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Original publication: 2009<\/p>\n
Original publisher: Dalkey Archive<\/p>\n
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The Book of Jokes<\/em><\/a> is first original Dalkey Archive\u00a0 title to be part of this series, and woo-boy<\/em> is it a doozy. If you’re playing \u201cOffensive Dalkey Archive Content Bingo,” you’re all set! There are jokes about incest, religion, women, pedophilia, murder, shit, penises, farmyard animals . . . and probably a dozen other potentially offensive bits, all wrapped up in a semi-metafictional story that eschews realism in favor of something much more unhinged and provocative.<\/p>\n In other words, it’s your average Dalkey title: a NSFW that values form over content, exploring the idea <\/em>of what a novel can be rather than producing a straightforward depiction of \u201clife.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s also very<\/em> entertaining and a delightful (yes, I\u2019m going with \u201cdelightful\u201d) representation of three key elements of joke telling that left me literally <\/em>(yes, literally<\/em>) laughing out loud, receiving deservedly strange looks from everyone on the bus, in the bar, at the library. (All places I would not <\/em>recommend reading this filthy book.)<\/p>\n (Also: probably not a great idea to read from over Zoom, at a staff meeting. Just saying.)<\/p>\n But before we get to the meat of the matter, what is this book and who is Momus?<\/p>\n Last things first: Momus is Nick Currie, a Scottish musician and rabble rouser, whose songs include \u201cMichelin Man<\/a>\u201d (for which he was sued by Michelin Tire Company for using their mascot as a metaphor for \u201chypersexualized rubber fetishism\u201d[1]<\/a>), \u201cWalter Carlos<\/a>\u201d (for which he was sued by Wendy Carlos, since the song \u201cpostulated that after post-sexual reassignment surgery, Wendy could travel back in time to marry her pre-surgery self\u201d[2]<\/a>), but also \u201cThe Hairstyle of the Devil<\/a>,\u201d and \u201cGood Morning World<\/a>.\u201d Not to mention, he was an influence on Jarvis Cocker and Pulp and Suede\u2014and was friends with Justine Frischmann of Elastic (1990s<\/span> Chad just swooned<\/em><\/a>)\u2014and worked with Cornelius. (If you want a fast introduction to his music,\u00a0Public Intellectual: An Anthology (1986-2016) <\/em><\/a>is a great place to start.)<\/p>\n So yeah, controversial, but also quite influential and a serious, respected musician and artist.<\/p>\n And The Book of Jokes <\/em><\/a>is the first of six novels (The Book of Scotlands<\/em>, The Book of Japans<\/em>, UnAmerica<\/em>) along with a memoir from FSG entitled Niche: A Memoir in Pastiche.\u00a0<\/em>(I don’t know the backstory for how Dalkey came to do this book, nor why\u00a0Niche\u00a0<\/em>appears to only be available as an audiobook only . . . )<\/p>\n So, although it\u2019s fun to play up the controversial, enfant terrible <\/em>aspects of his life and art, that’s not entirely fair. Controversy sells\u2014and invites cancellation\u2014but being an artist across decades, across media is such a curious challenge. (Both David Bowie and Catherine Lacey’s Biography of X<\/em> come to mind.) When you’re a true working artist, there’s so much more at play\u2014so many songs, so many books, so many performances. And sticking just his writing for now, The Book of Jokes <\/em>is an absolute blast that\u2019s hard to put down\u2014except to laugh\u2014and, to continue proving Momus’s credentials to an imagined audience unaware of his work, this books was favorably reviewed by the L.A.<\/a><\/em> Times<\/a>, who compared him to John Barth and Robert Coover. (Two other Dalkey authors.)<\/p>\n So what is The Book of Jokes <\/em>actually about<\/em>? Well, being trapped in a narrative determined by dirty jokes\u2014what else?<\/p>\n Call it \u201cjoke dharma,\u201d if you like. Bad jokes, dirty jokes are, to my world, what the force of gravity is to yours. They shape every event in my life, and in the life of my family. I am not sure why it is so, but that it is, I cannot doubt. As a result, I live in a grim mirror world. I am a character trapped in a book of jokes\u2014jokes, furthermore, which are in very poor taste.