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06 February, 2010

Friendly Fire

Friendly Fire by Wil Anderson.

I love Wil Anderson! I cried when his satirical show The Glass House ended and I cheered when his new show that looks at advertising, The Gruen Transfer appeared. I truly believe he is one of Australia's funniest comedians. So you can imagine how thrilled I was to discover this book. Pity it didn't live up to my expectations. Wil Anderson writes how he speaks and while that works really well when I am listening to him, for me, it didn't translate to the written word. The stories were funny, the thoughts interesting, but the writing was, well, clunky. Segues that would flow naturally during a stand up show or monologue were glaringly obvious and out of place. Really,  I think if Wil Anderson has been sitting on my couch reading it to me, I would have been in stitches. Reading it myself, a few smiles an occasional giggle, but I think from now on, I'll take my Wil Anderson straight off the stage or the TV.