Holy Tango of Literature
December 6, 2005 5:07 PM Subscribe
I'm as far as Basho's "OH, SOB," and I've got tears in my eyes I'm laughing so hard. [HOTDOGS I IS.]
posted by steef at 5:51 PM on December 6, 2005
posted by steef at 5:51 PM on December 6, 2005
I am at work, and I laughed until I cried at "I Will Alarm Islamic Owls." William Carlos Williams is so easy to mock, and yet this is brilliant.
This might be the first time that finding free things online has ever made me want to buy anything. No, really.
posted by booksandlibretti at 5:54 PM on December 6, 2005
This might be the first time that finding free things online has ever made me want to buy anything. No, really.
posted by booksandlibretti at 5:54 PM on December 6, 2005
Some of these are incredibly good:
posted by thatwhichfalls at 6:20 PM on December 6, 2005
SKINNY DOMICILEHe loses on the Maya Angelou one though - it's too good.
EMILY DICKINSON
I have a skinny Domicile—
Its Door is very narrow.
’Twill keep—I hope—the Reaper out—
His Scythe—and Bones—and Marrow.
posted by thatwhichfalls at 6:20 PM on December 6, 2005
This is brilliant, thanks mendel. My favourite so far: KIN RIP PHALLI.
posted by tellurian at 6:46 PM on December 6, 2005
posted by tellurian at 6:46 PM on December 6, 2005
[This is terrific.]
posted by trip and a half at 7:10 PM on December 6, 2005
posted by trip and a half at 7:10 PM on December 6, 2005
I remember when these (or some of them) were on Modern Humorist. The navigation always sucked, good to see they're collected.
posted by kenko at 7:30 PM on December 6, 2005
posted by kenko at 7:30 PM on December 6, 2005
Utterly brilliant, thanks for posting.
now i write onetwothreefourfive poemsjustlikethat
Jesus
posted by fvw at 7:32 PM on December 6, 2005
now i write onetwothreefourfive poemsjustlikethat
Jesus
posted by fvw at 7:32 PM on December 6, 2005
"toilets" for T. S. Eliot reminds of Auden's palindrome: T. Eliot, top bard, notes putrid tang emanating, is sad. I'd assign it a name: gnat dirt upset on drab pot toilet.
posted by kenko at 7:32 PM on December 6, 2005
posted by kenko at 7:32 PM on December 6, 2005
DAMMIT, DAVE
DAVID MAMET
Ha! I've read that before; it was the first thing I thought of when I saw this FPP. I'm SO glad there's more.
posted by rkent at 7:43 PM on December 6, 2005
DAVID MAMET
Ha! I've read that before; it was the first thing I thought of when I saw this FPP. I'm SO glad there's more.
posted by rkent at 7:43 PM on December 6, 2005
This is good.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 8:08 PM on December 6, 2005
Wonderful. Just wonderful.
posted by Joey Michaels at 9:36 PM on December 6, 2005
posted by Joey Michaels at 9:36 PM on December 6, 2005
The Basho, Shakespeare and Wilde entries are alarmingly good (though I'm taking a tax class now; YMMV on the Wilde), and there are many, many gems. Thanks, mendel!
posted by dilettanti at 10:07 PM on December 6, 2005
posted by dilettanti at 10:07 PM on December 6, 2005
Brilliant stuff. I've been a fan of "Holy Tango" ever since it first appeared on Modern Humorist, and I'm thrilled to get the whole thing.
posted by yankeefog at 7:14 AM on December 7, 2005
posted by yankeefog at 7:14 AM on December 7, 2005
Oh, yes. These are fantastic, and I'm thrilled to learn that not only are there more than MH published, but that they've been collected in dead-tree format as well. Well done, mendel.
posted by Faint of Butt at 8:09 AM on December 7, 2005
posted by Faint of Butt at 8:09 AM on December 7, 2005
Great stuff. I heartily recommend buying the book itself. I got it for my father-in-law for his birthday a few weeks back and was able to sneak a peek at all the ones that weren't on MH (or that I missed at the time).
I will say, with the world-weary tone of an early Francis Heaney adopter, that I enjoy the ones that are truly genre parodies (e.g. Skinny Domicile, Dammit Dave, IRS Law Code) more than the exact parodies of individual works (even though I also laughed uproariously the first time I read 'Islamic Owls'). It's like the great Beatles parodies: The Rutles are fine, but every song is an exact spoof of one Beatles song, whereas Utopia's Face the Music finds the common cliches among two or more Beatles songs and turns them into new, funny songs.
posted by soyjoy at 8:15 AM on December 7, 2005
I will say, with the world-weary tone of an early Francis Heaney adopter, that I enjoy the ones that are truly genre parodies (e.g. Skinny Domicile, Dammit Dave, IRS Law Code) more than the exact parodies of individual works (even though I also laughed uproariously the first time I read 'Islamic Owls'). It's like the great Beatles parodies: The Rutles are fine, but every song is an exact spoof of one Beatles song, whereas Utopia's Face the Music finds the common cliches among two or more Beatles songs and turns them into new, funny songs.
posted by soyjoy at 8:15 AM on December 7, 2005
And thanks to soyjoy, I've just added Utopia's "Deface the Music" to my list as well. This is the thread that just keeps on giving!
posted by Faint of Butt at 8:31 AM on December 7, 2005
posted by Faint of Butt at 8:31 AM on December 7, 2005
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