FIERCE PAJAMAS Selected Humor Writings From the New Yorker

THE NEW YORKER started life as a humor magazine and became much, much more. The unique and influential style of urbane, satiric jocularity it pioneered persists into the new century as the magazine continues to publish the nation's wittiest scribes. This joyous anthology presents characteristic representations of the old, new, and in-between. Members of the Algonquin Round Table are here, as well as James Thurber, E.B. White, Ogden Nash, Groucho Marx, and S.J. Perelman. On the contemporary side, we have Garrison Keillor and Steve Martin, among others. There are a few classics, such as Thurber's archetypal "Secret Life of Walter Mitty" and Woody Allen's "The Kugelmass Episode," in which a horny NYU prof magically slips between the sheets with Emma Bovary. Six fine pros divide the reading chores; their interpretations range from just above par to terrific. An essential album for anyone interested in the development of American humor in the 1900s. Y.R. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award (c) AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine [Published: APR/MAY 02]