Should You Be Laughing at This?

by Hugleikur Dagsson

Hugleikur Gagsson's Should You Be Laughing at This? has achieved revered cult status and taken the Icelandic publishing world by storm. Of course, Iceland is a country whose national drink is called "Black Death," national dish is putrefied shark meat, and national literacy rate is 99.9%. That may give you a small idea of the dark but brilliant mind behind the shamefully addicting cartoons in this book. From the absurd to the offensive to the immoral, Dagsson includes every taboo out there. And when you find yourself snickering and cackling, you'll stop and ask yourself, "Should You Be Laughing at This?"

Genres: Humor, Comics, Graphic Novels, Fiction, Graphic Novels Comics, Comedy, Sequential Art

176 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Full name Þórarinn Hugleikur Dagsson, Hugleikur is an Icelandic cartoonist famed for his eyebrow-raising humour. His most famous publications are the 'Us' series, consisting of Elskið okkur, Drepið okkur, Ríðið okkur, Forðist okkur, Bjargið okkur, Fylgið okkur, Fermið okkur, Kaupið okkur (Love Us, Kill Us, Fuck Us, Avoid Us, Save Us, Follow Us, Close Us and Buy Us) and the compilation 1001 okkur. Avoid Us, Save Us and Follow Us have been translated into English as Should You Be Laughing at This?, Is This Supposed to Be Funny? and Is This Some Kind of Joke?.
Hugleikur has also published many more cartoon books and humorous works.

Reviews

[☆Kylie☆ · Rating 1 out of 5]

Well, I did read it... So...
It's bad, like really bad.

The art is shitty, the jokes are shittier if you can believe.

Serious, I didn't laugh once.

Read at your own risk

[Anthony Chavez · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's good for a few chuckles but not much else. And definitely not for the faint of heart or people who can't take sometimes twisted humor. I was expecting lots of humorous descriptions, but I only found a laugh every 10 or so pages. It did not take that long to get through, I would pick it up every few days, like a cartoon calendar, and flip through a few comics. I found about half of the pages funny but, and maybe this is because I'm not from Iceland, I didn't understand why some of these things would be considered funny enough to warrant a whole cartoon depiction. An example: four kids are jumping with their hands in the air. The caption reads "four more years." Not sure why? Wha? I guess I just don't get it.

[Mauricio Simões · Rating 1 out of 5]

A Islândia ri disso?

Hugleikur Dagsson é islandês, cartunista, formado pela Academia de Artes da Islândia e é um daqueles casos inacreditáveis do “quanto pior, melhor” que dá certo. Seu... errr... livro (?) é uma lástima. Se era para ter graça (no sentido de humor, mesmo que negro) fracassou miseravelmente. Não me arrancou uma risada sequer nos 20 minutos que levei para lê-lo. Dos 150 cartoons, terrivelmente desenhados com homens-palito (você estudou Artes para isso, Dagsson?), 125 não acrescentam absolutamente nada. Os 25 restantes fizeram-me arquear uma sobrancelha ou, no máximo, manifestar reação de um discreto músculo do canto da boca. Sem perceber a mínima qualidade de humor, procurei alguma crítica social e encontrei meros arranhões na superfície. Se você não for um pré-adolescente, provavelmente também vá lamentar o tempo desperdiçado.

A ideia é essencialmente boa, mas a execução é insípida. As tentativas de parecer ofensivo invariavelmente batem na trave por conta da abordagem pueril e pelas ilustrações primitivas. Sem cometer a heresia de compará-lo, mas se for para ver cartoons toscamente desenhados (de forma proposital), sugiro procurar pela espetacular série “Os Malvados”, de André Dahmer. De qualquer forma, parabenizo Dagsson pelos seus 20 minutos de “fama” nas minhas mãos.

Nota do livro: 0,85 (0 estrelas).

[Alida · Rating 1 out of 5]

it looked provocative and daring but after i reached the midway point, i realized that about 10% of the "cartoons" are actually funny. the rest are just mean and at the level of a drunk who thinks he's funny.

