Fly Fishing with Darth Vader: And Other Adventures with Evangelical Wrestlers, Political Hitmen, and Jewish Cowboys

by Matt Labash

• Masterful writer: In The New York Times , David Brooks hailed Matt Labash as “consistently one of the best magazine writers in the country.” He is not alone. Considered one of American’s most brilliant writers by the journalism community, this long-awaited book debut presents Labash at his very best. A latter day Leibling, Labash’s collection will take its place alongside books by writers such as Calvin Trillin and P.J. O’Rourke..

• A unique voice that’s well-connected: Labash’s well-informed insights, self-deprecating wit, and provocative candor feature regularly in The Weekly Standard and have also appeared in Washingtonian Magazine , American Spectator , and on Slate.com. Extremely well-liked and respected, his media contacts are many and varied. He has declined invitations to appear on everything from HBO Sports to Meet the Press —but is finally willing to make the rounds. As LA Weekly wrote after his Detroit piece, “it’s not new to give props to Matt Labash.”.

• Remarkable collection: Full of wit, insight, and a trenchant grasp of the American scoundrel, Labash’s masterful profiles of men on the nation’s fringe—Pirate Kingfish Gov. Edwin Johnson, The Right Reverend Dr. Al Sharpton, Dirty Trickster Roger Stone—are published alongside devastating pieces on such dead or dying cities as Detroit and New Orleans; work celebrating such joyous, but overlooked pockets of American culture as Revival music and Rebirth Brass Band; and scathing, hilarious briefs on the nation’s great phonies—Michael Moore, Louis Farrakhan, Donald Trump to name a few..

Genres: Politics, Humor, Journalism, Essays, Nonfiction

336 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2010

Reviews

[Ralph · Rating 3 out of 5]

P.J. O'Rourke promises the author, Matt Labash, is "Hunter S. Thompson on acid." But wait, Hunter S. Thompson was, not infrequently, on some mind-altering substance. Labash does mention the occasional drink, but no evidence of anything harder here.

I did enjoy the essays compiled here, most originally published in The Weekly Standard. The Darth Vader of the title is former Vice-President Dick Cheney, and Labash makes him seem like one of the boys. I was also surprised to find that Kinky Friedman was an early supporter of civil rights. Guess that redneck thing is more of an act than I thought. The final piece, on New Orleans through the eyes of the Rebirth Brass Band, reads like a funeral dirge for that great, dying city, as does an earlier essay on Detroit.If you enjoy essays that capture the essence of some of our most interesting political animals, and some of the world's most dangerous places, this book deserves a read.

[Prateek Jain · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fly Fishing with Darth Vader is a collection of different pieces written by Matt Labash. It's probably his first book and in my humble opinion not the best satire/comical compilation of essays I have come across. The different people covered by the book includes Dick Cheney (Darth Vader), Donald Trump, Al Sharpton, A bunch of senators, people who go to porn convention and such. I didn't purchase the book, but was a gift to me by a friend. In all honesty, I don't think the writing is as funny as the comments on the front and the back suggest it is. You may laugh like ones or twice during a chapter, but that is the best. However, its a good way to know the details about the life of people like Dick Cheney, Donald Trump and such. They have their own little intricacies and it gives a good detail into that. Kudos to Matt Labash for traveling with the Vice-president and not getting shot. To summarize, it gives good details about the lives of a bunch of people, but not very funny.

[Mark Lattman · Rating 4 out of 5]

So, I really like socio-cultural essay compellations. But because of their nature, I “tend to” (i.e., always) pick the ones where I know I’m (at least) somewhat in line with the author’s socio-political views. But after reading and loving plenty of collections from the likes of David Foster Wallace, Augusten Burroughs, and Susan Orlean, among others, I decided to step a bit out of my comfort zone and read this one from Labash, an “avowed Libertarian” who is much more conservative than not just me, but a lot of his fellow party members. And it worked out well. He is smart and funny and most of the topics and the types of observations he makes were what I look for, and Labash does a very good job of recognizing that many of the people profiled are at least as funny and interesting as he is and keeps the focus on them. But what really made this collection enjoyable for me was how little his political views played into things. I found most all the pieces fair and objective enough, and even when he injected his political views it wasn’t unacceptably polemic or preachy, though I did skip one (potentially) problematic (for me) essay. But I did read the Detroit one and it was depressing as hell, but it wasn’t cringeworthy in the ways I’d feared. Two notes: With almost every essay close to 15 years old by now, it’s dated. It’s actually old enough that Tucker Carleson, who wrote the introduction, wasn’t completely insane yet. And also, rather strangely, the cover has a quote from P.J. O’Rourke who calls Labash “Hunter Thompson on acid” which not only makes no sense, since Hunter Thompson WAS on acid, but is also doubly absurd since nothing in the writing style here is remotely HST-like (though it is very P.J. O’R like). I definitely recommend this for anyone who likes this kind of essay journalism, no matter their politics. 89/100

[Russel Henderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun, and funny, read collecting Labash's columns from the Aughts. His portraits of Marion Barry and Al Sharpton were timeless; they pulled no punches but still left the reader with a more complete understanding of the subjects and perhaps a touch of sympathy as well. His look at the abortive Trump Presidential campaign on the Reform Party ticket was sadly, pathetically prescient. Some of the columns seem a little dated, even a decade or so on, but they do remind us of the quaint concerns of that period of time. Labash may be the funniest pen on the right and will undoubtedly survive the shuttering of the Weekly Standard. He can lampoon the ridiculous but also treat serious subjects and even tragedy with wit but without crassness, which is why he will have a voice in the public conversation whenever he'd like one.

