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He wrote for the Marx Brothers (and looked like one). His short comedy prose was jaw droppingly verbose but also laugh-out-loud funny, even to someone reading them a good seven or eight decades past their sell-by date.
The Library of America is reprinting a couple of his classics. Crazy Like A Fox is the place to start.
Feb 9, 2024
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John Swartzwelder is the funniest writer in the world. I donât know that I could write about him and do him justice, but he was a longtime Simpsons writer and then started self-publishing books that are so incredibly joke dense it will blow your mind. Hereâs a quote from The Time Machine Did It, one of his many books following a strange detective named Frank Burly: âWhen I first became a detective I had tried solving crimes the way mystery writers do: coming up with the solution to the crime first, then working back to the point where you don't know what the hell is going on. But for some reason every time I tried that I ended up locked in a closet.â
Feb 24, 2022
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I first read Dangerous Laughter, one of his short story collections back in college. It have thought of it often since but only recently picked up a couple more of his short story collections. he might be the best to ever do it. Every time I read a story of his I am like yup, this is it, this is writing. The absolute pinnacle of the form. he is my alpha and omega. you will never ever regret reading a story of his (unless you have shitty taste in literature)
Jan 29, 2024
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I have a strong sense of humiliation and a loose sense of shame. I think itâs best not to take things too seriously and the content I love reflects a certain snarky optimism - The Marx Brothers, Buster Keaten, scripts written by S.J Perlman. To me, Duck Soup is the greatest movie ever written.
Jun 28, 2023
Top Recs from @straintest
An âeclecticâ offshoot of Radio France. Elegant, mellow, will send you to sprinting to Shazam again and again.
Francophone stuff that rarely gets play in the US (French 80s pop star Etienne Dahoâ who sounds equally influenced by Lou Reed, Francoise Hardy and the Pet Shop Boys â is a favorite discovery), mixed with Sly and Robbie, Bill Evans, Moondog, some baroque chamber piece, Emahoy TseguĂŠ-Maryam Guèbrou, De La Soul, and on and on and on
Feb 13, 2024