From Deseret News archives:
A launch for book of Mormon humor
A launch party is planned for the new book Thursday at 7 p.m., at Sam Weller's Zion Bookstore. The party will feature a Jell-O and casserole competition, with the grand prize being a trip to Moab.
The new book is a compilation, done by the staff of the Sugar Beet (an LDS version of the satirical publication The Onion), of their best efforts. The book is edited by Christopher Kimball Bigelow, co-author of "Mormonism for Dummies" and co-founder of The Sugar Beet.
A review of the book by Publishers Weekly stated:
"If a mature religion is one that can laugh at itself, then Mormonism is growing up ... Bigelow and his staff of Sugar Beet writers, whose identities are hidden behind ultra-Mormon pseudonyms, ferret out the delicious humor tucked away in Mormonism's quirkiest doctrines and cultural extremes ... readers will find the Enquirer's a tie-loosening, glue-gun-melting pleasure."
The Sugar Beet Web site says:
"The ranks of the heretofore slim world of LDS satirists (dominated by cartoonists Pat Bagley and Calvin Grondahl and columnist Robert Kirby) have been swelled by the next generation: this compilation of ruthlessly funny articles is as irreverent as the Mormon Tabernacle Choir is decorous."
Some sample headlines from the book are:
• "SpongeBob receives mission call."
• "BYU offers scrapbooking degree."
• " Gladys Knight to release 'Midnight Train to Kolob."'
• "Vegas win attributed to obeying the law of tithing."
• "Hofmann forges letters from self."
• "Arnold Friberg body-building program announced."
• "Three Nephite identities revealed" (the Bee Gees).
• "Elvis Presley accepts posthumous baptism."
• "Log flume ride announced for Nauvoo."
• "Members urged to store a year's supply of entertainment."
• "Zions Bank offers financing for scrapbookers."
• "Boston resident finally convinced co-workers he has only one wife."
• "Provo man votes Democrat 'just to see what it feels like."'
• "MTC now powered by its own methane."
Published by Pince-Nez Press of San Francisco, the book sells for $14.95 and is 165 pages long. Ordering details are also available on the Sugar Beet Web site, sugar-beet.blogspot.com/ or at www.pince-nez.com.
E-mail: lynn@desnews.com
