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Genius, Granted
Comedy writer Nate Dern exhibits unique imagination in
book of short pieces that mostly hit their marks
By
Michael Shashoua; photo by Mindy Tucker
Funny Or Die and Upright Citizens Brigade comedy alumnus Nate Dern said when writing his first book, “Not Quite a Genius,” published earlier this month, that he set out to emulate B.J. Novak’s “One More Thing.”
Novak’s book (see
review) is more literary in its comedy, in the vein of
Woody Allen’s essays, while Dern’s book is purely comedy for its
own sake, like the video pieces he has written for the Funny Or
Die website.
However, when Dern is writing comedic pieces rather than
producing them as video, his longer-form material works better
than shorter, high-concept bits. In “Predator Prey,” “Chap
Sticks in a Mailbox,” “How Many Farts Measure A Life?” and
“Handjob at 20,000 Feet,” where Dern stretches into
storytelling, and full-fledged scenes with characters on a
journey of some sort, it’s more satisfying. The first two of
those pieces are stories about childhood and teenage
experiences. The latter two feature very adult, if very odd,
interactions between characters. It’s experimental and
conceptual.
The shorter pieces in “Not Quite A Genius,” which
typically run from three to no more than 10 pages, are a mixed
bag. Their length usually only allows enough space to relate the
comedic premise and tack a punchline onto it. The short pieces
that fail are the ones that get a little too precious or
indulgent of nerdy fastidiousness about a topic, such as
“HonestJuice Juicery” and “Bruce Lee Novelty Plate.” The ones
that work better strike a chord with their premise and execute
it sharply, such as “Letter To Christopher Columbus From Leif
Eriksson,” “Glengarry Glenpot” and “As The Toothbrush You Just
Threw Away, I Have Some Questions…” |
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© 2005-2018 Michael Shashoua