Thrown Under the Omnibus: A Reader

by P.J. O'Rourke

P. J. O'Rourke has had a prolific career as one of America's most celebrated humorists. But that career almost didn't happen. As he explains it, "I began to write for pay in the spring of 1970. To tell the truth I didn't even want to be a writer, I meant to be a race car driver, but I didn't have a race car."

Fortunately for us, he had to settle for writing. From his early pieces for the National Lampoon , through his classic reporting as Rolling Stone 's International Affairs editor in the '80s and '90s, and his brilliant inimitable political journalism and analysis, P.J. has been entertaining and provoking readers with high-octane prose, a "pants-down Republican" attitude, and a rare ability to make readers laugh out loud. Chris Buckley once described his work as "S. J. Perelman on acid," and when Penguin published its Dictionary of Modern Humorous Quotations , P.J. had more entries than any other living writer. For the first time, Thrown Under the Omnibus brings together his funniest, most outrageous, most controversial, and most loved pieces in the definitive P.J. reader. Selected and introduced by the humorist himself, Thrown Under the Omnibus is the essential P. J. O'Rourke anthology—a must-have for any fan.

Genres: Politics, Humor, Nonfiction, Essays, Anthologies

864 pages, Paperback

First published May 5, 2015

About the author

Patrick Jake "P. J." O'Rourke is an American political satirist, journalist, writer, and author. O'Rourke is the H. L. Mencken Research Fellow at the Cato Institute and is a regular correspondent for The Atlantic Monthly, The American Spectator, and The Weekly Standard, and frequent panelist on National Public Radio's game show Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!. Since 2011 O'Rourke has been a columnist at The Daily Beast. In the United Kingdom, he is known as the face of a long-running series of television advertisements for British Airways in the 1990s.

He is the author of 20 books, of which his latest, The Baby Boom: How It Got That Way (And It Wasn’t My Fault) (And I’ll Never Do It Again), was released January 2014. This was preceded on September 21, 2010, by Don't Vote! – It Just Encourages the Bastards, and on September 1, 2009, Driving Like Crazy with a reprint edition published on May 11, 2010. According to a 60 Minutes profile, he is also the most quoted living man in The Penguin Dictionary of Modern Humorous Quotations.

Reviews

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

P.J. is the best. As prominent as he is, I hope he continues to maintain the energy and intellectual fortitude to keep slamming the American left for how ridiculous it is. He's been doing that for 40 years. P.J., please don't let this be a Greatest Hits album before sunset. We all need you.

[Katy M · Rating 3 out of 5]

2020 Reading Challenge-a book with a pun in the title.

Some of it was annoying. Some of it was funny.

[Paul O'Leary · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great anthology of a funny, intelligent writer. My quibble, and this is standard with any anthology, surrounds pieces that were chosen over others left out. High Speed Performance Characteristics of Pick Up Trucks is hysterical, though not included in the selection from Republican Party Reptile. The head and feet of Parliament of Whores is included when most of the laughs as I remember are in the body, which is mostly missing. I stopped reading O'Rourke after All the Trouble in the World, not for any particular reason, All the Trouble is a great collection, O'Rourke just slipped out of my living cannon. This anthology catches me up. I've enjoyed revisiting the pieces I'd read before and I'm looking forward to perusing his newer stuff. If you're unfamiliar to this marvelous humorist's work this is a great place to begin. If, like me, your old books are in that library in the sky, or the trash heap, or you just want a single, stout volume which samples his unique political humor then this collection will service you nicely.

[Margaret · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is proof that you CAN have too much of a good thing.

I bogged down at the three quarter mark, and that's with skipping over the political bits I wasn't interested in, and the bits from books I'd read but not really enjoyed.

In the interests of reader sanity, it would probably have been smarter to issue the books in several smaller volumes.

However, lovers of P. J. O'Rourke will probably still enjoy this collection.

Strictly for the fans.

[Dan Hyer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just made it to page 230. I like O'Rourke, but in small doses. I'll come back to the book at some point in time in the future.

[Hayden Bradford · Rating 3 out of 5]

I skimmed over the US politics chapters as I'm not interested, but the rest was good.

[Sara Laor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantastically funny book, oozing with cynicism and sarcasm. I don't believe the Millennial generation will be able to produce the likes of Mr. O'Rourke. Excellent overview of Adam Smith, political rights, and a variety of trouble spots around the globe at the end of last century.

