The Lazlo Letters (Paperback)

by Don Novello (Author)
Key Phrases: Palm San Rafael, Lazlo Toth, Beachwood Los Angeles (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Nixon and Agnew, McDonalds and Ford, Mr. Bubble and Bebe Rebozo. It's Don Novello's original uproarious collection of actual correspondence with political and corporate officials-and a brilliantly offbeat portrait of its times. Updated with a new cover and seven bonus letters and replies-a classic! 247,000 copies in print.

From the Back Cover
Lazlo Toth is my new hero! I don't know of anyone who has tried harder than he has to pull his own weight in the greatest of all democracies! Keep it up!

Lean to your left-Lean to your right-

Stand up, sit down-Fight! Fight! Fight!

Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

The Lazlo Letters is a very funny book." -Chevy Chase

"The Novello-Toth combination is pure genius." -Tommy Smothers

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Workman Publishing Company; First printing of the 1992 edition. edition (January 7, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1563052857
• ISBN-13: 978-1563052859
• Product Dimensions: 9.7 x 6.9 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #73,129 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in this category: (What's this?)

  #45 in

  Books > Entertainment > Humor > Political

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It was the first of it's kind and still the funniest., November 2, 2002

By A Customer

This was one of the first prank letter books ever published. Several books have tried to follow the originality of Lazlo Letters but pretty much fail, with two exceptions: Letters From a Nut - by Ted Nancy (possibly Jerry Seinfeld) and Hire Me Dumbass by Joe Mozian. Own all three and you have the best of this hilariously underrated genre. But Lazlo Letters especially is a must have.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant American Humor, March 23, 2001

By	Max Ernst (San Diego, CA United States) - See all my reviews

During the classic years of Saturday Night Live, I would always check the opening credits to see if Don Novello or Andy Kaufman would be on that night, my two favorite comedians, both writers of completely original, completely crazy bits.

The Lazlo Letters (TLL) shows Novello as a writer who, like Kaufman, totally commits to his comic premise. In this case, the premise took twenty years of letter writing to make happen. This book is truly great American satire, busting the pretensions of corporations and celebrity icons in a truly original way.

The fact that Novello's original concept is hilarious is proven by the reams of pissant imitators who ripped him off

Well, Novello has written a funny sequel CITIZEN LAZLO, which I'd also recommend.

The hell with 'em, Lazlo! Fight! fight! fight!

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars For the sarcastic and ironic humorist in all of us, March 18, 2002

By	Catherine S. Vodrey (East Liverpool, Ohio United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Don Novello (formerly known as Father Guido Sarducci from the "Saturday Night Live" of the 1970s and 1980s) has compiled a comic gem with this collection of his letters to corporations, mayors, presidents--even Saudi princes.

Lazlo Toth, Novello's hilariously opaque and irony-free alter ego charges forth into the world under the motto, "You send out letters, you get back letters, that's for sure!" He sends out letters on essentially NOTHING to everyone he can think of, and he gets back letters which are sometimes side-splitting in their serious response to his blather. The Mister Bubble correspondence is a classic in which Toth complains to the Mister Bubble company that he doesn't understand how he is supposed to make use of their product when the box clearly states, "KEEP DRY." The ensuing letters back and forth are golden comedy.