Book of the Month - Not Quite the Classics

Bumping this mid-month to make it easier to find.

Time for yet another installment of Destructoid’s Unofficial Book of the Month. It’s been quite the experience for me thus far and I hope for all of you who have supported it so far. Thank you.

This month  I’m spotlighting an anthology book. For those of you unaware of what that means, an anthology is a collection of stories rather than just having one story throughout the whole book. This one in particular is special because of who wrote it and also the method they used to write it. What do I mean by that? Well I’ll tell you.

Not Quite the Classics by Colin Mochrie

192 pages

Genre(s): Anthology, Comedy, Classic Literature

Not Quite the Classics is available on Amazon, where you can buy it in hardcover, softcover, or download it digitally or as an audio version.

Not Quite the Classics is written by Colin Mochrie, who you probably know best by his improvisational comedy on Whose Line is it Anyway? Apparently he was talked into writing a book by his manager, even though he really didn’t think writing the book was a good idea. However, he did in fact end up writing a book and one with a unique twist. Not Quite the Classics is inspired by an improv game called First Line, Last Line. The idea is you take the first line and last line of the bit are supplied by the audience. The performers then have to act out the scene, starting with the first line they were given and trying to work the scene into the last line. Mochrie decided to do just that for his book, except the first and last lines he used were all from famous pieces of (public domain) literature.

The book tackles these familiar tales in a completely new way. He takes well known classics and completely transforms them. Moby Dick, the tale of as hip captain’s obsession with a white whale becomes the story of a balding actor obsessed with a fantastic wig. One of the Sherlock Holmes novels is changed to know longer be about a detective solving crimes, but instead trying his hand at stand up comedy. And The Cat in the Hat, that classic Dr. Seuss story becomes a zombie apocalypse story (all still in the Seuss poetic style). And many more with a great sense of humor and some truly engaging and clever writing. Mochrie has always been one of my favorite members of the Whose Line crew for a reason. When he’s good, he’s really, really good. And even when he’s bad, he’s good.

I hope I’ve done enough to sell you on this book. I really enjoyed reading it and I’d like to share that enjoyment with others. After all, what’s the point in enjoying something great without sharing it with others? 

If you do read this book, I recommend you consider writing your thoughts on it and share it with us. Write a blog, a quick post, whatever. If you don’t want to, that’s fine too. There is no obligation to do so. I do hope you will give this book a look anyway, since I can recommend it quite heartily. 

See you next month with another book. Happy reading!

BONUS AUTHOR TRIVIA!

• Despite always being poked fun of on Whose Line is it Anyway? for being Canadian, Colin Mochrie was actually born in Kilmarnock, Scotland. He moved to Canada when he was about 6-7 years old.
• He decided to enter the world of improv comedy when a high school friend encouraged him to try out for a play. He got his first laugh and decided that that was what he wanted to do for the rest of his life.
• He met Ryan Stiles, another Whose Line all-star, while working at the Vancouver TheatreSports League. The two actually met in New Zealand while Stiles was performing at the comedy club Punchlines. The two would end up working together time after time later, and became incredibly close friends.
• After the original US version of Whose Line ended Mochrie continued to do lots of stage performances, including an improv tour with fellow Whose Line alumni Brad Sherwood.

- Thank You For Reading, And Remember: Hot Dogs are Sandwiches. #TeamSandwich

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