[Lois · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book, a collection of previously published essays, was published in 2010 and has been on my bookshelf for several years. The essays are about people, some still in the news (Roger Stone, Al Sharpton, Donald Trump, Dick Cheney), places, and popular (and unpopular) culture. Though it is fairly easy to figure out the approximate time that some of the essays were written, it would have been better if that information was included so the reader would not have to guess. Some of the essays were more interesting than others, but overall, Matt Labash's style held my interest, even with the subjects that were less interesting to me. I enjoyed reading about Roger Stone, Donald Trump, Al Sharpton, and others as they were in the news ten plus years ago. The introduction, written by Tucker Carlson, added to my enjoyment of the book.

[Brett T · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are some writers whom one wish would just stop already, and turn their attention to un-writing what they'd already produced so as to aid one in un-reading it. Stephen King has been one of those for most of the last twenty years, and I would say the same thing about the unhinged inanity of The Atlantic's Andrew Sullivan if I had actually read anything by him since 2005.

And then there are books you wish would keep on going, such as Matt Labash's Fly Fishing With Darth Vader. Labash usually writes for The Weekly Standard, and most of these pieces were longer articles in that magazine. The title piece describes Labash's experience fly-fishing with then Vice-President Dick Cheney, as both of them are fly-fishing enthusiasts. There are also articles on the decaying city of Detroit, a variety of political figures and several other characters. Not all of those subjects are all that interesting to me in and of themselves -- and some of them are people I more or less dislike -- but I read every word of Labash's profiles anyway, and I became fascinated in the people or subjects he was covering. He knows how to interview, he knows how to profile, and he by gosh and golly knows how to write better than all but a sliver of folks who pound keyboards for payment (or pleasure) these days.

One quibble with the book is that it pretty much reprints the articles as they appeared in The Weekly Standard, so magazine readers will have seen most of them. Although it is nice to have them all in one place. And WS is not the most widely-read magazine on the shelves, so a lot of folks might not have seen them before (True Fact: When I recommended a Labash article to a friend and said it was in WS, she responded, "Oh, I'm too open-minded to ever read anything in that magazine.") It would have been nice to see them reworked or perhaps organized along a theme, but if I'm lucky Labash has a whole lot more in him and they can save that option for the next book.

Original available here.

[Howard Olsen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Labash is a reporter for the Weekly Standard who specializes in extended profiles of assorted political celebrities. The title is taken from his article about going fly-fishing with Dick Cheney, but there are other worthy subjects/targets, including Kinky Friedman and Al Sharpton. Best of the lot is the first piece: a long depressing report from the winter of 2008/9, AKA bankruptcy Christmas. Heavy PJ O'Rourke influence in the writing although not quite as much wit.

[Chris Hunt · Rating 4 out of 5]

That which ran through most (if not all) the articles/essays in the compilation book is the empathy that Labash has for those he interviews. This allows him to get up close and personal and dig deep with a true sincere concern for his topic. Yet that empathy doesn't get in the way of what he truly believes is the truth. The end result is a witty and very sympathetic look at some very unsavory facts of complex individuals who have both bad and good characteristics. Very entertaining.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Who could resist picking up a book with this title? Not me. Labash, a writer at The Weekly Standard, is a younger version of Hunter Thompson, with a little Tom Wolfe thrown in.

He's a conservative with a liberal sense of humor and skewers right and left icons with non-partisan zest. Funny as hell, and worth reading.

[Ian Colle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entertaining collection of his articles. Best read in several sittings - not meant to be plowed through. Very humorous voice and he interviews extremely interesting characters. I found the article on Marion Barry to be extremely insightful, funny, yet sad at the condition of this man's life.

[Rob · Rating 2 out of 5]

Had high expectations that I would be laugh out loud funny. Really felt like the better stories took too long to get set up. Perhaps if I loved politics and political figures more, this book would have met my expectations.

[Clif Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of articles on a variety of topics by a senior writer at theWekly Standard. A bit dated, but he's funny!

[Marc · Rating 4 out of 5]

Outrageous gonzo journaism - is he right is he left, is he right, is he wrong? Matt is an odd one, that's for sure. But he can sure write.

[Jodi · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little hit and miss. I found the article on Detroit fascinating, but some of the other articles not as interesting. Not bad.

[Dan Price · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just started... couldn't resist the title :)

[D. R. · Rating 3 out of 5]

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