Booknote: Git-R-Done

Title: Git-R-Done
Author: Larry the Cable Guy
Publication Information: New York: Crown Publishers, 2005
267 pages, including the rum balls recipe
Genre: Nonfiction
Subgenre: Humor, comedy

I don't think Larry the Cable Guy needs much of an introduction. Readers may be familiar with his stand-up comedy or his contribution to the Blue Collar comedy tour along with Jeff Foxworthy and others. This is his first book. If readers have read other books written by comedians, they are familiar with the basic format, which is a form of their routines.

Once in a while, I get in the mood to read something light and funny. This definitely qualifies as light and funny. Overall, it is a quick read, and Larry is entertaining. He makes no apologies, in spite of his well known line "Lord, I apologize." He is direct and plainspoken. Sometimes, I think some of the jokes are dragged a little too long. In other words, the joke is made, move on rather than belaboring it later. However, the book has some very good routines. The NASCAR chapter is very amusing, especially when he imagines what would happen if it was sponsored by tampons. To give a context, he is commenting how NASCAR is no longer sponsored by Winston. The book has a lot of fart jokes, toilet humor, so on, you know, the stuff you laugh at, but you are not willing to admit you laugh at it. The letters of his Civil War era ancestor, Larry the Telegraph Guy, is hilarious, a fine example of tall tales and humor.

He does bring some of his politics in (he is a conservative Republican), but he does so with humor. The only thing I did not like was his take on the Abu Ghraib affair. He thinks it was fine to humiliate those prisoners considering what the terrorists did on 9/11. While I can see the emotional argument, I kind of saw Abu Ghraib as something wrong, as degrading the American troops because they stooped down to the level of terrorists that torture their prisoners. True, the terrorists behead people, and the Americans have not beheaded anyone on video, but still, it bothered me. In that sense, I was disappointed in Larry, or rather, I just disagreed.

That aside, the book is good for laughs and entertainment. He does say clearly he sees his job as someone to make us laugh, not as a politician or policy maker. In fact, he criticizes celebrities who use their position to advocate policy. In the above instance where I disagreed, it is his own opinion.Mercifully, he sticks more to everyday observations and other things. He does do his job and make readers laugh. I read much of the book on my commute, and I had to do my best not to crack up laughing at some passages in the book while I was on the bus.

If you like redneck humor, this is definitely the book for you. If you just want something light to have some fun and laugh for a while, this is for you as well. If you are someone who is easily offended by the mention of tits, or other language (actually, he is pretty light on cussing, but a word will pop out now and then, as natural I think as many people), then stay away. The book includes an introduction by comedian Lewis Black. For readers interested, I read Black's book a while back. The note for it is here. Black's book is more reflective, while Larry's is more slapstick. I recommend both.