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Title details for American Freak Show by Willie Geist - Available

American Freak Show

The Completely Fabricated Stories of Our New National Treasures

by Willie Geist
Johnny Heller
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
Borrow Listen to a sample Listen to a sample
1 of 1 copy available
In just three short years, Willie Geist has gone from behind-the-scenes producer at MSNBC to rising on-air star, as the host of Way Too Early with Willie Geist and cohost of Morning Joe. He's fast, he's funny—something of an early-morning Jon Stewart.


Now, in his first book, Geist focuses on America's ongoing parade of giant pop culture personalities, beings inflated by the Internet and twenty-four-hour cable news and tethered only loosely to the ground. Think helium-filled characters like Sarah Palin, Bernie Madoff, Rod Blagojevich, Miley Cyrus, Jon and Kate, Miss California Carrie Prejean, Captain Sully, and the aptly named "Balloon Boy." They float into our lives, consume our attention as we gawk from the street, and then slowly drift away as another one bobs into view.


In a series of hilarious yet biting satirical essays, Geist captures the absurdity of today's pseudocelebrity-obsessed culture. Among other things, he reveals Sarah Palin's 2012 Inauguration speech, broadcast to a national audience live from the site of WWE's Monday Night Raw as a tribute to "Real America." Geist also takes us inside the room for the Bernie Madoff Celebrity Roast in Hell. Roastmaster Pol Pot provides the laughs. And you'll pull up a seat for Sunday coverage of the seventh annual Kim John-Il Celebrity Golf Tournament, where Dear Leader teams with the likes of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and funnyman Ray Romano for a good cause and some bad golf.


Lately, American life seems like a parade of larger-than-life, overinflated giant balloon characters. Geist has written their made-up stories.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    December 24, 2010

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781452620510
      • File size: 140927 KB
      • Duration: 04:53:35

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Dual narrators Johnny Heller and Jo Anna Perrin have their moments in this fabricated collection of comedic sketches about some of the most iconic, infamous, and sinister celebrities and politicians in the last 20 years. But while Geist's comedy might work well in a visual medium, this collection misses its full potential for an aural audience. The production is filled with imaginative sketches, such as Palin's inaugural address in a sports dome in Florida or Tiger Woods's first sexual-addiction group meeting, but many fall flat or go on well past their comedic value. Some of the impersonations, such as that of Bill Clinton, work well, but others are lacking. A larger cast most likely would have worked better. L.E. (c) AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      November 15, 2010
      For his first book Geist, from MSNBC's Way Too Early and Morning Joe, imagines private conversations, e-mail exchanges, Twitter feeds, speeches, and other scenarios involving top newsmakers from our time. Such luminaries as Hillary Clinton, Kate Gosselin, Tiger Woods, Levi Johnston, and "President" Sarah Palin are subjected to Geist's wooden, repetitive send-ups. As Geist tells it, most everyone—including all 20th century presidents—seem to be identical to each other, right down to their speech patterns: they are arrogant, lack self-awareness, and have a penchant for swearing. While they may, indeed, share certain qualities, individual personalities are lost on Geist. Occasional "true story" vignettes about real-life "freaks" feature much fresher and funnier content; while recounting a news story in which a man was arrested for pleasuring himself with a coin-operated car wash vacuum, Geist muses, "One assumes Whitesnake was playing on the radio." Clearly commentary, rather than storytelling, is Geist's strength, so it's a shame that narratives make up the bulk of this effort.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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