The decibel level on both the performance platform and audience floor is apt to be stratosphere-high this afternoon, 2:30–3 p.m., when three authors known for their prowess for parody take to the Uptown Stage to spar—er, talk—about books.
Participating in the “Talking About Books” panel are Dave Barry, Pulitzer Prize–winning humorist, whose latest book for children, The Worst Class Trip Ever (Disney-Hyperion, May); Adam Mansbach, of Go the F**k to Sleep fame, whose October picture book from Akashic Books is Seriously, You Have to Eat (a G-rated version of his second not-for-prime-time bedtime book, You Have to F*****g Eat); and Alan Zweibel, comedy writer and producer, who collaborated with Mansbach on Dear Benjamin Franklin: Huge Pain in My …!, a middle-grade novel (Disney-Hyperion, Sept.).
Before raising the curtain on the panel , here’s a glance at the authors’ new works. Barry’s inspiration for the calamity-riddled The Worst Class Trip Ever was his own daughter’s school trip to Spain, which he and his wife chaperoned. “The thought that I was one of the so-called responsible adult chaperones, and that any institution would let that happen, is still terrifying to me,” he says. “But many things on the trip ended up in the novel—fart and butt jokes are among the key literary elements. God knows how we returned home with all the kids, though one boy, who started the trip with a broken arm, did break a leg. And his dad was a chaperone, too—good job, dad!”
Mansbach and Zweibel decided to collaborate on a children’s book after meeting several years ago at the Tucson Book Festival, where Zweibel was the keynote speaker at the opening dinner. “Coincidentally, one of my children had sent me the audio version of Go the F**k to Sleep not long before, and it made me laugh my ass off!” recalls Zweibel. “I heard he was at the book festival, I sought him out, and we spent a little time together.” Mansbach remembers having dinner with Zweibel and “by the end of the meal we were talking on collaborating on a book, and we followed that discussion up with e-mails. Since that was the nature of our communication, it occurred to me that we should write an epistolary novel, and we came up with the idea of a kid exchanging letters with a historical figure.” And, not surprisingly, the young protagonist of Benjamin Franklin: Huge Pain in My…! has attitude, starting his correspondence with “First of all, let me just say that this Assignment is Stupid. You are Dead. Why am I writing a letter to Some dead guy I’ve never even met?”
Clearly humor will be in no short supply at today’s stage event. But what to expect?
“Uncontrollable hilarity” is Zweibel’s prediction for the stage event, during which he hopes to make Barry, with whom he collaborated on Lunatics, nothing short of extremely jealous. “Dave and I appeared together often promoting our book, and our chemistry is really a lot of fun,” Zweibel says. “But at this event, I want to make him jealous to see me with another man. Anything short of tears and I’ll be disappointed. I want him blubbering and begging, ‘We have to write another book together!’”
Barry is quick with a return barb, noting that during the 30-minute program, “Nobody will get a chance to speak but Alan. I may as well stay in Miami and let him do all the talking.” And will Barry be happy to stand in Zweibel’s shadow? “I’m always standing in his shadow—the shadow cast by his head, which happens to be huge,” he quips. “But you can’t quote me on that. No, I’m serious, you can’t. Though if you did, it would be telling the truth. And there’s nothing wrong with telling the truth. But seriously, Alan and I love each other—in a manly way.”
There’s certain to be more of the above during this afternoon’s panel. Looking for a chuckle and perhaps some good clean mud-slinging? Hie thee to the Uptown Stage.
