May Contain Nuts: A Very Loose Canon of American Humor

by Michael J. Rosen (Editor)

Nutritiousness aside, May Contain Nuts provides 100% of the daily recommended amount of that essential life-enhancer, laughter. With more than 70 contributors and 150 shots from the loose canon of American humor, it's a stellar edition with plenty of real stars from stage and screen(writing): • Seinfeld 's Peter Mehlman • Hairspray 's Mark O'Donnell • Ed 's Michael Ian Black • and the world's most famous drive-in movie critic, Joe Bob Briggs Plus, there's Roy Blount Jr. on how to travel "Southern" outside the South; summer recipes from our man in the kitchen, Henry Alford; Firesign Theatre's Phil Austin's yuletide "Tale of the Old Detective"; P. J. O'Rourke's not-so-intimate "Diary of a Country Gentleman"; Daniel Radosh's "PowerPoint Anthology of Literature"; and Tom Gliatto's helpful overview of today's thriving cabaret scene. With umpteen illustrations, many perplexing charts, and our first centerfold ever, this volume is party-sized for your reading pleasure. New in This Issue

Genres: Humor

496 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2004

About the author

Rosen's Website should provide all this and more. It's http://www.fidosopher.com.
Nonetheless: Michael J. Rosen is an American author and illustrator with over 120 books of fiction, nonfiction, humor, picture books, poetry, and more. With a strong interest in nature and animals, reflecting his animal behavior degree from Ohio State University, Rosen resides within a peaceful crease of Central Ohio with his pack of animal companions that include 2 small koi ponds he helped build on the 100 acres he shares in the foothills of the Ohio Appalachians. An avid dog lover, he was inspired by Chant, his newest Australian stumpy-tail cattle dog, which led to the creation of his newest book of fiction, The Tale of Rescue, which will be released in October 2015. With an MFA in poetry from Columbia University, Rosen also showcases his skills and talents in other projects such as The Maine Coon’s Haiku: And Other Poems for Cat Lovers (2015).

Reviews

[behsforensics]

Cutting is for Romeo and Juliet vs. Mrs.
Jackson’s Seventh Grade
English Class
By Ethan Anderson

[Brenna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although featuring a bottle of peanuts prominantly on the cover, there is no tophat-sporting bemonacled mascot to be seen within May Contain Nuts. This is not so much an affront to Mr. Peanut as it is to that Guy On The New Yorker Covers. For May Contain Nuts is certainly not The New Yorker, and would be chagrined to be mistaken for such.

First of all, there are no cartoons about cats lording their superiority over dogs. Nor are there any cartoons about dogs saucily rebuffing the demands of their masters. In fact, there is but one section dealing with cartoon humor, which was clipped from Poor Richard's Almanac.

Secondly, the most pretentious word to be found in the text is "requisition," used by that fancy-pants NPR-regular P.J. O'Rourke. No restauraunt reviews describing mediocre over-priced murky-black coffee as being "crepuscular." No Broadway send-offs featuring the term "antideluvian former-entity" in place of Carol Burnett's proper name. And no cartoons with cats expostulating vociferously (both words used to bring derision on Elmore Leonard in May Contain Nuts, but not counted in aforementioned pretentious word count as they are used ironically) on the nature of their lives.

Thirdly, no Garrison Keillor. Not even a joke about the number of bodies fished out of Lake Wobegon in recent weeks.

So, how much Mirth is there within this "Mirth of a Nation" publication? it depends. If you consider, for a moment, that the affiliation with "Mirth of a Nation" brings to mind the 1915 silent film "Birth of a Nation" (depicting the origins of the Ku Klux Klan), the impact is given an altogether different focus. Is racism funny? Is a pun based on a movie title depicting racism appropriate for a funnybook? Racism has lost its humorous bite. AT least, ever since the collapse of National Lampoon.

And frankly, it is hard to take a book of humor seriously without at least one semi-competant pencil rendering of a dog displaying distinctively human qualities, say, sitting in an easy chair with his back legs resting on an ottoman, smoking a pipe, making some dry reference about the price of bones on Wall Street. Of which, it should be mentioned, this book has none.

May Contain Nuts reads rather like this: Smile-inducing, stoic-faced reading, slight bemusement, skip-a-few-pages, smirk-inducing, laugh, laugh, smile, weird grin, what-the-hell...-Oh-okay-now-I-get-it, oh-that's-just-stupid-but-I-laughed-anyway, silent laugh, invisible smile, I-should-remember-that-one-line-in-case-I-need-to-be-witty-at-a-party, transcribe-this-part-and-email-it-to-grandma-only-first-edit-the-bad-words-out, another wry grin, a disappointed sign, skip-a-few-more-pages, go back to that first section you skipped, smile, flush the toilet and wash the hands, read, read, read, smile, read, laugh, smile, sigh stupidly.

All-in-all, this book has, like, 440 pages or something, most of which are sort of funny and some of which are pretty good, considering your foreknowledge of Joyce Carol Oates' bibliography or of Beckett's Waiting For Godot. Or of having perused People Magazine a time or two in the doctor's office, when available, instead of eight-year-old issues of ESPN Magazine.

Finally, the copy I read did have two instances where the dessicated skins of salted peanuts fell out from the pages, presumably left in there by some anonymous wag who thought the incongruity funny: May Contain Nuts actually containing trace amounts of peanut. Hope this revelation has not ruined the reading experience for you.

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

my biggest issue with this book is that for a humor collection, it just wasn't that funny. yes, there were pieces that made me laugh out loud, but they could be counted on one hand (with maybe a couple of toes thrown in) and when a book is nearly 500 pages with more than 150 essays, those aren't good odds. on the other hand, the worst that could be said about any of the rest of the essays would be that they either made me smile and/or chuckle, or just didn't elicit any sort of reaction out of me at all so at least i didn't actively hate or dislike them.

if you're in the mood for something smart and funny, your better bet would be to pick up any of the mcsweeney's humor collections.

[Tracey · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was bathroom reading for the last 3 months & had some amusing moments.The sidebar type items are a nice contrast to the more traditional essays. Not quite as topical as the Mirth of a Nation collections, which IMHO, is a good thing for a book. Worth borrowing, but probably not worth buying.

[Katy · Rating 1 out of 5]

dissappointing on all fronts.

[Sayoni · Rating 3 out of 5]

Examples of typical American humour...some were funny, some weren't...but surprisingly thought provoking...