Into Hot Air: Another ""Novel"" by Chris Elliott

by Chris Elliott

For decades the world has credited renowned explorer Sir Edmund Hillary with being the first person to reach the peak of Mount Everest. But was he? Evidence to the contrary arrives one day on the doorstep of Chris Elliott -- an anonymous package that contains the diary of his Great Uncle Percy Brackett Elliott, an adventurer (and raving loony) who mysteriously disappeared decades ago while climbing Everest. The diary seems to indicate that Percy -- not Hillary -- was the first person to reach the peak. By retracing Percy's journey, Chris believes he will be able to uncover the mystery behind his disappearance and perhaps once and for all determine who was really the first person to summit Everest.

Chris recruits an all-star cast of celebrities to join (and fund) the epic adventure. For three days and five nights the group endures the ravages of hurricane force winds, blinding blizzards, bitter temperatures, and at least one guy's insufferable, off-key singing. But the amateur climbers soon discover that they are battling more than just nature's elements. An uproarious, page-turning tale, Into Hot Air is unlike anything readers have ever encountered.

Genres: Humor, Fiction, 21st Century, Comedy

352 pages, Hardcover

First published November 14, 2007

About the author

There is more than one author with this name. This profile is for the American actor, comedian and writer.

Reviews

[Melki · Rating 2 out of 5]

"I never realized just how dangerous climbing Mount Everest is. I mean, if I'd known it was gonna be this hard, I would have just written a book about climbing it without ever really doing it - just like my editor suggested."

Oh, Chris.,.,

I hate to do this to you, buddy, since we both share a childhood obsession with The Poseidon Adventure, but...well, there's no easy way to say this.

Your book pretty well sucked.

It was a GREAT premise - a team of celebrities mounting Everest, AND the image of sherpas struggling up the slopes laden with steamer trunks and make-up cases is priceless. BUT, one joke does not a book make.

You got my money for the book, so that's some consolation...well, actually, the remainder catalog got my money, but I promise to buy The Shroud of the Thwacker new from Amazon, so you'll get your 12 -15 cents from the sale.

Oh, there was one highlight in this turd of a book - Elliot's dead-on parody of his former boss, David Letterman. And here it is:

"Dave, this is my friend Wendell."

"Ah, huh. Where you from Wendell?"

"Um, New York City."

"Ah, huh. And what do you do for a living?"

"Oh, ah, I'm a cab driver."

"Oh, a cab driver. Well, that must be pretty exciting?"

"It's all right."

"Yeah, yeah, now let me ask you something. Being a New York City cab driver, do you ever just, you know, just give your horn a good honk?"

Wendell looked embarrassed. "Well--"

"You know, just a good 'honk'? You really like to sit on it, don't you? You just like to sit on the damn thing, don't you? And give it one of these: HONK!"

Wendell laughed. "Well, yeah, I do."

"That's what I thought. Well, that's great. Nice talking to you, Wendell. Thanks for coming by." And he walked off.

Best thing in the book, I kid you not!

[Rob · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is laugh-out-loud funny. Chris Elliott is really funny, and you'll often find yourself thinking "who really thinks up this stuff?" In the end, it's one of those books that will leave you feeling, "Why did I read that? I feel dumber just because I read that." That's why you should really read it.

[Mike Lind · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not quite as good as "The Shroud of the Thwacker", but still enjoyable and funny.

[Jayme Fink · Rating 4 out of 5]

This books theme is to achieve your dreams and never let go of them. I didnt like this book at first ut i grew to like it when he achieved his dream.

[Kevin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Chris Elliott does not write graceful, stylish, or interesting prose. It's competent at best. In that sense, reading this book was a bit of a slog.
However, I’m certain that given a healthy filming budget and a director with the bravery/lack of common sense/massive cojones necessary to follow every whim in Elliott’s head, this story would make a genius movie; another deliriously irreverent masterpiece of half-wit psychedelia like Cabin Boy.
I’m hoping that a Hollywood producer will read this somehow, and consider what I’ve said. Because we need more movies like Cabin Boy.
I’m being serious.

[Aaron Kuehn · Rating 1 out of 5]

If you know anything about Chris Elliott the actor or his family, you can probably guess this is pure pablum. It fills the same niche that movies such as Airplane! do: stupid, inane entertainment. In this, his second novel, Elliott writes about his fictional attempt to climb the great mountain. He’s a real and true idiot and bits and pieces of other well-known true-life stories weave their way in and out of the tale. If you’re expecting serious mental stimulation, this ain’t it, folks. Very much escapism. But you will feel like a Mensa member before you’re too far in!

[Bill FromPA · Rating 3 out of 5]

Exactly the kind of silliness to expect from Elliot; nothing outstanding, but amusing enough for those in the mod for his absurdist humor.

[Andrew · Rating 2 out of 5]

"It's like he just disappeared into fat air!" -Selma Bouvier

I dunno. Best to start out a book review with a Simpsons quote whenever possible. Plus, that line is better than anything in this book.

