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Passing on the Right
At long last ... the candid, shocking and previously untold story of Skippy "Batty" Battison, the universe's most radical, free-thinking, and honest comedian, comedy writer, satellite radio and podcasting star!
Vulture's Best Books of 2022 (So Far!)
Mike Sacks is a master of a particular type of writing that he probably invented or at least perfected - a dazzling, tricky act of written performance art, composing an entire manuscript from the point of view of a fictional character. In doing so, he satirizes stuffy literary conventions and loathsome segments of society at the same time. Following Stinker Lets Loose, the novelization of a late-'70s Smokey and the Bandit knockoff that doesn't exist, and Randy, a faux self-published memoir from a Maryland dirtbag, Sacks takes on the all-too-familiar and aggravatingly toxic phenomenon of the failed comedian who becomes a self-styled "un-PC" right-wing pundit purporting to tell it like it is, a career path born out of professional desperation that gives voice to the rage and anger they've always had for women and non-white people. Skippy "Batty" Battison, the first-person "hero" of Passing on the Right, sure does think he's funny and totally blowing your mind, except he's excruciatingly not funny but rather dangerous and horrible, so deeply pathetic and sad that it comes around the other side to funny again. Passing is an astute and provocative character study of a guy who so desperately wishes he were Greg Gutfeld, and Sacks's first-person commitment to the bit is a master class in postmodern meta comedy. - Brian Boone
This guy isn't afraid to "tell it like it is"! Nothing is held back! The infamous memoir that was dumped by Viking in June 2021 for being "too controversial" and "against our moral standards" Now being published by Sunshine Beam Press! Many consider Skippy to be the "Worst Person in Comedy" While others feel that Skippy's story deserves to be heard, from his humble beginnings in Bethesda, Maryland, to his graduation from Georgetown Prep (a few years after Kavanaugh), to his performing stand-up in Ocean City, Maryland (once), to his writing for the 1998 Academy Awards (the Titanic parody as sung by Billy Crystal), to his one unproduced Simpsons episode, to his fifteen unproduced movie scripts ("too hot to handle!"), to his being the only white writer on The Wayans Bros., to his supposed "invention" of the phrase "That's what she said!," to his stint in prison over a misunderstanding involving an underage girl, to his conversion to GOP family values, to his "involvement" in the January 6th "situation"! Love him or hate him, more than 5 Million of his daily listeners to his satellite radio show and podcast definitely have an opinion! The FIRST memoir from America's Number One Conservative Comedic Persona Who's Always ... RIGHT
Vulture's Best Books of 2022 (So Far!)
Mike Sacks is a master of a particular type of writing that he probably invented or at least perfected - a dazzling, tricky act of written performance art, composing an entire manuscript from the point of view of a fictional character. In doing so, he satirizes stuffy literary conventions and loathsome segments of society at the same time. Following Stinker Lets Loose, the novelization of a late-'70s Smokey and the Bandit knockoff that doesn't exist, and Randy, a faux self-published memoir from a Maryland dirtbag, Sacks takes on the all-too-familiar and aggravatingly toxic phenomenon of the failed comedian who becomes a self-styled "un-PC" right-wing pundit purporting to tell it like it is, a career path born out of professional desperation that gives voice to the rage and anger they've always had for women and non-white people. Skippy "Batty" Battison, the first-person "hero" of Passing on the Right, sure does think he's funny and totally blowing your mind, except he's excruciatingly not funny but rather dangerous and horrible, so deeply pathetic and sad that it comes around the other side to funny again. Passing is an astute and provocative character study of a guy who so desperately wishes he were Greg Gutfeld, and Sacks's first-person commitment to the bit is a master class in postmodern meta comedy. - Brian Boone
This guy isn't afraid to "tell it like it is"! Nothing is held back! The infamous memoir that was dumped by Viking in June 2021 for being "too controversial" and "against our moral standards" Now being published by Sunshine Beam Press! Many consider Skippy to be the "Worst Person in Comedy" While others feel that Skippy's story deserves to be heard, from his humble beginnings in Bethesda, Maryland, to his graduation from Georgetown Prep (a few years after Kavanaugh), to his performing stand-up in Ocean City, Maryland (once), to his writing for the 1998 Academy Awards (the Titanic parody as sung by Billy Crystal), to his one unproduced Simpsons episode, to his fifteen unproduced movie scripts ("too hot to handle!"), to his being the only white writer on The Wayans Bros., to his supposed "invention" of the phrase "That's what she said!," to his stint in prison over a misunderstanding involving an underage girl, to his conversion to GOP family values, to his "involvement" in the January 6th "situation"! Love him or hate him, more than 5 Million of his daily listeners to his satellite radio show and podcast definitely have an opinion! The FIRST memoir from America's Number One Conservative Comedic Persona Who's Always ... RIGHT
759 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 22, 2022
10 people are currently reading
39 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
May 10, 2022
This is at least one of the worst books I have ever read and probably the worst. It is 940 pages and if you insist on reading it after this review start on page 900. The premise is that a loser who doesn't know he is a loser strikes gold by spreading right wing conspiracy theories on the radio. It is satire and it sounds like an interesting idea for a book, but this book is terrible. It is 850 - 900 pages of a fictional narcissist, Skippy "Batty" Battison telling crass and unfunny jokes. But in showing how unfunny the character is there is absolutely no interesting or entertaining content. The back of the book is his transition from an unfunny comedian to an unfunny right wing wingnut.
I understand this is satire and that there are people who spread right wing conspiracies because they have no talent. But this book is trash and no one should have to read it.
I understand this is satire and that there are people who spread right wing conspiracies because they have no talent. But this book is trash and no one should have to read it.
March 16, 2022
I guess it was pretty funny but it isn't really hard to find a poorly written book by a bad comedian that is just as awkward and pathetic as this fictional one, so it's a subject that is pretty hard to satirize.
September 19, 2022
I'm still trying to figure out why I started reading this, why I continued, and finally why I felt compelled to complete it. I'm thinking that this is some conceptual project, where we read this book and then debate whether it should exist.
Questions for discussion during book club:
Was there a reason it was this long?
Did the author intend it to be this unfunny?
Was this really a satire of liberals satirizing a conservative?
Why did the author think that rape of an underage developmentally disabled girl could be mined for humor? (Sample answer: perhaps he fashions himself as having a transgressive streak like Michael O'Donoghue, except O'Donoghue was funny.)
Questions for discussion during book club:
Was there a reason it was this long?
Did the author intend it to be this unfunny?
Was this really a satire of liberals satirizing a conservative?
Why did the author think that rape of an underage developmentally disabled girl could be mined for humor? (Sample answer: perhaps he fashions himself as having a transgressive streak like Michael O'Donoghue, except O'Donoghue was funny.)
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January 23, 2024'sok. kind of a lesser randy
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews