A Load of Hooey: A Collection of New Short Humor Fiction

Bob Odenkirk is a legend in the comedy-writing world, winning Emmys and acclaim for his work on Saturday Night Live, Mr. Show with Bob and David, and many other seminal television shows. This book, his first, is a spleen-bruisingly funny omnibus that ranges from absurdist monologues (Martin Luther King Jr.'s Worst Speech Ever) to intentionally bad theater (Hitler Dinner Party: A Play), from avant-garde fiction (Obit for the Creator of Madlibs) to free-verse poetry that's funnier and more powerful than the work of Calvin Trillin, Jewel, and Robert Louis Stevenson combined.

Odenkirk's debut resembles nothing so much as a hilarious new sketch comedy show that's exclusively available as a streaming video for your mind. As Odenkirk himself writes in The Second Meeting of Jesus and Lazarus, it is a book to be read aloud to yourself in the voice of Bob Newhart.

David Cross, a stand-up comedian, has appeared on several television programs, including Mr. Show and Arrested Development. His book I Drink for a Reason was a New York Times bestseller. Though born in Atlanta, he is an avid Red Sox fan.

Bob Odenkirk has won two Emmy Awards for his work on Saturday Night Live and The Ben Stiller Show. He cocreated and starred in Mr. Show with Bob and David, which ran on HBO and has been called the American Monty Python. Odenkirk had a regular page in Vice magazine and has written short comic pieces for the New Yorker; directed the feature films Melvin Goes to Dinner, Let's Go to Prison, and The Brothers Solomon; and had many memorable roles on television, most notably The Larry Sanders Show, Curb Your Enthusiasm, How I Met Your Mother, and The Office. Odenkirk has become known as Saul Goodman on Breaking Bad and the new spin-off, Better Call Saul.