Chapter 14: Cloud Forest Confidential

Unstoppable Farce; The Mitch Maloney Story

Mitch takes a much needed sabbatical in Sumatra, far from the prying eyes of the paparazzi and the long arm of Interpol, to live among and learn from the beasts of the jungle in his everlasting search for comedic inspiration.

Endnotes:

1. Dick Ebersol, From Saturday Night to Sunday Night (New York, Simon & Schuster, 2022) p.98. I only read through the 8H relevant sections, so can’t comment on the whole Ebersol enchilada, but he’s not a comedian by any measure so it’s outside of the scope of this project. Writing is just so-so. He’s clearly just trying to get his side of the story out there, probably takes a bit too much credit or deflects blame when possible
2. Julia Sweeney, If It’s Not One Thing, It’s Your Mother (New York, 20) p. Yes, this is an actual quote. It makes sense in context (sort of). Capsule Review: Fairly charming collection of essays on her life in the Chicago with her husband and adopted Chinese daughter. Still sounds like a pretty boring person though, if you ask me. Slack Score: 7; Snark Score: 3 ; Overall FCA ranking: 231
3. E.M. Cioran, The Trouble with Being Born (New York, 20) p. Capsule Review: I was a little surprised to find this volume in the stacks alongside the other FC autobios at the main branch of the Ottawa library when I was in the research phase of this book, since I had never seen a stand-up special or chat show appearance. He’s somewhere between Sloss and Jesselnik when it comes to nihilism, but funnier than either. He doesn’t get into the whole backstory of his life, but instead basically riffs on the central theme that being born is a “laughable accident.”. Slack Score: -15; Snark Score: 12.5 ; Overall FCA ranking: 22