Chris Elliott's humor works best for me when he's the psychotic moron who plays off of normal people. It's their reactions to his random insanity that make him so funny. A 300 page story loosely spoofing Into Thin Air wears out it's welcome by the time the characters even get to the mountain.

His first book, Daddy's Boy is far more effective at bringing out the laughs. It's brief and has the perfect unaware and unassuming foil in his dad. Hot Air is just a giant mess that has a couple good laughs, but isn't worth the lengthy journey. Plus, Asian characters named Ping, Pong, and Flip Flop? The fuck?

[Michael Martin · Rating 2 out of 5]

"Into Hot Air" by Chris Elliott has an interesting premise that runs out of steam halfway through the book. Elliott, who you may be familiar with through his cult series Get A Life and appearances on David Letterman, takes on the man vs. nature survival books by authors such as John Krakauer and adds to the mix the ridiculous celebrity worship that our culture has embraced. So you have this tale of a mountaineering expedition that is made up of Elliott's character, Kirsten Dunst, Lauren Bacall, Martin Sheen, Michael Moore, Tony Danza and Richard Gere. Some of the interactions with those feuding and egocentric celebrities are indeed funny, but the book plods on...and on...as we scale that peak.

By the last third of the book, I just couldn't wait for it to be over. Elliott seemed to be out of material, and the wrap up of it all was painfully not funny.

Two stars. Due to the celebrity skewerings.

[Matt Willem · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm a huge Elliot fan; your mileage may vary. Adventure parody. Elliot writes his idiot stage persona character in as the protagonist in a supernatural mountain climb epic. I read back to back with the similar _The Stench of Honolulu_, so it was hard not to compare. Jack Handey's concision exposes a lot of fluff in the Elliot take, but there's also more substance as well. A constellation of laugh-out-loud high points interspersed with hit-or-miss gag-a-minute patter.

[Alan Perry · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sometimes the book seems like just a random collection of silly things happening in a silly environment. Sometimes it seems like there is some real insight being expressed and I am just not getting it.

[Patrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another fake autobiographical tale from Chris Elliott, this time he gathers a group of celebrities together to climb Mount Everest, unbeknownst that a secret society, the Yeti, and the CIA are out to get them. Ok, but not as good as his previous book, "The Shroud of the Thwacker."

[Shannon · Rating 2 out of 5]

While quirky with some funny parts, this man's diatribe was more like a stream of consciousness from Robin Williams' former days. Simma down, son, and form coherent thoughts. Maybe then I'll get past the first 25 pages.

[Sheri · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoyed Chris Elliot much more in "There's Something about Mary". His wacky humor doesn't translate well to the written page, at least not for me. I got a few giggles out of the book, but for the most part it felt like it was written by a 13-year-old boy, just off-wht-wall.

[Matt · Rating 2 out of 5]

While this may be the least important book ever written, I enjoyed it in small pieces. As with most humor novels, however, it really needed to be shorter than 200 pages. I definitely reached a point where I just wanted the book to end so I could move on to something less silly.

[Stephen · Rating 2 out of 5]

It seemed like he had no plan before writing this book. I wouldnt be surprised if he just sat down and wrote randomly this "novel". but if you happen to like chris elliot as i do then you will enjoy reading this nonsence

[Michael · Rating 2 out of 5]

While occasionally funny, I think that it was too silly for me to get into. It wasn't as artfully brought into the story as in a Christopher Moore back. There were also too many background groups to keep track of. And, I didn't really care about the characters.

[Stephan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Apparently Chris Elliott is a big fan of Mother 13.

[Brooke Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not nearly as funny as his first book, "The Shroud of the Thwacker," but still a ridiculously goofy escape from reality.

[Micah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Goofy fun. Just what you'd expect from Chris Elliott.

[Sarah · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was a really terrible stupid hard to follow book. It was painful to get through. However, if you know me, you'll know that this was a necessary part of my collection... oh well.

[Mark · Rating 2 out of 5]

Remarkably stupid....but I did laugh once or twice.

[Erik · Rating 2 out of 5]

Chris Elliott is a funny guy, and this book reads like his comedy. It's one one-liner after another. Unfortunately, after a while, I wanted more of an interesting story than the book offered.

[Tom Hamilton · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a funny bastard. I like everything this guy does.

[Sean · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is one of the worst books I've ever read. Its like an 8th grader wrote it, and thats disparaging to 8th graders. I cringed reading it, simply not funny.

[Caroline · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not totally horrible.

[Kathy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Just not my style of book - seemed kind of stupid to me. It would probably be all right to someone else, but the humor was not my style.

[Brian Sendelbach · Rating 2 out of 5]

Got about a third of the way in, but couldn't finish. Loved THE GUY UNDER THE SHEETS though.

[Jason · Rating 1 out of 5]

Nope. Too strange.

[Jim Trela · Rating 3 out of 5]

Typical Chris Elliot stupid humor.