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264th out of 1,873 books
—
3,708 voters
Letters from a Nut
Who is Ted L. Nancy? He is, in reality, a supremely off-kilter alter ego who sends patently ridiculous letters and queries to corporate honchos, entertainment conglomerates, national publications, politicians, celebrities and heads of state. Letters From a Nut is an insanely inspired, truly madcap collection of Nancy correspondence, a laugh-out-loud-in-public places aggreg...more
Hardcover, 192 pages
Published
June 1st 1997
by Avon Books
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I saw this book in a "Borders" bookstore, and picked it up while me and a friend had coffee.. as I read the book, in a crowded cafe in the bookstore, I noticed that I was laughing aloud..I was in tears in a matter of minutes... I passed the book to my friend, who in turn, laughed aloud.. we both laughed and laughed and laughed uncontrollably, page after page...the others in the cafe were wanting to see what we were laughing out, so we ended up passing the book to other people as well who also go...more
This is the ultimate coffee table book. Leave it there and when you are feeling a little down or depressed pick it up. I took the advice offered in the introduction and tried to read a couple of my favorite letters out loud to people. I was in tears. This book is meant to be taken in small doses so don't sit down and read it from cover to cover. Pay attention to the small quirky details he puts into the letters, they are the funniest parts. Read some letters out loud and see if you can finish th...more
total awesome silliness. my friends and i were obsessed with these books in high school. i think they helped to develop my sense of humor. i don't know if that's good or bad actually.
I laugh until I cry. Seriously, tears are streaming down my face every time I pick this book up. I wonder what the author of this book is thinking. He's either totally insane or a complete genius.
This book is full of completely made up letters to companies, hotels, restaurants, etc. about their products and services and those companies responses.
If you have no sense of humor, please don't read this!
This book is full of completely made up letters to companies, hotels, restaurants, etc. about their products and services and those companies responses.
If you have no sense of humor, please don't read this!
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The author of this book wrote ridiculous letters (often requests) to real companies, and the original letters and responses are published in this book.
I thought many of the letters were funny. I read about three fourths of the book. And there were maybe five that I read out loud to my husband, because I thought they were so funny. I really enjoyed the one he wrote to the stadium seating company president. :) Truly a question for the ages . . .
However, it stopped being as funny for me when he st...more
I thought many of the letters were funny. I read about three fourths of the book. And there were maybe five that I read out loud to my husband, because I thought they were so funny. I really enjoyed the one he wrote to the stadium seating company president. :) Truly a question for the ages . . .
However, it stopped being as funny for me when he st...more
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Remember how great it was when people used to write letters?
Ted L. Nancy, a pseudonym for a someone with a little time on his hands and a strange, strange sense of humor, has written lots of letters. Hotels, restaurants, universities, Al Gore, The Minnesota Vikings and more have all been victim to Mr. Nancy's unique requests (Would it be alright if I gambled in your casino in my lucky jumbo shrimp costume, I left a Prussian military sword in your bathroom, can I bring my own ice machine when I...more
Ted L. Nancy, a pseudonym for a someone with a little time on his hands and a strange, strange sense of humor, has written lots of letters. Hotels, restaurants, universities, Al Gore, The Minnesota Vikings and more have all been victim to Mr. Nancy's unique requests (Would it be alright if I gambled in your casino in my lucky jumbo shrimp costume, I left a Prussian military sword in your bathroom, can I bring my own ice machine when I...more
Have you read this book? If not, and you want a good clean laugh, I'd recommend it. I just randomly picked it out of the humor section at Borders last night and it turned out to be a real howl. You know you've got a funny book on your hands when your daughter, becoming slightly exasperated with all the laughing, suggests that maybe it would be best if you took a little break from the book and did something else for a while!
The book is a hilarious compilation of letters, purportedly written by th...more
The book is a hilarious compilation of letters, purportedly written by th...more
I'm not certain which I found more funny: the completely absurd scenarios concocted by the author of these letters, or the responses of the poor employees who must remain appropriately polite. I loved sharing some of these letters with students when I taught business letter writing. Not only are they great visuals for showing a variety of letterheads and styles, the responses also show students how tone or voice come into play when writing a formal business letter.
Shameless derivative hack of Lazlo Toth's books. Completely unoriginal and not the least bit funny. Nothing redeeming about it other than its potential use in starting up a roaring fire in your fireplace on a cold winter's night. Use care not to burn the glue binding as this can release some potentially dangerous fumes. Rip the pages out completely first then discard the binding once the covers and inside pages are depleted.
This book is hilarious. It is a compilation of outrageously goofy letters sent to actual businesses and the responses he receives. You will laugh until you cry and your stomach hurts. Whenever I need a really good laugh I will break out this book and read a few pages. My family has read this book over and over and over. We have also enjoyed reading it to one another in the car while traveling.
This was part of the summer reading for the gifted class at our middle school. Comedian Jerry Seinfeld fabricated a lot of bizarre situations/requests and sent letters to actual businesses using the penname of Ted L. Nancy. This is a compilation of those letters and many of the responses he received.
A couple of things bothered me about this. Some of the fake requests seemed to require a bit of effort on the part of the business (searching for lost items, etc., and in one case consulting their l...more
A couple of things bothered me about this. Some of the fake requests seemed to require a bit of effort on the part of the business (searching for lost items, etc., and in one case consulting their l...more
A number of letters will be brought up in my everyday conversation for years to come:
Help Me
- Nordstrom - The mannequin that looks just like his deceased neighbor.
- American Seating - Rear or crotch forward when leaving an auditorium?
- Hawaiian Tropic - Suntanned palms. People can't tell if I'm coming or going.
Dreams
- Excaliber - Excaliburgers
- Mars Candy - Possibly the funniest! The name Skittles. Can it be changed? Involuntary experiment: mix Starbursts and Skittles = Startles. Years of rese...more
Help Me
- Nordstrom - The mannequin that looks just like his deceased neighbor.
- American Seating - Rear or crotch forward when leaving an auditorium?
- Hawaiian Tropic - Suntanned palms. People can't tell if I'm coming or going.
Dreams
- Excaliber - Excaliburgers
- Mars Candy - Possibly the funniest! The name Skittles. Can it be changed? Involuntary experiment: mix Starbursts and Skittles = Startles. Years of rese...more
this book is hysterical, hysterical, hysterical.
you don't so much read it as leave it on your coffee table to remind you and your friends that the world is all right afterall.
ted l. nancy (not real name) writes a series of letters with absurd requests or comments to hotels, casinos and large corporations. he writes to the flamingo in vegas that he needs to bring his own bed/ special reading lamp/ ant collection, and is that okay? he writes to the egyptian that he is a private citizen wishing to...more
you don't so much read it as leave it on your coffee table to remind you and your friends that the world is all right afterall.
ted l. nancy (not real name) writes a series of letters with absurd requests or comments to hotels, casinos and large corporations. he writes to the flamingo in vegas that he needs to bring his own bed/ special reading lamp/ ant collection, and is that okay? he writes to the egyptian that he is a private citizen wishing to...more
This guy IS a nut. He writes these wacky letters to different companies, hotels, and celebrities with off-the- wall requests; my favorite is when he writes to the Mars Inc and tells them his new candy ideas such as STARTLES -- a combination of Starburst and Skittles (which I think would be delicious).
I have yet to find anyone who didn't laugh at some of the letters in this book. How about the guy who looks just like Abraham Lincoln and needs special treatment at the casino or the man in the acting troup who will be riding the greyhound dressed as a stick of butter? It's hilarious stuff!
This book is hilarious! Basically, this guy writes letters with ridiculous requests to different businesses to see if and how they'll reply. Some of the ideas that he comes up with are so clever and random. My husband and I read it together and laughed so hard.
This is one of the funniest books I've ever read! If you read the letters out loud to other people you really will LOL! HA! I especially enjoyed the stories of Morris the butter stick and the shrimp outfits in Vegas. Have fun with this one - I have.
Feb 27, 2008
Andrea
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Danny, Karalyn, Christina, Shelley, Jamie
Shelves:
funny
I laughed harder than I can remember. Thought provoking, random, and memorable. The author's mind works in a very interesting way, and he is quite the creative, humorous mind. Kyle and I have our "favorite" letters, but they're all great.
Oh, this was funny... The guy wrote letters to different companies and from their responses you can tell some sort of knew something was up, others seemed to genuinely be good people and made you feel bad for laughing. But, oh, it was funny.
