Slog - Comments on Reading Last Night: Richard Russo http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/09/reading_last_night_richard_russo Last night, Richard Russo gave a lecture titled "The Gravestone and the Commode" as the inaugural event of Seattle Arts and Lectures' 2008-09 season. The lecture was on the nature of humor and comic writing. (First, though, a note about the SAL format itself: I was pleased to note that the talk wasn't preceded by the SAL video "trailer" that played before every event last year. The trailer was incredibly embarrassing: it was a montage of photos of past SAL authors talking, set to music. The only one I remember is Stephen King, in a faux-humble bow. The trailer was... Copyright 2008 Thu, 18 Sep 2008 11:01:00 -0800 Thu, 18 Sep 2008 14:18:46 -0800 http://www.movabletype.org/?v=3.34 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Comment by Eric in Boulder Russo's Straight Man is the funniest novel I've read in years. It's the kind of book you feel self-conscious reading on a bus because a solitary passenger suddenly bursting into laughter makes everyone else nervous. "Straight Man" is as funny as "Lucky Jim" was supposed to be, but wasn't.

]]> Eric in Boulder http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/09/reading_last_night_richard_russo#c1145105 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/09/reading_last_night_richard_russo#c1145105 Books Thu, 18 Sep 2008 11:25:12 -0800 Comment by john cocktosin Did anyone else feel like his talk was never ending? Every time he came back to the gravestone metaphor, I thought to myself "thank christ, he's finished". But alas, he would go into some other story that inevitably made the large old woman seated in front of me nod and say "uhhuh, he's right" every 10 seconds, and then proceed go into histerics with the punchline of the story.
My rule of thumb for these lectures is that if the buzz from my two pre-lecture martinis at Shuckers wears off while the lecture is going on, it has lasted too long.

]]> john cocktosin http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/09/reading_last_night_richard_russo#c1145305 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/09/reading_last_night_richard_russo#c1145305 Books Thu, 18 Sep 2008 13:43:34 -0800 Comment by Aislinn @2: What a wise rule, I believe I will adopt it myself.

In general: I wanted to go to this (being from Maine, I'm required to like Richard Russo), but I knew I couldn't sell w7ngman on going and didn't want to to alone. Thanks for posting a recap!

]]> Aislinn http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/09/reading_last_night_richard_russo#c1145351 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/09/reading_last_night_richard_russo#c1145351 Books Thu, 18 Sep 2008 14:18:46 -0800