One More Thing is a collection of stories and musings by comedian, actor, producer and now writer, B.J. Novak. B.J. Novak first gained notoriety for his work as writer and actor on The Office. The only major theme throughout the stories is that they have a common overlying purpose, which is to entertain. His stories mention heaven, revenge, romance, sexbots, literature, Tony Robbins, Kellogg’s and Kate Moss. Some stories are many pages and some last only a page.
I am a fan of The Office and I have always enjoyed B.J. Novak’s approach to comedy. I would describe it as being dry without being too British. One of my favorite B.J. Novak moments is when he uncovered for America the Cadbury Conspiracy on the Conan O’Brien show. I think he is great because his jokes aren’t really jokes they seem to mainly be observations on the real life. I learned from reading more about Novak’s life that he comes from a very creative and talented family, and he is a very intelligent person as he graduated with honors from Harvard. After reading this book, I am confident that his success on The Office was not a fluke and that he will continue to humor us for years to come.
Having just glorified B.J. and his past work, I want it to be known that when I first started listening to his book, I was disappointed. I was expecting funny. I wasn’t expecting philosophical or serious. After I got about half-way through the book, I realized that it was great because it was more than just funny, it had those philosophical and serious moments as well. Strangely enough, I started out disliking the book and ended up really liking it for the reasons that I disliked it at the beginning. And, the stories have stayed with me. I listened to the book more than a month ago and something my husband said reminded me of one of the stories, so I described it to him. Now, he wants to listen to the book.
While I am sure this would be a very easy book to read as you could pick it up to read a story, put it down to finish later, I highly recommend that it be listened to. Someone who works with funny people and is respected by funny people has the opportunity to have them help narrate his book. I have noticed that a lot of writer comedians are having their friends help them with the audiobook versions of their books, and I definitely think that it adds enjoyment to the experience. Aside from Mindy Kaling, he also has Rainn Wilson, Jenna Fischer, Jason Schwartzman and Katy Perry, to name a few, helping with the narration.
Needless to say, I highly recommend this book and I might even read it again when I have a few minutes to spare. I feel that this book would especially appeal to those who appreciate a dryer kind of humor, such as Monty Python and The Office. I checked the book out from the library and would happily do so again.
One More Thing By B. J. Novak Purchase Links: Paperback, Kindle Edition, Audible.com Audiobook
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