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Comic genius Rich Hall introduces a series of magnificent bastards and lost souls in this hilarious collection of tall tales.
Meet the man who vacuums bewildered prairie dogs out of their burrows; a frustrated werewolf who roams the streets of Soho getting mistake for Brian Blessed; a smug carbon-neutral eco-couple; a teenage girl who invites 45,000 MySpace friends to a house party; the author of a business book entitled Highly Successful Secrets to Standing on a Corner Holding up a Golf Sale Sign; and a man whose attempts to teach softball to a group of indolent British advertising executives sparks an international crisis.
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I'll have to admit, I'm not a massive fan of Rich Hall's stand-up. I read this on a whim and was amazed. I think he is a natural story-teller, with perfect pacing, a real command of dialogue, and an ease of narrative that shows great confidence in his own writing talent (or maybe it's a simply a natural talent for writing). I don't think this is an incredibly funny book, but for me that did not detract at all, not in the least. My favourite story in this collection is 'Prairie Dogs'. There was only one story I didn't particularly like, entitled 'Rachel'. I would love to see him write a novel. I'm sure it would be better than a lot of fiction published in the UK at the moment. More please, Rich...
If like a lot of people your only image of Rich Hall is that of the surly cowboy on QI then you might imagine Magnificent Bastards were a similar grumpy snarl with the odd wry smile, but Rich Hall has produced a brilliant collection of leftfield characters,bizarre situations and some laugh out loud moments. This is a rare kind breed of book that I enjoyed so much that I've had to lend it to friends, family, work colleagues,neighbours and strangers (I really should've just told them to buy it to add to Mr. Hall's bank balance). Do yourself and everyone you know a favour and get it !
Superb stuff. Each chapter a real rib tickler; whether the setting is Route 66 or Tottenham Court Rd Rich is compulsively funny. He is no less than a master of comic invention and irony. The southern state sourpuss persona is all his own but what you also take from the book is his warmth: his sense of humour offends noone.
As Stimpson J Cat would say. Rich Hall has a world view, and a way of conveying it, that tickles my ribs and it's hard to get enough of it. To find he writes was an unexpected pleasure when I came across this tome in my local library. I haven't paid too much attention to his TV career over here (Rich Hall on fishing? come on...QI, purleese!) preferring him up close and personal on stage or DVD. Tall tales well told are everpresent. He's done the prarie dog routine onstage, but in here it's a much darker tale of paranoia and inadequate behaviour. The grifting father and the lessons imparted is dark and priceless, the softball incident could have come from WikiLeaks and the Kentucky driver incident is a lesson in wish fullfilment that we can all recognise after that bit of a brush in the supermarket carpark. Only the last story is a bit of a misfire, but that's Rich Hall; he puts it out there until it teters on the brink, sometimes, rarely, it falls over, but it's a cluncker when it does. Buy this book or I will coach your softball team to the edge of disaster...
Another hilarious offering from the dry humoured Rich Hall. i enjoy his humour, this collection of short stories had me laughing out loud throughout. An excellent read, Highly Recommended
I just got this today which was a surprise as i thought it was going to arrive with the delivery estimate infact it got here sooner so hatts off to seller excellent service. As for the book i am a big fan of Rich hall and have a couple of his books and I have seen him in concert doing his hilarious stand up. he is a fatastic comedy writer as well as a comedian and its no surprise he used to write for some of the top entertainment show in the US. i just know this book is going to be histerical with his observant sarcastic wit.
Very funny from the start but I found it got less funny, in fact not funny at all towards the end. It was like a different book altogether. Nevertheless great for the first 4/5 or so.
