2026; 198 pages. New Author? : Yes. Genres : Humorous Essays; Satire; Anthology; Newspaper Tie-In. Overall Rating : 9*/10.
Hey, let's test your general knowledge. In all sorts of categories.
Music: Which type of
Kazoo is best when playing orchestral pieces: metal or plastic?
RPGs: How long has
Dungeons & Dragons been around?
Communication: What is
the proper way to flip the bird to someone?
Famous People: Who the
heck is/was Elizabeth McGlinchy Flatbush Ratcliffe?
Famous People, Part 2:
Who the heck is/was Wee Willie Tinkler?
Dolphin Sex: Gay,
straight, or both? For fun, procreation,
or both?
Entertainment: Who is the #1 Humorist in Virginia?
The answers to all these
questions, and oodles more, can be found Drew Gallagher’s hilarious new book, Funny For Nothing.
Well, all except for that “#1 Virginia Humorist” query. That’s privileged information.
However, we will reveal who
the #2 Humorist in Virginia is.
What’s To Like...
Funny
For Nothing is a collection of newspaper columns written by Drew and
previously published in the Fredericksburg, Virginia newspaper FXBG
Advance in 2024-2025. Things open with a Foreword.
recounting how the book came to be; then 34 columns follow, divided into 9 sections, to wit:
01. My
Life in Politics (pg. 6)
02. All
the World’s a Stage (pg. 22)
03. Gay
Dolphins, Pool Toys, and Sex with T-Rex (pg. 41)
04. When
Words Fail, Music Speaks (I Fail a Lot)
(pg. 57)
05. Milestones
(pg. 85)
06. Made
Up History in Memoriam (pg.
101)
07. Friends
and Lovers (pg. 123)
08.Toil
and Trouble (pg. 149)
09. A
Word from Our Sponsor (pg.
178)
Full Disclosure: I’ve never been a big reader
of newspaper columns, so I was a little leery about picking up this book. I knew the Music and History sections would
resonate with me, since I love those topics. But I don’t know squat about Virginia politics,
nor anything about the author’s friends and life story.
I shouldn’t have worried. Drew’s writing style is witty and
informative, and most importantly, easy and fun to read.
You can glimpse the early roots of his skills in poems from his school days,
several of which are included here. All
the columns kept my interest, and my favorite ones were The Molly Pitcher Amalgam, The Bird is The Word, and White Men Without Hats. YMMV.
I was surprised at how closely
Drew’s tastes in music, literature, and movies matched up with my own. He loves Kurt
Vonnegut, Christopher Moore, and e.e.
cummings; so do I. He digs Monty Python, and Waiting
for Godot, as do I. And his
music references are fantastic! Warren Zevon, Tom Morello, Enya, John Prine, Randy
Newman, The Hooters all get mentioned in this book; plus dozens more. I'd love to see a list of the
concerts he’s attended in one of his future columns!
Ratings…
Amazon:
5.0/5
based on 4 ratings and 4 reviews.
Goodreads: 5.00/5 based on 2
ratings and 1 review.
Excerpts...
For some readers of this column, D&D
turning 50 will likely unleash of nostalgia that probably includes the books of
J.R.R. Tolkien and memories of spending late nights enthralled in adventures of
the imagination and fantasizing about what it might be like to feel the touch
of a real girl rather than wandering darkened woods with dwarves and
gnomes. For other readers, the mere
mention of D&D is their cue to read no further in this column because,
well, it’s a column on a game that used dice of assorted shapes and sizes and
was played by boys who, in study hall, wanted to tell you about their half-elf
ranger named Thrace. (pg. 92)
There were some homestands where I didn’t
see my place in Fredericksburg for more than a week which cost me a friendship
and possibly a romance that would not have ended well because she did not like
beer or baseball. She was a college
friend who tried to show her interest in me by leaving a single rose on my
doorstep but it was at the start of a homestand. It was a romantic gesture and, symbolically,
was supposed to signal to me that she was interested in being something more
than friends. The gesture failed
dramatically though when I finally saw the symbol dead and wilted on my
doorstep 10 days later. (pg.
134)
Kindle Details…
The e-book version of Funny For Nothing is currently priced at $5.99
at Amazon. It is also available in
paperback, which costs $14.99 right now. This is Drew’s first published work, but here's hoping he’s working on a follow-up.
“Drew died doing
what he loved. Writing about T-Rex sex with women.” (pg. 53)
There’s a light sprinkling of profanity
in Funny For Nothing; I noticed just four
instances in the first 20% of the book. This
mildly surprised me because I don’t recall ever seeing newspaper columns
including cusswords in their text. But maybe I’m
behind the times.
It should be noted that topics like
sexual orientation, race relations, and state and national politics are fair
game for Drew’s columns. I gather that
the Fredericksburg Advance newspaper
is viewed to be the city’s left-leaning publication. MAGA enthusiasts should probably give Funny
For Nothing a pass.
I spotted three typos in the whole book, all of
them ticky-tacky: Adbul/Abdul,
Red Coats/Redcoats, and web
site/website. Kudos to the
book’s editors and beta readers for a job well done. Also, for some reason, the e-book version and
the paperback version of Funny For Nothing are separate listings at
Amazon. Be aware that you have a choice
of formats.
But enough of the quibbling. Funny For Nothing was a great read for
me, filled with humor, wit, spoofery, interesting historical trivia, and
AWESOME music references. Treat yourself
to something by Virginia’s first-&-future Secretary of
Levity by picking a copy up today.
9 Stars. One last thing. For all its wit and humor, one column, Cricket’s Big Day, left a lump in my throat. See if that happens to you as well.
No comments:
Post a Comment