[Syazwanie Winston Abdullah · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is sick. Twisted humor indeed. I don't get it. To me, thoughts of murdering your kids, bigots, racism etc are not funny. I am pretty open minded but this is truly sick. Uggggh! Why did I pick this book up?

[Caroline · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hilarious with a side of feeling like a bad person for thinking it's as funny as it is. A perfectly disgusting and gut-busting collection of simple black and white comics.

[Kirstine · Rating 2 out of 5]

Skulle det nu være sjovt? Åbenbart.

Er det sjovt? Ikke rigtig. Faktisk synes jeg den er pisse ubehagelig at læse.

For det meste er den bare ude på at provokerer, hvilket ikke er særlig morsomt eller opfindsomt. Den klarer sig allerbedst, når den ikke er larmende grov og upassende, men lader sig selv være underlig og peger på det bizarre i vores forhold til hinanden, os selv og samfundet.

Det sker dog alt, alt for lidt, så den er ikke yderligere værd at læse.

[Colleen AF · Rating 2 out of 5]

There are about six comics I can think of right off the top of my head that are interchangeable in both art style and humor to the comics in this book*. I would say one out of every four comics were amusing here, but the other three of four felt forced and too determined to be shocking. Never actually was shocked (takes a lot to phase me), but it did bore the heck out of me at points. If it wasn't bright red and staring at me every time I went to the bathroom I don't think I would have read it all.


*my favorite of the six look-alikes, though probably the most "acquired taste" of any of the comics I read is one called "World Salad Comics" which brings a new definition to the term absurd.

It now means peach.

[Hildur · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is very, very silly.
But silly in a good way, as long as your humour isn't too sophisticated or you tend to get easily offended.

Don't be expecting any sharp wit. I fully admit that this book is solely pee pee and poo poo jokes mixed with some cruel and dark humour.
I personally like it. I love cruel jokes.

Most of the jokes in this book really work and some of them have sunk deep enough into my head for me to quote them every now and then in every day life. 8/10.

[Zuzka Jakúbková · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dagsson's work is always a delight. This compilation of comic strips covers his publication work from three other books published in Iceland. Some of the references seem to be too "scandinavian" for me to get, but 95% works very well still.

[Valerie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hilarious but really "wrong". Great coffee table book. You can't help but laugh even though you really shouldn't!

[Célia · Rating 1 out of 5]

Mmmmmh. Humour un brin trop noir pour moi.

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Foreign humor can be a challenge. And no, you probably shouldn't laugh at these. But you will.

[Seizure Romero · Rating 1 out of 5]

"And when you find yourself snickering and cackling...." See, that's the problem. I did not snicker, nor did I cackle. I might have found this transgressively amusing when I was a teen, but now it's just really not funny; it tries way too hard. I suppose this may be shocking for some, but it reads more like an adolescent who's learned they can get people to react by being gross and over-the-top. I don't mind bad jokes, rude jokes, gross jokes-- as long as they're funny.

I'm sure it's just advert hyperbole, but I'm sorry for Iceland if this is considered hilarious, brilliant, or "shamefully addicting."

[Robert · Rating 2 out of 5]

After reading that this book has reached cult status and that the writer is Icelandic, (where the national drink is called black death, the national dish is putrefied shark, the national literacy rate is 99.9% and the author graduated from an art academy), I was expecting this book to be filled with wickedly dark, intelligent, and well drawn cartoons.

What I got was a book with 172 pages, each page contained one “stick figure” cartoon (so much for graduating from an art academy). The humor was dark but as far as intelligent goes, I found it a bit lacking, though I did get the underlying commentary being made on everything from politics, bad parenting, love and a few other subjects.

So to answers the title question, Should You Be Laughing At This? Well, I can't answer for you but for me, out of the 172 pages, I think I cracked a smile a handful of times but a laugh was not to be found.

I wouldn't recommend this book but I couldn't say it was a waste of time either. It took less than 20 minutes to read the entire thing. Five smiles in 20 minutes may not be the best use of your time but it's not the worst use either.