I picked up this book out of curiosity... here is a guy who has the cheek to ask the king of Tonga if the sword His Royal Highness is carrying in the picture is the same one that he had misplaced at Ritz. He's whacky and he has corresponded with Corporates, Hotels, Transportation services, you-name-it for some seriously hillarious queries and thankyou's! One is even amazed that they would reply to a 3-legged man, a man who wants to board their bus in his banana costume, a man who wants to buy th...more
May 12, 2009
Andrea
rated it
2 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Someone looking for a chuckle
Recommended to Andrea by:
I borrowed it from my brother
This book is a collection of letters sent by Ted L. Nancy to several companies and then their responses back. This book was great for the first few pages, but then it became repetitive and I got bored. There are a few gems in this book. The few that really made me laugh made it worth the read (my favorite was about stadium seating). I would suggest reading this in very small doses. Maybe 1 or 2 letters and responses a day. He did send letters that were alike to different companies, hence the rep...more
I had read More Letters from a Nut first, and either that collection of letters was exponentially more funny or one can only handle so many jokes from the same voice. But, since I can still laugh just as easily at the millionth Golden Girls episode as I could the first, I think the problem is the latter. These seemed to be formulaic and few of the responses were genuinely funny. My stomach muscles DID ache after fits of laughter when reading this one, but only when I was almost finished with it....more
Dude has way too much time on his hands, he sends random letters to places with made up complaints, and it's really really funny.
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Hilarious! the best one! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA...more
Just a silly book of outrageous letters written by the fictitious Ted. L. Nancy who also includes the responses he receives from the companies, casinos, hotels, etc. that he has written. There are definitely some laugh-out-loud letters, but sometimes I found it a bit repetitive. Without a doubt Mr. Nancy is pretty inventive: the crazy requests he makes in his letters are definitely the work of a creative and comedic mind. I mean have you ever heard of someone requesting to bring their own ice ma...more
A fun book - the letters ranged from slightly amusing to downright silly. I was a little surprised at the tactfulness, sensitivity, restraint and overall professionalism exhibited by the companies that replied to his letters (and there were only a few that didn't reply) - for example, the casino/hotel that didn't tell him that Elvis is dead but just steered him to their current entertainment schedule. I think my favorite letter was the one about Fritos! (they're all curled and salty).
Some of the letters in this book were quite funny while others were a bit more odd and strange. I did laugh out loud at some parts (my favourite being the one with Mickey Mantle's toenails), but the rest just gave me an inward, amused chuckle. Maybe it's because I read it all in one sitting- someone else here recommended reading the letters over a period of time.
This is a fun book, but maybe one that should be enjoyed over a period of time. One for the coffee table.
This is a fun book, but maybe one that should be enjoyed over a period of time. One for the coffee table.
You can't laugh harder at any book but this one.
In this book you read hysterical "letters from a nut" and see how ridiculous Ted L. Nancy* really is. There's everything about losing a Persian sword in a bathroom, or wanting his lost tooth back after going to a hotel. There's a mannequin looking like a neighbor, and tanning lotion issues.
Beware: Know that when you read this, you will be laughing harder than any time you ever had.
*Not a real person.
In this book you read hysterical "letters from a nut" and see how ridiculous Ted L. Nancy* really is. There's everything about losing a Persian sword in a bathroom, or wanting his lost tooth back after going to a hotel. There's a mannequin looking like a neighbor, and tanning lotion issues.
Beware: Know that when you read this, you will be laughing harder than any time you ever had.
*Not a real person.
Nov 11, 2008
Jrossi
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
anyone with a sense of humor or people trying to improve their sense of humor
This guy is a nut. And he writes letters to people. Here are some examples:
To Topps Baseball Co, he offers to donate the toenail clippings he secured from Micky Mantles hotel room floor in 1960.
To Sahara Hotel & Casino, he writes to secure a room but needs to be sure they will let him hang his own special drapes (made is Austria - not a knit).
To LA Lakers Basketball Team, he wants to come to a Lakers game but because of an injury the backside of his pants is cut out and his buttocks are enca...more
To Topps Baseball Co, he offers to donate the toenail clippings he secured from Micky Mantles hotel room floor in 1960.
To Sahara Hotel & Casino, he writes to secure a room but needs to be sure they will let him hang his own special drapes (made is Austria - not a knit).
To LA Lakers Basketball Team, he wants to come to a Lakers game but because of an injury the backside of his pants is cut out and his buttocks are enca...more
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Ted L. Nancy is the pseudonym used by the comedian Barry Marder, author of a number of prank letters which have been published in a series of bestselling books under the titles Letters from a Nut, More Letters from a Nut, Extra Nutty!: Even More Letters from a Nut, and the new book All New Letters from a Nut.
More about Ted L. Nancy...
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