Customer Reviews

Weddings of the Times: A Parody (Kasper Hauser Comedy Group)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Did you ever hear about a book with a great idea and think why didn't I think of that? Than you pick it up and realize that it was so brilliantly executed that you could never have nearly that clever so just sit back and laugh your head off? That is pretty much how you'll feel if you pick up "Weddings of the Times."

The idea of satire based on NY Times wedding announcements sounds so simple and you might wonder how it could be done for laughs page after page. These clever authors are way ahead of you. Using the premise as a launching off point they poke fun at every target at hand. The obvious like social climbing and bragging? Please. Move onto porn, Nigerian email scams, religious zealotry, and strange hobbies. I could quote you examples, but that would deprive you of a chance to laugh, not to mention I couldn't capture the excellent photographs which are included.

What can I say? What are waiting for, buy the book already!

My husband and I were driving home from work, in separate cars. As soon as we reached home, the first thing we talked about was the NPR review and interview on "Weddings of the Times". I ordered a copy to give to him for Father's Day. We're still laughing, as is my 88 year old father in law, 31 year old son-in law and anyone else who comes to our house and picks the book up. I highly recommend this book.

The parodies are way too zany and silly to be a good spoof of the NYTimes wedding section. The reason that the wedding announcements are so hilarious is because they are filled with the vanities, superficiality and incredible cheesiness that we love to mock in others. They are also the reasons why reality shows are so addicting. Take a look at an excerpt from a real announcement below. It's not the funniest I've come across, but it's pretty good considering it's was the first one I randomly picked from this week's announcements:

AS a reporter and weekend anchor in New York for WNBC-TV, Erika Tarantal goes to bed every Friday and Saturday night at 7 and wakes up at 2:40 a.m. She sleeps in a roomful of alarm clocks, surrounding her like mousetraps.
Friends describe her as gorgeous and grounded, someone who rarely loses her cool, or her to-do list. One friend, Sophia Demas, called her "an even-keeled ship of loveliness." Growing up in Elkins Park, Pa., a Philadelphia suburb of historic stone houses and artistic families, she learned the art of composure. She often posed for her parents, Stephen M. Tarantal, a painter and the dean of the College of Art and Design at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, and her mother, a sculptor and a professor at the university who is known professionally as Elsa Johnson. "We don't have photographs of me in the house, we have sculptures," said Ms. Tarantal, 30. Every Sunday, the family attended Quaker meetings, which involved more sitting in silence.

SOOOO cheesy!! LOL! I would be utterly embarrassed if I had friends sycophantically compliment me like that! An even-keeled ship of loveliness??! Are you kidding me? HAH! And she doesn't have photos but only sculptures of herself in her home because her mom's a sculptor?? This is way more entertaining than the parodies because they are REAL!

So save yourself some money and just go read the real thing...

This has some laugh out loud marriage reviews, but there are many that are simply too silly or not very clever. The concept is certainly brilliant, and even though the execution here falls flat more often than not, it's still got some gems in it. I suspect that one could compile some very entertaining marriage reviews from real newspapers, or take existing marriage reviews and make a few subtle changes and create a book that's even funnier than this, but these guys had the idea, so hats off to them

I've often thought authors should go back to making pamphlets like our founding fathers. Sometimes there's just not that much to say on a subject. However I get the impression the publishing world has no interest in publishing something only 30-50 pages long, so instead it becomes 128 pages long and 80-100 pages end up being a bit redundant.

This is a fun gag gift for the bride-to-be, I'd recommend it to help de-stress pre-wedding jitters.

After a great review on a podcast I bought the book. Its a dud.
Not expensive and not worth even that. Not offensive just opaque and boring.