Golden Gremlin

★ ★ 1/2 (rounded up)
This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.
—
Edmund Kean (1787 - 1833) – or someone else, it's unclear – said “Dying is easy. Comedy is hard.” Stand-ups, actors, and writers alike will testify to at least the latter. The downside is that those that do the hard work, those that are good at comedy make it look easy. Too often it seems that people (professional and amateur alike) go for the easy approach, and it's never a good idea.

There's also no accounting for taste.

I'll accept either as the explanation for why this book left me underwhelmed.

Walters assumes a curmudgeonly tone, calling himself a misanthrope and taking shots at the foibles of the culture around him. The younger set is a particularly favorite target. Too often his pieces come across as angry Facebook rants, written by someone who spouts off against social media. Still, his points are occasionally clever and his jokes show promise. If he'd subject each of these two a few more revision passes, I could imagine myself enjoying many of these.

I'd strongly encourage reading this in small bursts – the essays don't build on each other, there's some references between the two, but nothing you won't remember even after a few days. I wouldn't do more than one or two in a sitting or Walters' charm will wear thin.

Walters says that he wrote to make Dave Barry and Ben Stein laugh. If he'd invoked Andy Rooney, I might have agreed with him. I didn't dislike the book, but I sure didn't like it. Walters was frequently amusing – and I have no trouble thinking that many would find him funny. But not me. At least not without a few more drafts.


Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion and participation in this book tour.