Genre:
Humor
Description:
“Laughs
Last is a rumination on
family, legacy, talent, and the fluidity of time, a poignant dream of
adulthood coming in fits and starts to our protagonist Damon Blazer.
With a quick mind and an instinct to flee (preferably before getting
punched, but not before getting in a punchline), Blazer comes from a
family whose laughs never mean just one thing. He struggles to glean
what lessons he can from his brutish and detached brother, his
grieving but understanding mother, and his aloof but proud father,
but it’s the inheritance of his grandfather’s lessons that truly
form the backbone of Blazer’s biography.”
Author:
Dylan Brody
is a humorist who appears regularly on radio (including XM/Sirius)
and comedy clubs around the country. He has written plays, novels,
and jokes for other comedians as well as being a contributor to the
Huffington Post.
Appraisal:
Damon,
you have to decide, every time, whether you’re willing to face the
consequences when you tell a joke. Every time. A good joke, any good
joke, it tells the truth. They’re very powerful and they can hurt
people and they can change the world.
I don’t
think it’s a spoiler to say that this quote encapsulates one of the
themes that runs throughout Laughs
Last. This was one of the
lessons the protagonist, Damon Blazer, learned from his grandfather,
who was a comedian, too. His grandfather was also Damon’s mentor
and often the only member of his family who understood him.
The story
jumps back and forth in time, which has the potential of being
confusing, but isn’t. The logic in this convoluted timeline is
explained by the narrator as a lesson Damon’s father had tried to
teach him finally sinking in, that “it is only possible to know the
meaning of events after some time has passed, when they can be looked
back on in context.” The disjointed time line arranges events in a
way that helps them make sense.
As
advertised, Laughs Last
is humorous. However, there is much more to the story than that, with
plenty of food for thought about family and taking the unconventional
path in life. A great read. If this story is any indication, that
cliché about there being a thin line between comedy and tragedy is
right on the money.
FYI:
Some adult
language.
Added
for Reprise Review: Laughs
Last was a nominee in the
Humor category for B&P 2014 Readers' Choice Awards. Original
review ran October 12, 2013.
Format/Typo
Issues:
No
significant issues.
Rating:
***** Five stars
Reviewed
by: BigAl
Approximate
word count: 45-50,000 words
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