[Peter Tillman · Rating 3 out of 5]

DNF. Most of these I'd seen over the years. More than half (of what I reread) hadn't aged well. 2.5 arbitrary stars, rounded up because, well, reading PJ has given me a LOT of fun over the years.... 😎

[Pamela Montano · Rating 5 out of 5]

A collection of stories from some of P.J. O'Rourke's best work. There's also unpublished introduction to the 25th Anniversary Edition of Hunter S. Thompson's "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas".

[Paul O'Leary · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great anthology of a funny, intelligent writer. My quibble, and this is standard with any anthology, surrounds pieces that were chosen over others left out. High Speed Performance Characteristics of Pick Up Trucks is hysterical, though not included in the selection from Republican Party Reptile. The head and feet of Parliament of Whores are included though most of the laughs as I remember are in the body, which is mostly missing. I stopped reading O'Rourke after All the Trouble in the World, not for any particular reason, All the Trouble is a great collection, O'Rourke just slipped out of my living cannon. This anthology catches me up. I've enjoyed revisiting the pieces I'd read before and I'm looking forward to perusing his newer stuff. If you're unfamiliar with this marvelous humorist's work this is a great place to begin. If, like me, your old books are in that library in the sky, or the trash heap, or you just want a single, stout volume which samples his unique political humor then this collection will service you nicely.

[Bob · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hilarious. The one about old-american-commies visiting the Soviet Union and complaining about the service was my favorite. I wonder if loony-Bernie S. was in that group.

[Gary · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. It is funny, interesting, informative, and enjoyable to read. P.J. O'Rourke was sent on some incredible assignments while working as a journalist for publications like Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair, and Car and Driver, which he then wrote amazing articles describing. This book contains a number of these articles, which were written between 1983 and 2014, along with O'Rourke's humorous impressions of topics such as golf, socialism, fast driving, and many others.

Among the topics covered by O'Rourke in this book are several wars, an excursion to the Galapagos Islands, and some trips involving the testing of new vehicles. Also included are some commentaries on subjects such as Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations and the Baby Boomer Generation. Most of the articles are great, though a couple like "The King of Sandusky" were not as interesting, and the Baby Boomer Generation prologue at the end of the book seemed overly long and became a little tedious.

O'Rourke became politically conservative over his lifetime and his writing reflects his right-leaning tendencies, but this does not detract from his impressive skills as a humorist. Even progressives should enjoy most of the material covered in this book.

[Mike Glaser · Rating 4 out of 5]

I miss PJ O’Rourke. I started reading the National Lampoon in high school; continued for another couple of years in college and then moved on to his books which I have read off and on since then. While I have enjoyed some of his writing more than others, I really cannot think of anything that he has written that I did not enjoy. This sampler of his writing brought back a lot of great memories and not a few belly laughs. His river cruise in the USSR with a group of American leftists is not only hilarious but one of the great take downs of socialist economics. I paraphrase but if the Russian economy is so great why did all the Americans have to bring their own toilet paper with them.

[Mark Moxley-Knapp · Rating 4 out of 5]

A mixed bag. A few interesting early items, some solid writings from his peak years, some dreck I'm not sure why he threw in, a few recent ones that show a more mature tone. The best, and funniest, are the "travelogues" no matter where he goes, and the car stuff (which overlaps a bit.)

PJ was an Ohio boy made good, an excellent writer, a keen observer, and has some hilarious lines. Many hilarious lines. And some pretty awful ones. I was surprised this didn't include more of his good stuff and less of his bleh stuff. But, all in all, glad to read him again, including some new to me pieces.

[Kurt Wallinger · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a thick book so a long read. It's a compilation of P J O'Rourke's other material so if you read his other books you don't need this - if you haven't read his other books it is a good sampler of the material. I have read most of the other books so this was a repeat. PJ is a scholarly libertarian and writes about some serious topics in a light manner. I would recommend it for someone new to the author.

[Missy MacDonald · Rating 3 out of 5]

A whole lotta P.J. O'Rourke. Some of it excellent (All the Trouble in the World and "A Journey to... Let's Not Go There" from Holidays in Heck). Other parts of it meh. Gave me a good idea on which of his books to read (or reread) and which to skip.

[Charles Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

P.J. O'Rourke can be extremely funny, and his observations are often very pertinent. A tendency to flippancy though tends to undermine his point, when he's trying to make one.

[Daniel · Rating 1 out of 5]

Sampled most of the samples. Laughed out loud once in a while but then it was beating the same joke to death and I had to move on. Maybe I wasn't in the right mood.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mr O'Rourke is no H.L. Mencken, but he makes a decent ersatz Mencken for the more modern era. Some of the gags get old, but very funny in the right dose.

[Kent · Rating 5 out of 5]

if you like anything from PJ, then you must get someone to buy this for you - XMAS 2015 FROM CLAIRE