P. J. O'Rourke (1947–2022)

P. J. O’Rourke had a legendary run as an author and commentator on a vast array of social, economic, and political issues. From his early days with the National Lampoon magazine to the more than twenty books he published over almost forty years, O’Rourke was always known for his irreverent attitude, perceptive observations, and wicked sense of humor. So, when he died in early 2022, his passing was mourned by legions of people who knew him, either personally or through the gift of the prose he left to posterity. It was perhaps natural, then, that people close to him thought to put together a compilation project that would stand as a tribute to his writing.

The result of the effort to honor O’Rourke’s memory is The Funny Stuff, a book that assembles in one place scores and scores of the most memorable quotes and passages from the author’s long and productive writing career. To give the project some structure, the passages—most of which amount to a short paragraph or so—are grouped into six sections by broad theme, such American manners and habits, global conflicts, the Baby Boomer generation, and so on. Within each of these sections, the quotes are then listed in alphabetical order by sub-themes that are somewhat randomly chosen (e.g., ‘Anger’, ‘Civil Rights’, ‘The Death Penalty’, ‘Political Promises’, ‘Rednecks’, ‘Taxes’, and ‘Waste’ in the "America and Americans" section).

This encyclopedic approach to gathering the quotations turns out to be a terrible idea, for at least a couple of reasons. Mainly, there is very little context provided for any of passages; when O’Rourke produces a classic riff on the U.S. Congress—“When buying and selling are controlled by legislation, the first things to be bought and sold are legislators”—the reader is not sure to whom, what, or when the author is referring. (That quote was actually written more than thirty years ago.) Beyond that, the alphabetical groupings create some jarringly odd combinations, with, for instance, pithy zingers about Ronald Reagan, Bill and Hillary Clinton, Richard Nixon, and Donald Trump being lumped together.

In fact, thinking about the premise for this work begs the question: wouldn’t a better tribute to O’Rourke be to just have people read (or even re-read) his whole books so that they can experience his wit, charm, and snark in the way it was originally intended? That point is underscored by the last section of this volume—“My Generation (Baby Boomers)”—where the vast majority of the listed quotes come from a single source, The Baby Boom, including the only passage that runs in length to multiple pages. Of course, it is doubtful that O’Rourke initially wrote his essays in alphabetical order by topic, so it is quite likely that some of his intended meaning has fallen victim to the stylistic choices made here.

Given all that, the challenge for the reader is figuring out how to evaluate a book such as this. On one hand, much of O’Rourke’s writing remains sharp and insightful—and a lot of it really is funny—even if some of that material is decades old by now. Reliving that work merits a four-star rating, possibly even five. On the other hand, despite its good intentions and the considerable effort it represents, this is project that makes little sense beyond the editorial team’s desire to pay tribute to a dearly departed friend and colleague. From that perspective, a one- or two-star rating would be appropriate. I think that splitting the difference seems about right.… (mer)