Selected Shorts: Even More Laughs

by Symphony Space (Editor), T. Coraghessan Boyle, Parker Posey (Narrator)

From silly chuckles and rueful ironic glee to deep cosmic laughter, this new volume of humorous tales samples the best of recent seasons of the popular public radio series, Selected Shorts. Featuring some of the biggest names in Hollywood as performers, this collection finds Emmy Award–winning actor Alec Baldwin enacting Julia Slavin’s “Covered,” a far-out funny story of an unraveling thread and its grip on the protagonist. “Queen of the Indies” Parker Posey deliciously explains how to teach a group of daffy seniors to swim without a pool in Miranda July’s “The Swim Team.” Emmy Award–winning comedian Stephen Colbert performs T. C. Boyle’s “The Lie,” relating the yarn of a man who is drawn deeper and deeper into a tangled web of deceit—and hilarity. Isaiah Sheffer hysterically delivers an epic once-in-a-lifetime recipe to challenge the bravest cook in Harry Mathews’ “Country Cooking from Central France: Roast Boned Rolled Stuffed Shoulder of Lamb (Farce Double).” Tony Award–winner Christine Baranski recreates Thomas Meehan’s wacky whimsy about a cocktail party guest list composed of two syllable celebrity names in “Yma Dream”—the most popular comic tale in the history of the series.

Genres: Short Stories, Humor, Fiction, Audiobook, Comedy, Short Story Collection, Anthologies

3 pages, Audio CD

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

http://store.symphonyspace.org/collec...

Reviews

[Deedee Light · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hilarious. Seriously. "The Swim Team," may be one of the funniest stories of the bunch. I'd say, pick this book up just for that short. Happily giggled through most of the tellings.

[Tim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Selected Shorts does a great job of finding good quality fiction and pairing it with fine actors to read them for the public. This collection comes through with several very entertaining stories that are superbly presented by talented performers like Stephen Colbert, Alec Baldwin, and Parker Posey. Among my favorites were T.C. Boyle's tale about a guy who doesn't know when to apply the brakes to his telling of lies, Julia Slavin's corporate-funeral farce, Mathews's loony satire on how to cook a ridiculous French dish (which does go on a little too long), and Philip Roth's look at life at a Jewish Yeshiva in the 1950s (or thereabouts). Bravo.

[Kristen-Marie Freeman · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found many of these stories more sad than funny, and some were just weird. Here my .02:

The Lie-- depressing
The Spray-- weird
The Swim Team-- sad
The Schartz-Metterklume Method-- entertaining
**Country Cooking from Central France: Roast Boned Rolled Stuffed Shoulder of Lamb (Farce Double)-- good, funny and well-performed
Yma Dream-- fun and entertaining
Covered-- weird
The Conversion of the Jews-- interesting but overall so-so

So, I guess I only really liked (and thought were funny) 3 of the 8. :(

[Christina · Rating 1 out of 5]

Three stories were funny. Three. The rest? Um. No. They were sad, depressing and even disgusting. Specifically, the first one, read by the always awesome Stephen Colbert, was disgusting. The lie about a dead infant as the central plot? Um. Dead babies are not at all funny, especially when the dad who uses the lie as an excuse to escape from his life is losing *control* of his life. There's no ironic humor to it, period.

[Linda · Rating 2 out of 5]

I selected this because I was desperate for an audio download, and it was available. Hey, it said it was funny. There are some good performances by some talented actors, many of whom create humor where it doesn't appear to exist in the text. But funny stories? Not so much.

[Ob-jonny · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book contains entertaining and creative short-stories written recently. My favorite was the first one, "The Lie" and the audiobook was read by Stephen Colbert.

[Carolyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent collection of humorous short stories, each presented by a notable actor/narrator. My favorites were T. C. Boyle's "The Lie" read by Stephen Colbert and Saki's "The Schartz-Metterklume Method" performed by Marian Seldes. Each was recorded live (with audience reactions) which makes the presentations even more amazing since there were no do-overs.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

These were all diverting enough, but Stephen Colbert's reading of T. C. Boyle's "The Lie" and the reading of Roth's "The Conversion of the Jews" are both straight knock-outs. Fantastic readings of exceptional stories.

[Meg · Rating 4 out of 5]

When you open a collection with T.C. Boyle dark humor read by Stephen Colbert how can you go wrong? Hope the rest of them are as good.

----------------
Following that one up with "Swim Team" read by Parker Posey certainly keeps my interest.

[Maggie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some if the stories were very funny, some a little less. I really liked the story about the cocktail party. The one about the recipe was good too, although a bit long, which was kind if the point, but a bit tiring.

[CraftyChara · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Lie 3 Stars

The Spray 3 Stars

The Swim Team 3 half Stars

The Schartz-Metterklume Method 3 Stars

Country Cooking From Central France 2 Stars

Yma Dream 4 Stars

Covered 2 Stars

The Conversations of the Jew 4 Stars

[Lauri]

lost interest after the first not-funny story and returned it to the library.

[Joan · Rating 1 out of 5]

The only laughs related to this audiobook were on the recorded laugh track. I'm not sure there were even any smiles.

[Jim Beatty · Rating 5 out of 5]

Philip Roth, Jonathan Lethem, comic short stories....ya it's a 5.

