"ET TU, BABE"

by Mark Leyner ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 6, 1992

Leyner's follow-up to My Cousin, My Gastroenterologist (1990), which achieved a kind of cult status, is both less and more: once again it's a pop-culture collage with Leyner at center stage doing a series of stand-up routines, but it's also like a pimple that Leyner decided to show off simply because it appeared on his face. While there are a number of excerpts or chapters from a purported manuscript titled ""Et Tu, Babe"" (""The four-foot hermaphroditic organism from a distant solar system twitched in my arms as I soul-kissed it....""), mostly the story now is about author Leyner describing character Mark Leyner's reaction to the public and cultural reception of My Cousin...: ""My whole life has been one long ultraviolent hyperkinetic nightmare."" Before this mercifully comes to its end, we are treated to a series of Woody Allen-like one-liners (""In 1987, I enrolled in a 12-step program for people who pistol-whip their tailors"") and college humor that's usually antic or amusing enough to buy at least a grin. Flip through the pages, and, here, for example, is our author entering the Hyatt Serf-Surgery Clinic: ""the medical equivalent of U-Hauls or rental rug shampooers."" Or here is ""visceral tattooing--a tattoo on the heart"" for a guy surfing. Or here's the Jack LaLanne Health Spa. Or a spoof of a Presidential news conference. Or ""Varicose Moon,"" a play in one-act. And here's an oral history in which various celebrities memorialize Leyner before he disappears. Slapstick, postmodern yuk-yuks for the MTV set. When Saturday Night Live loses its luster, open this book. Open it anywhere.

Pub Date: Oct. 6, 1992

ISBN: 0679745068

Page Count: 160

Publisher: Harmony

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 1992

Categories: FICTION