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Our narrator, trapped in this bizarro world in which life is like a blue Cinemax stand-up special, is in jail, where he has two companions: a molester and a murderer. The triad (back to this idea in a minute) decide to escape and, since obviously none <\/em>of them have committed the crimes for which they were imprisoned, agree to commit the exact crimes they were convicted of, so that, in a weird, karmic way, they make up for the time they\u2019ve already spent behind bars.<\/p>\n That storyline runs throughout the novel, serving as a clothesline off of which to hang one offensive story from Sebastian Skeleton\u2019s life and childhood after another. It\u2019s not entirely satisfying in terms of a \u201cplot,\u201d but it functions the way it should, starting from a conversation about whether someone could \u201chave an uncle who was also his nephew\u201d and ending with a quite satisfying twist: \u201cWe weren\u2019t speaking to you,\u201d we say, speaking to you<\/em>.<\/p>\n But for me\u2014someone who pretends, too frequently, especially when intoxicated, to have aspirations of doing stand-up comedy, one-time, some day\u2014this novel is primary a taxonomy of joke structures. (Or at least three particular structures.)<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Joke Structure #1: The Unexpected Ending<\/strong><\/p>\n One theory of what makes funny things funny is the way in a joke\u2019s set-up takes you right up to the edge of a relatively reasonable explanation, but then veers. The unexpected is what catches you off guard and, especially when it transgresses certain taboos, allows a momentary catharsis in the form of laughter.<\/p>\n Momus takes this to the extreme, sure, and, in that extreme, pulls out a few different laughs.<\/p>\n \u201cOkay, Dad, here\u2019s another. One dark, stormy night a couple are in a car driving fast through a foreign city. The car breaks down and the husband has to go and get help from someone who can speak his language. He\u2019s afraid to leave his wife alone in the car, so he winds up the windows and locks the car before leaving. When he returns the car is in the same state he left it in, but his wife is dead, there\u2019s blood on the floor and there\u2019s a stranger in the car. Explain what happened.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWell,\u201d explained Dad, \u201cthe car broke down because the husband crashed it, killing his wife. The stranger was a policeman, investigating the crash. The man had been afraid to leave his dead wife alone because the area was a notorious necrophilia black spot.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cA necrophilia black spot?\u201d asked Luisa. \u201cWhat does that mean?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt means a place where there are a lot of people living who like to fuck dead people,\u201d explained my father.<\/p>\n \u201cAre they marked with traffic signs?\u201d asked Luisa. [. . .]<\/p>\n \u201cNo,\u201d I said, \u201cno, top marks for imagination, Dad, but that\u2019s not right. The wife was about to give birth. They were on their way to a hospital. While the man was fetching help the baby was born, but the wife died in childbirth.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re an incredibly boring person,\u201d said my father.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The real joke in there is the \u201ctraffic signs,\u201d but you can only get there via the absurdity of the father\u2019s \u201cguess,\u201d which is its own sort of set-up.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Joke Structure #2: And and and and and and and and<\/strong><\/p>\n Here\u2019s where I attempt to tie this post into the one on Djuna Barnes\u2019s Ryder <\/em><\/a>. . .<\/p>\n So, as I was reading this book\u2014and trying to explain to friends and family why I liked it so much\u2014and what kept coming to mind was The Aristocrats<\/a>. <\/em>Not only <\/em>for the filth baked into every telling of that joke (Bob Saget\u2019s<\/a> and Sarah Silverman\u2019s are still legendary), but for the overstuffing<\/em>, the endlessly adding to the jokes, the improv that never stops . . . because whatever you add in there only makes the joke even funnier.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not as dirty, but in college I would love to get really stoned and tell the \u201chorse\u2019s ass\u201d joke. The one in which a young kid, let’s call him Jimmy, goes to the circus, and gets called out of the audience by a clown so that he, Jimmy, can be part of a joke\u2014THE GREATEST MOMENT OF HIS LIFE\u2014and the clown says, \u201care you a horse\u2019s head?