2007-Eleven

May 1, 2000
Reporter Seely and editorial cartoonist Cammuso (both of whom work for the Syracuse Post-Standard) regularly team up to bring their unusual brand of literary humor to the airwaves of NPR and the pages of the New York Times. This slim volume collects 29 of their lampoons, most of which involve a far-fetched premise--radio therapist Dr. Laura Dolittle talking to animals, James Bond confronting a sexual harassment suit, a clothing catalogue penned by David Mamet. In one hilarious essay, the pair imagines Martha Stewart planning the Last Supper: "Whether it's a plague of locusts or a hollandaise that has curdled, you can always expect some last-minute crisis." In another, they cleverly invent a collaboration between The Twilight Zone's Rod Serling and Dr. Seuss, a poem called "And to Think That They Landed on Mulberry Street." (Try reading it aloud.) Their parody of The X-Files (the "Xmas Files")--in which Mulder and Scully investigate the existence of Santa Claus--has already become a cult classic. (X-Files fans have pirated, e-mailed and posted it online, often without giving proper credit to Cammuso and Seely). Perhaps, then, the only flaw in this entertaining collection is in its title: whereas these same X-Files fans would have waited in line for a book titled The Xmas Files, nobody's likely to know what to do with the idea of a 2007-Eleven.

May 1, 2000
Cammuso and Seely are veteran humorists who have written for "Spy," "The New Yorker," "The Village Voice," and other publications. Given these credentials, one may expect their first book, which gathers almost 30 short spoofs, to have a more sophisticated bite. In "The Xmas Files," seriously confused agents Mulder and Scully investigate mysterious nocturnal visits by a powerful otherworldly being. In "Doctor Dosomething," Dr. Laura Doolittle offers tough-talking advice to animals; to a mother goldfish who has eaten her babies, the doctor scolds, "Guppie, listen to me: This is bad. I don't care if you couldn't afford decent child care. For a mom, you are an absolute disgrace." Cammuso and Seely's targets are taken from American pop culture, so this slim volume may not have a very long shelf life--but its safe, silly brand of humor will appeal to a wide audience and can serve as an introduction to spoof and satire. ((Reviewed May 1, 2000))(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2000, American Library Association.)