From Bush to Bush: The Lazlo Toth Letters [Paperback]

Don Novello (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2003

Lazlo Toth, the pen name for Don Novello, invented the genre: the crank letters we would all write to celebrities, presidents, CEOs if only you weren't so lazy, timid or sane. Lazlo Toth has been quiet for years, but he has not been dormant. He gets the political season started with this hilarious new collection of correspondence. In FROM BUSH TO BUSH, Lazlo Toth: - writes to Bill Clinton offering his services as Poet Laureate but also inquires about what he should wear to the inauguration. - offers to help Lloyd Bentsen with the National Debt but also to seek some DC apartment-hunting pointers. - sends a wonderful idea to the US ambassador to Turkey for a great new tourism campaign -- Thanksgiving Turkey in Turkey! - after she announces her dislike of cats, he writes to Cherie Blair asking her to adopt a dog from the US of A. - instructs President Bush on the finer points of debating Al Gore ('The press said your first debate came out even, but I say it was a TIE!') And the most hilarious and inexplicible thing about these letters to famous people is: THEY WRITE BACK! In the age of email and political apathy, it makes us proud to bring to you the voice of this lone concerned citizen, an epistolary soldier swinging low from Bush to Bush, forever getting it just a little bit wrong.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Comedian Novello, a.k.a. Lazlo Toth, is still at it: writing zany letters to famous people-to Bill Cinton, the Pope, Dubya-and sometimes getting replies. To President Clinton in 1996, Toth proposes that the solution for the Balkans is a "new multi-religion inspired religion," with Wednesday as its sabbath. He asks Pope John Paul II for the Church's position on whether Earth has a "mirror planet" on the other side of the Sun, and if such a planet exists, whether the Pope on that planet is also infallible (this letter appears not to have received a response). Al Gore is one of Toth's favorite epistolary targets. After the 2000 election, Toth writes to cheer him up about losing the election: "Be Positive! Stop saying that you're already thinking about running again in 2004. People are going to think you have nothing else to do." He suggests Gore consider dental school instead. For those who share Novello's wacky sense of humor, this third volume of Lazlo correspondence will bring many laughs.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Don't call Novello a one-trick pony. The early Saturday Night Live cast member and writer does at least two tricks. Out in public, he plays Father Guido Sarducci, a priest-caricature given to excruciating monologues on such matters as the bill for the last lunch. At home, he plays Lazlo Toth, writer of impertinent letters to political celebrities and big businesses. Typical Lazlo missives are the ones in this third collection of them complaining to Delta Air Lines on the assumption that the company has something to do with the Delta Partners that keeps him waiting for the crown for a broken tooth. Only the occasional insult in the letters is funny (e.g., Monica Lewinsky can't get a date except with a man who can't leave the house alone), so most of the book's laughs arise from the lameness of the replies Lazlo receives. No pol or business will risk telling a fool he's a fool. Hawking by Novello's fellow TV geeks will boost initial interest in this surefire next-year's-garage-sale item. Acquire with caution. Ray Olson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster; 1 edition (October 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743251083
• ISBN-13: 978-0743251082
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 7 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #822,008 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Don Novello's done it again., October 13, 2003

By 

Chuck Stepner (Chicago, Illinois) - See all my reviews

This review is from: From Bush to Bush: The Lazlo Toth Letters (Paperback)

Don Novello a.k.a. Lazlo Toth has done it again.
As hilarious and insigtful a read as I've had this century.
The letters are as great as ever and the responses show these guys for what they are.
While reading I had to put it down more than a few times because I can't laugh that hard and read at the same time.
My only question...Don...what took you so long?
Get this book!!!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Lazlo Toth for Poet Laureate, January 20, 2004

By 

Johnny Heering "trivia buff" (Bethel, CT United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: From Bush to Bush: The Lazlo Toth Letters (Paperback)

Lazlo Toth is back with more of his hilarious letters. This is his third book of letters to corporations, politicians, religious leaders and anyone else he feels like writing to. Lazlo is a funny as ever, but the responses he receives aren't as funny as in his other books. Most of the time, he just receives a form letter, if they bother to write back at all. Still, a very funny book, if you share Don Novello's absurd sense of humor.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Give the gift of laughter by giving someone this book!, December 9, 2003

By 

Robert B. LIVINGSTON (San Francisco, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: From Bush to Bush: The Lazlo Toth Letters (Paperback)

I had the pleasure of meeting Don Novello at a book signing. He is such a sincere and intelligent person-- one of America's best wits.

Sadly, he said that this is his last "Lazlo Toth" book.

I almost described this book here as being "remorselessly" funny. But that would be incorrect. Don Novello's humor lacks any nuance of cruelty-- his is a quirky, kind humor. Biting, yes! But humane.

An abbreviated example:

England's Queen Mother, he notes in one letter, may be burdened by titles supreme and inconsequential-- but probably will never be bestowed the title of "designated driver".