Fake Comedic Manuals

haven't read any.






wait. come to think of it someone gave me this in 1984. i thought it was pretty dern funny.

I enjoyed Dave Barry's Complete Guide to Guys. but I don't know if that counts among the books you are talking about.

Rochester said:

Now I have a short list of fake comedic manuals and am looking for something like a directory of existing ones, to make sure I don't uncover ground that has already been uncovered... because if you do that much digging, your liable to end up in poo water.

Most of these fake comedic manuals (there is probably a better term) are pretty terrible, some are okay, I'm not sure I've read one I consider to be damn good. Have you?

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Rochester,
I've seen a lot of these, too: Most often short, image-heavy, and often depending as much or more on the premise than on the actual content. Not sure of an existing list; I would just search Amazon etc. for title beginning with "Guide to..." (I am...Master of the Obvious!)

I know what you mean about wanting to know what's out there --- it seems that with these kinds of books one in each genre / for each topic is enough, and if you arrive late to the game....

I saw one that was a parody of Fodor's-style travel guides, about a fake country. On the cover it had a person with some teeth missing and said something about the lack of dentistry in the fake country. I thought, "THIS is the kind of humor they came up with?" Too bad, because it's a good idea, but one you can probably only do once.

Good luck. I think this is a good territory to explore.

PS, a good fake manual was something to the effect of "A Field Guide to Bigfoot." It wasn't knee-slapping funny, but it was also "serious" in the sense that it described things that people who believe in Bigfoot think about him. It was published by a company here in Seattle (I think Sasquatch Books, fittingly) so it has more interest here in the Pacific NW. You know, because Big F lives here...

My first book is a "diagnostic manual" for a "disorder/condition" I invented, it seemed to go over well.
Many people enjoy parodies.

I have a copy of 'The Pub Landlord's Book of British Common Sense' (signed by Al Murray himself, no less) which I found to be a pretty funny take on what it means to be 'proper British, like what the Queen is' as my Mum would say. It also includes step-by-step guides to finding out if your local pub is really a *gasp* gasto-pub! So I guess it is an instruction book, of sorts.

The zombie survival guide. Yes. It's actually quite effective- it's funny when you read it in daylight but when the lights go off you hide some weapons under your pillow and can't sleep because every sound might be zombies.

It also has some useful information should such a thing ever happen.


The other one I really liked was 'How to survive a Horror Movie'. Funny, pithy and shows a genuine love and understanding of the subject.

One that I had when I was a kid, and which made me laugh lots, was How to be a Superhero by Mike Leigh (not that one) and Mike Lepine.

Does The Onion's "Our Dumb World" count? If so, I think it's hysterical, as funny in its execution as in the premise.