[Leanza · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was just some random little book that I read through in a few minutes at a library cafe, but I think it will stick with me for a long time.

It's a book made of disgusting, absurd, disturbing, and just plain sick comics and doodles (some reminded me of doodles that I used to draw on the back of my notebooks haha). Only a few really actually made me laugh, but I did enjoy reading it for the most part. Some of them I found pretty sad and even thought-provoking, but maybe I'm just thinking about it too much hahaha (then again, that's what books are for). But there were also some that I couldn't understand how anyone could find funny - either they didn't make sense to me, or they were just too crude.

Not for the faint-hearted, people who are easily offended, and definitely not for children.

[Mika · Rating 4 out of 5]

No! You shouldn't be laughing at this! What's wrong with you anyway Mr. Dagsson? It's silly and very immature, but if some random electrician finds this funny in the preface, it must be!

Bloody outraged this is and shouldn't be read in a public place. This is so political incorrect a book can ever get. To be honest, it's nasty and horrible, but not any other book have ever made me laugh as much as this (tears involved...manly tears). [Read in Swedish.]

Verdict: Buy it, read it, re-read it, lend it.

[Nikki · Rating 5 out of 5]

Twisted stuff! Definitely not for prudes or anyone with overly-sensitive eyes. These demented stick figures run the gamut of every conceivable human horror - incest, racism, cannibalism, matricide/patricide/infanticide, poop, Hitler, ballerina-on-ballerina violence... - and make it funny. Or, at least I think so. I guess you have to ask yourself, "Should You Be Laughing at This?"

[Greg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quite genius in the MOST inappropriate way possible. His stick-figure drawings of children killing their parents, or dildos appearing in the most inappropriate of situations are hilarious, though not ALL of them go far beyond the sheer shock value. Go to amazon and "look inside" - you have to see it to believe it.

[Oliver Lines · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely one for those with a more twisted sense of humour. Whilst most drawings are fun and largely inoffensive, some hit on subjects that aren't necessary and just aren't funny. I also think some are lost in translation a bit. That being said, I enjoyed a good three quarters of this book and would recommend to those who can handle darker humour

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fairly funny, but this book just blows by too quickly. To be fair, this is because I couldn't stop looking at the next page, but also because each page takes about ten seconds to digest. The comics are largely offensive and disgusting, but funny nonetheless.

[Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Comics for people that don't get offended easily. Some I didn't get it as they seemed related to Iceland specifically and some were definitely over the top, but I thought altogether it was amusingly absurd.

[Gary · Rating 1 out of 5]

Lame. Probably funny for high-schoolers.

[Morgan Sohl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Twisted but also funny!

[Eve Kay · Rating 5 out of 5]

How dirty you feel after reading this - perfect. Politically incorrect, yes please!

[Charlotte Wilson · Rating 1 out of 5]

Sorry but not my cup of tea at all!

[Fabian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely terrible. I like it.

[Delfi Esfandi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've had this book for years and I've read it again and again from time to time because it always makes me laugh.

[Krystelle La Prof · Rating 3 out of 5]

Je suis tombée sur ce livre par hasard. En le feuilletant, j'ai d'abord été attirée par les dessins simples et les propos courts et percutants.

En prenant le temps de le lire, j'étais tiraillée entre l'appréciation de la critique sociale et le sentiment d'aller parfois trop loin.

Certaines illustrations m'ont rejointe, d'autres non. Possiblement parce que cette satyre vient d'un autre pays et que les réalités ne sont pas toutes pareilles.

La simplicité des dessins permet d'aller à l'essentiel et aide parfois à la compréhension parce qu'il n'y a pas de superflu. Si tu aimes les propos crus et un peu trash, le regard critique sur la société, c'est pour toi.

[H · Rating 1 out of 5]

Perhaps Icelander's have a different sense of humor than I, I only found about 10% of the cartoons in this actually funny. I could see the Should You Be Laughing at This? aspect of these little panels as it they did contain a bit of very black and bleak humor. But on the whole I guess my sense of humor skews toward the absurdist and witty.