I Think There's a Terrorist in My Soup

January 1, 2004
Brenner is a very funny man. Funny is in his genes-his father was funny, his grandfather was funny, and his three sons will probably all be funny. A frequent guest on the talk-show circuit, the comedian has been making us laugh for over 30 years by concentrating his keen wit and unremitting candor on our fragile humanity. The book draws on material from Brenner's "Laughter to the People" tour, embarked upon shortly after September 11 in an effort to heal his audiences with a generous dose of humor arising from his unique perspective on life. A born storyteller who honed his craft on the mean streets of Philadelphia, the author offers observations about work, sex, marriage, divorce, political correctness, weight, pets, and religion that are laugh-out-loud funny. The section on our President's pre-9/11 malapropisms is worth the price of admission. Brenner is never mean-spirited; he has the ability to pinpoint the absurd and find the lighter side of the most difficult situations. This "survival" guide, meant to help us transcend tragedy through humor, is as good as a live performance. With humanity and honesty, he offers this work as a prescription for our ailing world. Apply liberally; repeat as needed. Highly recommended for all public libraries.-Barbara J. Kenney, Roger Williams Univ., Bristol, RI

Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

September 1, 2003
Veteran comedian Brenner (Soft Pretzels with Mustard) serves up a voluminous collection of shtick and anecdote. An inhaler of current events and contemporary life, Brenner can wring humor—sometimes inspired, sometimes hokey—out of a wide range of topics, from sex and marriage to sports and dentists. He declares that Californians supported the Green Party's Ralph Nader because they thought they'd get green cards. Now a parent, Brenner will get laughs for his account of how parents unconsciously let baby talk slip into their professional life. The material relating to the post-September 11 United States is hit-and-miss and can verge on the non sequitur. But his anecdotes about airline security snafus hit home because they're based on personal experience, such as when his six-year-old son's baseball cap lining was ripped open. Brenner can be amusingly hardheaded—the best time of your life isn't "right now," it "never gets better than twenty-one." The book can be didactic; Brenner regularly provides "here's why this is funny" commentary, or lectures on finding the humor in small traumas. But he often can do that, such as when he comforted a child distraught by an emergency plane landing by gently needling her, "I heard this is entirely your fault." It should be a good value for Brenner's many fans.

December 1, 2003
After 9/11, veteran comedian Brenner set off on a "Laughter to the People" tour to spread his message that when we stop laughing, the terrorists have won. This audio adaptation includes much of the material from that tour. Brenner tackles all the typical topics: sex, money, employment, politics, religion. He talks about growing up with a Dad who ran numbers and a Mom whose home economics consisted of buying "100 pair of shoe laces with their metal tips missing." He takes the listener through his first love and first job, but the jokes are lost in his self-indulgent, lengthy stories. At times, Brenner himself seems bored as he reads, and he occasionally hurries past some good material in the process. Still, Brenner has some shining moments. He riffs about cloning Mike Tyson and sending him and his clone into the ring to take each other on, and he plays one terrorist calling another and speaking in code ("the footballs will not bounce this weekend"). Brenner's spot-on accents are the highlight of this collection. His wicked imitation of George W. Bush alone may be worth the price of the audio book. Simultaneous release with the Andrews McMeel trade paperback (Forecasts, Sept. 1).