Comments on: GQ October 2007 issue features excerpts from “I Am America (And So Can You!)” – ON NEWSSTANDS NOW!

By: hard done by

hard done by — Sun, 23 Sep 2007 21:58:24 +0000

God Love you DB -Kudos from another foreigner who never gets to see all this stuff in the magazines:)

By: Unwords

Unwords — Sun, 23 Sep 2007 21:00:10 +0000

Thank you, Jennie! It all makes much more sense now. I am in the tiny little country called Estonia (which it got a mention last year on the Daily Show, when Bush made a visit to the Baltic States; I can say our little circle of fans was very excited :D), and as much as I love the place, the variety of international magazines available is somewhat limited.

However, in a perverted kind of way, what you tell me actually makes me feel a little better about not getting the May issue of GQ with Stephen, which, it seems, I did not miss, because apparently they didn’t even sell that version here. I takes my rays of sunshine wherever I gets them. :P

Which reminds me: Huge, HUGE thank-you to you, DB, for all the wonderful scans! The teaser bits are so, so good. I cannot wait until the book finally comes out!

By: Jennie

Jennie — Sun, 23 Sep 2007 20:39:35 +0000

Unwords – yes, the US and European editions of the magazines are different, as is true of virtually all the magazines. Last December I was so excited to find the Time “Person of the Year issue” here in Rome, because I new Stephen was in it… it had the same mylar mirror “YOU” cover and everything! I got home and realized that all of the other people mentioned inside were different from the ones in the US version – more international, of course. Stephen was not there. :(
(But some very nice web-mistress sent me a copy from the US!)

I don’t know where you are, but many larger European cities will have an “American” or “International” news stand where you can get the US version of mags, and often some international airports will carry them (for a double price).

By: Unwords

Unwords — Sun, 23 Sep 2007 18:40:36 +0000

Question to the better-informed: is there a different issue of GQ for US and Europe, and are their covers and content completely different? Because after reading this, I straightaway commenced a hunt, and saw an October 2007 issue, but this was some sort of Men of the Year 10th anniversary edition, and no “I Am America” previews did I see. Did I simply miss it?

By: nousblet

nousblet — Sun, 23 Sep 2007 17:13:47 +0000

This is really good stuff! Reading it makes me realize how much harder this project is to realize than TDS’s ‘America: the Book.’

Stewart & co. were playing with a written genre (the textbook), and therefore an authorial voice the reader could instanatly recognize.

But so much of the humor of TCR depends on Stephen’s voice, facial expressions, perfect timing, etc., that I was worried it wouldn’t translate to the page. But I can hear Stephen’s voice and timing coming right off the page–’We didn’t give up in WWII aggainst the Germans just because Nazism ‘felt good.’ (HEE!)

Amazingly enough, too, Stephen’s convoluted logic (see the racism bit) seems to work on the page too. Though I also enjoy the simplicity of the hamster piece. I wonder if that was a product of the perversely simple and simply perverse mind of animal-lover Paul Dinello.

By: Gaia Faye

Gaia Faye — Sun, 23 Sep 2007 14:56:17 +0000

Oh, that poor hamster.

By: Haidekat

Haidekat — Sun, 23 Sep 2007 13:46:57 +0000

That thing about race and white people being wrapped in the bandages God gave them to protect against racism was…I’ve never felt so guilty about laughing. Several times while reading that my jaw dropped (in a I’m-might-be-offended-if-it-weren’t-so-funny type of way)

By: EvilDevil

EvilDevil — Sun, 23 Sep 2007 08:22:44 +0000

i love the caveman jesus and the evolution experiment…

By: Ms Interpreted

Ms Interpreted — Sun, 23 Sep 2007 06:54:47 +0000

Huzzah! Add my thanks for the tip, Sharon; this totally rocks.

DB, your midnight run is all kinds of apreciated. Yay, Stephen ubiquity!

By: Jennie

Jennie — Sun, 23 Sep 2007 06:52:46 +0000

Definitely worth a midnight run! The graphics are outrageous – 15 more days, folks!

EDIT: I just checked Amazon.com… IAA(ASCY!) is ranked 135 in books – but #1 in “Humor, Essays” and in “Humor, Political”.