Imagine the worst Wayans brothers movie you’ve ever seen. Guaranteed, that flick has more laughs in it than the boys’ foray into books, with the humor titles 101 WAYS TO KNOW … YOU’RE A GOLDDIGGER and 101 WAYS TO KNOW … IT’S TIME TO GET OUT OF YOUR MAMA’S HOUSE. Proudly emblazoned with a banner reading “The Wayans Brothers Presents,” these are written by Marlon, Shawn and Keenen Ivory Wayans, who can be funny. With so many involved, they couldn’t come up with a good joke collectively?
Take GOLDDIGGER, for instance. Each page features a cartoon to illustrate its supposedly riotous tip. But it doesn’t read like a gag so much as a fact: “You stay in an abusive relationship for the nice gifts he gives you” and “You look at your boyfriend as an investment.” See?
Others show simply no imagination: “Kanye West’s ‘Gold Digger’ is your anthem.” And when the siblings do actually stretch for a punchline, it comes with no juice: “Your first words were ‘Money’ and ‘Dollar’ instead of Mommy and Daddy.” My fifth grader tells better jokes than that, and he swipes his material from Scholastic Book Club releases.
MAMA’S HOUSE fares no better and — given the addition of a fourth co-author in Shane Miller — it may be worse. Again, the one-liners sound like truisms: “Your mama yells at you for keeping the toilet seat up,” “Your mama catches you masturbating,” “Your mama goes through your stuff.”
And they want us to pay $10.95 a pop for this? You’re gonna have to try harder, guys.
Perhaps page 37 will suffice: “Your mama takes a shit with the door open.”
Sigh. —Rod Lott
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- The Real Animal House: The Awesomely Depraved Saga of the Fraternity That Inspired the Movie
- Evil Ways
- The Beast House
- House of Blood
- Showcase Presents The House of Mystery: Volume 1
