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My Custom Van: And 50 Other Mind-Blowing Essays that Will Blow Your Mind All Over Your Face

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Author: Michael Ian Black
Publisher: Simon Spotlight Entertainment
Category: Book

List Price: ~~$23.95~~
Buy New: $14.67
You Save: $9.28 (39%)

New (28) Used (7) from $14.29

Avg. Customer Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars

184 reviews
Sales Rank: 4931

Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 240
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 8.3 x 5.7 x 1

ISBN: 1416964053
Dewey Decimal Number: 818.602
EAN: 9781416964056
ASIN: 1416964053

Publication Date: July 15, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand New, Perfect Condition, Please allow 4-14 business days for delivery. 100% Money Back Guarantee, Over 1,000,000 customers served.

Also Available In:

•	Kindle Edition - My Custom Van: And 50 Other Mind-Blowing Essays that Will Blow Your Mind All Over Your Face

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Editorial Reviews:

Product Description
Get ready for the read of your life. Never before has a single book combined awesome vans, unicorns, Billy Joel, and erotic fiction in such a potent combination. A writing tour de force? Perhaps. A reading experience that will sear itself into your consciousness like a red-hot branding iron? Without question.

Comedian and basic cable superstar Michael Ian Black unleashes the full fury of his astonishing intellect in this collection of short comic essays. My Custom Van is a no-holds-barred assault to the funny bone that will literally beat you into submission with hilarity*.

How did he do it? How did he create such a fine anthology? Answer: With love. Michael opened his heart and used the magical power of love to write more than fifty thought-provoking essays like, "Why I Used a Day-Glo Magic Marker to Color My Dick Yellow," and "An Open Letter to the Hair Stylist Who Somehow Convinced Me to Get a Perm When I Was in Sixth Grade."

Maybe you think love is not a substitute for "good writing skills" and "spell check." Bull pucky! When it comes to writing books, love is the most powerful word processor of all.

Sounds pretty great, right? And yet...something is still holding you back from paying the full purchase price of this book. What is it? Perhaps you secretly believe you do not deserve a book this good. Nonsense -- you deserve this book and so much more. In fact, if Michael could have written you all the stars in the sky, that's what he would have done. But he couldn't do that, due to his lack of knowledge in the area of astronomy. So he wrote this book instead.

And this flap copy.

Enjoy.

* Michael Ian Black is not responsible for any actual injuries caused by reading this book.

Customer Reviews: Read 179 more reviews...

3 out of 5 stars

Average essays add up to lots of laughs October 7, 2008
You probably are reading this to try and help you decide whether or not to purchase the book "My Custom Van" by Michael Ian Black. After all, this is the Amazon page for that book. But I'm a "Maverick" so I am not going to tell you about the book, I am going to tell you about what I had for lunch today. It was a leftover enchilada warmed up in the microwave. It was pretty kickin' as I added a lot of chalula hot sauce to it. The micro made the tortilla a bit chewy, but the crispy rice (again from the micro) and sauce balanced it out..... Right about now you're wondering WTF is he doing? And that's where I pull the switcheroo and say that's what this whole book is like. Actually, the title of the book should just be "WTF?!" or maybe if they need to sell it in Wally Mart "WTH?!" (What the Heck). This book is crazy, it's funny, it's easy to work your way through even if you don't read all of the essays. It helps you understand sides of life from perspectives that you most likely would never think to, want to, or need to. The writing is very good, it's witty and it can be moronic-funny, or smart-funny. No matter what, most of it "is just wrong". But that makes it so "right"! It's good to have on hand for a coffee table cause anyone can quickly read a couple of the essay's and get a chuckle. Don't dismiss the stream-of-consciousness style as lazy, it's well thought out and worth the read. If you're a fan of MIB you'll certainly like the book. If you're not sure, but can enjoy laughing at stereotypes and making fun of other people then you'll enjoy this book. If you're neither of these things, then you probably stopped reading after the word enchilada.

4 out of 5 stars

Kept me laughing October 7, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

I truly enjoy MIB's sense of humor. He makes me laugh, no matter what my mood. I enjoy his online blog, and found this book to be similar in style. You would need to appreciate a certain type of humor to enjoy this book, but if you enjoy Michael Ian Black's sense of humor, you'll love this book. It's an easy read, and moves along quickly. Highly recommended as a fun, light hearted way to spend a few hours!

4 out of 5 stars

Exellent Bathroom Reading Material October 7, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

I know, gross - bathroom reading? But seriously, it deserves a spot near the toilet next to Uncle John's Bathroom readers. The essays are random and hilarious, filled with moments of insanity.

Now, this type of humor only befits a certain type of person. If you do not find Michael Ian Black to be funny at all, do not buy this. If you did not think the Jack Handy bits on SNL were funny, do not buy this. If you need a book to have a point to be called a book, do not buy this. If essays addressing the topic of what Billy Joel must be like at Christmas time sound stupid to you, do not buy this.

Everyone else - go for it. It's no masterpiece but it's worth a few good laughs.

4 out of 5 stars

Laugh Out Loud Funny October 6, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful

Michael Ian Black's book promises to blow your mind, but it doesn't say that it will play with the blood splatter and bits of brain on the floor. I am an avid reader and rarely do I stop friends and family to read aloud what I am reading. With My Custom Van I read many of the eassays out loud (especially letters to a squirrel).

I've often found Michael Ian Black to be hit or miss with his humor, and while not all 50 essays in the book are genius, most of them are pretty funny. I appreciate the fact that Black takes risks with his work in the book and writes about topics people just don't write about (Like coloring his genitals with permanent market). Wild, sick, perverse and laugh out loud funny My Custom Van is a must read for fans of severely biting humor.

3 out of 5 stars

Sophomoric Humor October 6, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful

A collection of short humorous sketches (not really essays) on topics ranging from the author's fantasied custom van to instructions for his cleaning lady to--well--things I can't post on this site. Some are rip-roaring funny--but only a few. There's a lot of stuff about male genitals and bodily excretions.

Author Michael Ian Black is clever, witty and outrageous. The quality of his material is uneven. Some of the pieces will have you rolling on the floor, others are tedious, all depend on wild exaggeration, extrapolating from some semi-plausible premise to a point that goes way beyond absurdity. Mostly the humore is sophomoric. Thankfully the author pokes fun mainly at himself.

If you like humor about body parts and outragneous behaviors, you will probably like My Custom Van. If you're squeamish about four-letter words, you will hate it. This book of humor is definitely not for everyone. Reviewed by Louis N. Gruber.

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