the Road Runner cartoons? What if Boswell did a life of Don Johnson, rather than Samuel Johnson? The writer also pokes fun at Bob Hope's flawed memory about accidents and golfing gems, Stalin's theory of comedy and a bank with a great, new system of notation. It's sophisticated and it's funny."—Bob Trimble, The Dallas Morning News

"Makes Henry Kissinger look like a straight man."—David Mamet

"A few years ago, when the title piece from this collection appeared in The New Yorker, it lit up fax machines all over town . . . Now this masterpiece of the humorous essay spearheads a collection of similar gems."—Time Out New York

"To write ineffable lyrics, page-turning thrillers or profound epics—none of this is easy. But to write something that is truly funny—so funny that your eyes water and you laugh out loud—this may be the hardest and rarest thing of all. Ian Frazier does it with apparent ease."—The Kansas City Star

"Coyote v. Acme should make it clear that Frazier hasn't lost his gift for amusement. If you're in the right mood, it's possible even to scan the contents page without cracking up."—James Marcus, Newsday

"In Coyote v. Acme, a collection of (very) funny pieces, Ian Frazier separates issues ('Young Elvis, Old Elvis') from nonissues ('Old Elvis, Dead Elvis'); contemplates a life-insurance questionnaire for daytime drama characters; and has fun with critics' favorite crutch: positing cities (or mortality, or the English language) as a novel's character."—New York magazine

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

A collection of essays, which PW called "awfully good, smart and wicked at the same time," from the New Yorker humorist. May

Library Journal

Frazier's first collection of humor since Dating Your Mom (LJ 1/86) contains 22 pieces spoofing a wide range of subjects from Wylie Coyote to Joseph Stalin, from aggressive New Yorkers to the all-powerful Internal Revenue Service. The problem is that Frazier's routines too often target trivial issues, e.g., golf, television shows, and advice columns. Moreover, they aren't funnyat least not to one whose sense of humor was honed on Mad magazine, Saturday Night Live, and Fawlty Towers. Reading one of these stories in a magazine at the dentist's office might prove distracting; reading several could eliminate the need for Novocain. Of course, when it comes to a sense of humor, people vary greatly. If you dissolve into a paroxysm of uncontrollable laughter at the sight of a New Yorker cartoon, this book may be for you. For general collections.William Gargan, Brooklyn Coll. Lib., CUNY

Kirkus Reviews

Fresh from a memoir cum family history (Family, 1994), the author returns to the antic form with which he first made his name. Here is a gathering of his funny stuff culled from the pages of the Atlantic Monthly, the New Yorker and, no kidding, Army Man.

Though the collection is not seamless, the 22 short sketches harbor some truly loony stuff. Founded on vaguely recognizable facets of modern American life, Frazier's pieces use to wonderful effect the babble of banking and finance, the cant of showbiz, and with particular style, the language of literature. There's an alternate view of Wuthering Heights (in which "Cathy died, but not seriously"). There's a short story overflowing with meaningful relationships. ("Now that I am grown, with a husband and a wife and children of my own . . ." muses the narrator). There's Boswell's life of Don Johnson. And there is a wickedly accurate parody of Bob Hope's golfing reminiscences. Frazier has perfect pitch for language, whether it's litigious, as in the case of Wile E. Coyote v. Acme Company or instructive, as in the tax directive wherein some actual IRS wordage is embedded. Theatrical shtick isn't scanted, either, in a Studs Turkel-ish interview in which a fatuous Comrade Stalin is recalled expounding on the art and practice of stand-up comedy. In his S.J. Perelmanic vein, Frazier is likely to do a send-up on a news item of signal silliness. Though not all the little pieces are of equal quality (one riff that doesn't quite work is a commencement lecture from a scholar possessed by demons), they are all worth reading.

And in the time it takes to read the average book just once, this text can be read over and over again—which is not such a bad idea.