[Lucy Johnston · Rating 3 out of 5]

Favorite was the lamb recipe one. Somehow Laughs and Even More Laughs are the least funny in this series 🤨

[Christina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Selected Shorts is a series of short stories narrated by famous actors. They have a podcast, and have released several collections. The narrations in this collection were all excellent, and narrators included Stephen Colbert, Robert Sean Leonard, Parker Posey, Christine Baranski and Alec Baldwin. I was only familiar with one of the stories, Saki's "The Schartz-Metterklume Method" which is already a favorite of mine from other audio short story collections, as are all of Saki's stories. The only other author I was familiar with is Philip Roth.

I enjoyed all of these stories, and I wish this was longer. The ones that stood out for me, besides Saki's, were Jonathan Lethem's unusual and imaginative "The Spray" read by Robert Sean Leonard, Miranda July's "The Swim Team" read by Parker Posey who is the perfect narrator, and the humorously teodious "Country Cooking from Central France: Roast Boned Rolled Stuffed Shoulder of Lanb (Farce Double)" by Harry Matthews, read by Isaiah Sheffer. The stories are read to a live audience, and with humor the audience adds to the experience like a live audience in a sitcom. Laughter is contagious, and I imagine the actors feed off the response. I'm going to keep this and will probably listen to it again at some point in the future.

One last note, there are some sexual references in some of these stories, so it's not suitable for family road trips with young children.

[Dale · Rating 3 out of 5]

Humor, Like Food, Is Highly Subjective

Published by Symphony Space in October of 2010
Multi-cast performance
Duration: 3 hours, 6 minutes

Here is the premise behind Selected Shorts: Even More Laughs - get a collection of funny short stories and have them be read by great performers such as Stephen Colbert and Alec Baldwin.

There are eight stories of varying quality. As I noted in the title of this review, humor is very subjective. What I can really tell you is that this set is designed to appeal to a wide variety of tastes - not by being middle of the road but by bringing a true eclectic mix to the production. That is certain to guarantee that the listener will not enjoy everything.

Stephen Colbert begins the collection with "The Lie", the story of a man who is just overwhelmed with being the father of a new baby. In fact, he is overwhelmed with everything - his dead end job, his wife's new confidence and his lack of free time. In his desperation, he lies. And, he builds upon that lie until he goes way too far...

Alec Baldwin delivers ...

Read more at: http://dwdsreviews.blogspot.com/2016/...

[David Cerruti · Rating 3 out of 5]

The correct title is Selected Shorts: Even More Laughs.

“Selected Shorts is a program featuring readings of classic and new short fiction, recorded live at New York’s Symphony Space and on tour around the country. This show is produced for radio by Symphony Space and WNYC Radio.” (from the Symphony Space website)

Symphony Space has published many audio books, each containing several of the 1 hour radio programs. These are often available at the New York and Brooklyn Public Libraries.

Even More Laughs has 8 shorts, 3 of which, I found hilarious.
The Swim Team, by Miranda July, was read by Parker Posey.
The Schartz-Metterklume Method, by Saki, was read by Marian Seldes.
Yma Dream, by Thomas Meehan, was read by Christine Baranski.

[Janet · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've heard all these stories on the radio but enjoyed them just the same. My favorite two are, Country Cooking from Central France by Harry Matthews, and Yma Dream by Thomas Meehan.

The former I sent to my brothers a while ago in an email saying I thought they might be interested in making the recipe. One of my brothers responded by saying it looked delicious but a bit time consuming. I had a good laugh at his expense.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't listen to the 3rd of 3 disc of these stories, but it's just because I have some other things to listen to. I liked the stories I listened to, they were funny, in a sad, almost horrifying way. Stephen Colbert and Parker Posey's stories especially, but I think both of them are v good with that kind of material.

[Becky · Rating 4 out of 5]

More fun live performances of great short stories. These were all new to me - and gave me needed chuckles. Best were T. C. Boyle's "The Lie" read by Stephen Colbert, Miranda July's "The Swim Team" read by Parker Posey, Thomas Meehan's "Yma Dream" read by Christina Baranski and Julia Slavin's "Covered" read by Alec Bladwin.

[Kristyh · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed these short stories and they were all performed beautifully, but funny? There were only two which I found funny the recipe for cooking the lamb shoulder and the final story about the rebellion of the Jewish boy. All the others were definitely tragedies.

[Dorothy · Rating 1 out of 5]

I picked this book off the library shelf thinking that anything by NPR must be good...so I was disappointed in this....it just was not funny.
I was actually offended by the first story...not funny in any way.

[Ellen Marchessault · Rating 3 out of 5]

My favorite story was Yma Dream! Laugh out loud funny! Some weren't truly funny, but it was still a good listen. Stephen Colbert is a good reader; T.C. Boyle's writing always seems to be edgy and this story had the added benefit of humor.

[Jean · Rating 1 out of 5]

One star almost always means that I had to stop listening (or reading) a book for some reason. This time it was things that other people might laugh at that I don't find funny (like stand-up comedy).

[FLJimmy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Avoid this book. Not funny enough to make it worthwhile. It draws out each story to the point you want a really big laugh and do not want to stop because you've invested time getting to the punch line then it let you down.

[Amber Chance · Rating 2 out of 5]

I should’ve been drunk while listening to this. I think maybe that would’ve made it funny. Or maybe not. I really only liked the story about the dream with all the people have vowel names and introducing them. All the others were over my head in the funny department.

I read this via audiobook.

[Jody · Rating 4 out of 5]

What fun!

[Frances Levy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I will have to find more of these. It feels good to laugh while commuting.

[Renee Bouchard · Rating 3 out of 5]

You will catch yourself chuckling at some very dark humor.