\u201d \u201cNo . . .\u201d \u201cWell then, you must <\/em>be a horse\u2019s ass!\u201d Massive laughter erupts from throughout the big top, and the kid, poor little Jimmy, who\u2019s friendless and saw this chance, him, in the spotlight with a clown!, to be his one shining moment <\/em>after which, duh and or obviously, Bethany would totally <\/em>read all his love notes (reminder: never write love notes<\/a>), pisses his pants so gushingly that everyone\u2014even in the nosebleed section\u2014can see the stream pouring down his bare legs, darkening the sawdust at his feet. More laughter. It’s fucking hysterical<\/em>. More embarrassment for Jimmy. And a sudden, lifelong, Captain Ahab level quest for revenge.<\/p>\n That set-up\u2014which is fine in its own right, premised upon a bit that, if we’re being honest, isn’t really all that funny\u2014functions as the launchpad for the (stoned) joke-teller to just start riffing. Sure, there are beats that must be hit\u2014Jimmy prepares and prepares, has a second meeting with the clown, fails, regathers his strength, trains again, finds the clown a third time<\/em>\u2014but the joy is in the details.<\/p>\n LIKE WITH RYDER <\/em>the information, the message is not the point: it\u2019s how you get there.<\/p>\n Where do you take Jimmy? Exactly what sort of preparation does he go through before the ultimate confrontation with clown? As the (stoned) joke-teller, you can send him to Comeback University. Or to Mars. Maybe the Amazon to spend a decade gathering wisdom from a tribe that specializes in getting verbal revenge. Whatever you want to do, (stoned) joke-teller, go for it! The more ludicrous the better. Go all out, make the joke lasts 30 minutes (or, well, ten? stoned joke-tellers are prone to exaggerate), add as many detours as you want, then land it with the extremely simple punchline.<\/p>\n And, of course, about three-quarters of the way through The Book of Jokes<\/em>, after several other examples of the \u201cand and and and and and and\u201d joke structure, we finally <\/em>get the aristocrats joke.<\/p>\n \u201c. . . When he comes, a huge bucket of sperm is tipped over us from above and the curtains swing shut as we writhe about in it.\u201d<\/p>\n Farquar looked thunderstruck. \u201cAnd what do you call this act?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n \u201cI can\u2019t think of a name,\u201d said my father.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/p>\n Joke Structure #3: The second time is annoying, the fifth time is golden<\/strong><\/p>\n I am so guilty of this! (And NOT just when I’m a stoned joke-teller!)<\/p>\n Trebling is one thing\u2014the threes that pervade folklore, joke telling (\u201ca molester, a murderer, and a narrator meet in prison\u201d)\u2014but when you take a particular line, a short bit and turn it into a motif that recurs and morphs and structures a comedy set, a night, a novel . . . that\u2019s so much funnier. Instead of playing it twice for tragedy, and thrice for comedy, play it ten times and make it more and more outrageous.<\/p>\n I absolutely can not give away what the running gag is in The Book of Jokes<\/em>, which is killing me <\/em>and, I swar, if you get me on the phone, I\u2019ll tell you the joke AND make it extra dirty! For now though, trust me, it\u2019s good. (And I’m neither stoned, nor telling the joke!) The original joke is great, and every single iteration got me\u2014even when I could see it coming a mile off\u2014and the final variation brings the whole thing home.<\/p>\n *<\/p>\n Anyway, since it\u2019s \u201cDalkey Music Week\u201d on Three Percent, I\u2019m going to leave you with these lyrics from Momus\u2019s \u201cI Want You, But I Don\u2019t Need You<\/a>\u201d:<\/p>\n I like you, and I’d like you to like me to like you I lick you, I like you to like me to lick you I fuck you, and I love you to love me to fuck you *<\/p>\n
\nBut I don’t need you
\nDon’t need you to want me to like you
\nBecause if you didn’t like me
\nI would still like you, you see
\nLa la la
\nLa la la<\/p>\n
\nBut I don’t need you
\nDon’t need you to like me to lick you
\nIf your pleasure turned into pain
\nI would still lick for my personal gain
\nLa la la
\nLa la la<\/p>\n
\nBut I don’t fucking need you
\nDon’t need you to need me to fuck you
\nIf you need me to need you to fuck
\nThat fucks everything up
\nLa la la
\nLa la la<\/p><\/blockquote>\n