Review of FUN WITH STUFF by BRUCE A. SMITH

The texting generation has a term that would aptly describe this collection of hilarious humor columns: LOL. (For texting Bozos such as myself, that means: “laugh out loud”.) Seriously. This man is beyond talented! In fact, since Dave Barry retired, Bruce A. Smith could be the heir-apparent. He’s that good. And guess what? In FUN WITH STUFF, we get treated to FIFTY (count ‘em!) of his columns. I took them one at a time, savoring the special, ingeniously edgy wit. Like the best humorists, Mr. Smith pokes fun at himself and everyday situations even while he regales us with a peppering of what the book jacket calls the “disorienting and bizarre”. I could add refreshingly goofy. Cool, heady stuff. This is where I’m supposed to present a short, one-paragraph synopsis. Summarize FIFTY columns of different situations in one paragraph? Yeah, right. Okay, well, let’s start with golf. Golf is one of his subjects. Why, there are probably more jokes about golf than any other sport, but the author gives it his special creative and original twist and it’s beyond summarization. Only forty-nine more? Right. Here goes: the columns I enjoyed most involved the follies of RV’ing (I, myself, did that for 10 years), the complexities of picking a wedding dress, house maintenance woes, “hair that looked like a cat sucked on it”, tax frustration in a box, kids that make you grateful for a vasectomy, smelling odorless deodorant, the running toilet handle jiggle fix, some nutrition system food that smells like something died, mile-long cash register receipts, and most of all: a quip about the author dating himself. Oh yeah, and a mind-bending thingie about “Plan-B”. Whew! But wait, there’s more! Did I forget to mention the brilliant silliness of ordering a patty melt in a Der Weinersnitzel? Hiding Starburst candy from a shark? Analyzing fossilized dinosaur poo? How about some profundities on the meaning of life, such as “if life’s a joke then why not laugh.” The book jacket info tells me that Bruce A. Smith has been writing humor for over thirty years. I’d say that’s quite an accomplishment. Not easy, being continuously funny for that long. His columns have been featured in a passel of publications and locations- However, he admits that many of his jokes are stolen from his wife, who lives with him in southern California. Highly Recommended, reviewer: Jan Evan Whitford, Allbooks Reviews, 22 January 2012 Published by: iUniverse copyright ©2009 by Bruce A. Smith ISBN: 978-1-4401-9644-7 (pbk) ISBN: 978-1-4401-9645-4 (ebk) Trade paperback, 195 pages, U.S. $17.95 For more info: www.bruceAsmith.com Jan 2012