Mitch holes up in a private gym for two weeks with his newly acquired sidekick slash personal trainer Andy Richter to transform himself into a muscle-bound caped detective.

Endnotes:

1. Louie Anderson, Hi Mom: Stories for My Mother, But You Can Read Them Too (Touchstone Books, New York, 2018) p. ; Capsule Summary: Continuing the Hi Dad formula, a series of letters to the deceased matriarch of the Anderson clan. Thankfully, less traumatized and more jovial than the earlier book, but still weighted down by the plodding conceit. Most interesting aspect is the creation of Christine Baskets as a tribute to his mom and a poignant third (fourth? fifth?) act in a long and varied career. Side note: the hardest I have ever laughed was watching Louie Anderson live at the Paramount Theatre in 1991 with my father. He did a bit about stubbing his toe that had both of us gasping for air and literally falling out of our seats. Cara and I also saw him deliver the JFL keynote address in 2019 afterwhich he posed for selfies with us and was very comforting regarding our recently deceased cat Carl. His books are more therapeutic than hilarious, but he’ll always have a very warm place in my heart. Slack Score: 2; Snark Score: 7; Overall FCA ranking: 176
2. Zarna Garg, This American Woman; A One-in-a-Billiion Memoir (Ballantine, New York, 2025) p.227; Capsule Summary: A comedian origin story very much unlike any other. Garg didn’t grow up dreaming of being Joan Rivers or anything like that, in fact, she seems to have barely understood that stand up comedy existed before her daughter essentially dared her into it, following a string of entrepreneurial failures. Hers is a story of brutal impoverishment and hardship as a homeless youth on the streets of Mumbai and extraordinary wealth and privilege at various other times of her life. Like her hero and champion Kevin Hart, she is unabashedly ambitious and driven by financial rapacity. I don’t love that, and her prolonged tales of frustration with her children’s $100,000/year elementary school education were not something I found very relatable. Nevertheless, she is a talented writer and a funny human, and occupies a unique cultural perspective in the world of stand up, which is invaluable and her daughter apparently truly cares for her more than any teenager has ever cared for a parent, so that says everything you need to know about her value as a human. Slack Score: -7; Snark Score: 9; Overall FCA ranking: 115
3. Trrevor Noah, Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood (One World, New York, 2016) p. 43; Capsule Summary: Regardless of your opinion of Noah as a stand up or Daily Show host (pretty mid on both fronts as far as I’m concerned) there’s no question that this is a top tier FCB. Noah’s story of growing up in South Africa semi-secretly (see the title) is riveting, wryly engaging, and tremendously moving, especially the last chapter on his mother. ; Slack Score: -9; Snark Score: 12; Overall FCA ranking: 8

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Live recording of Mitch performing at Zingers, in Sheboygan Wisconsin, on the anniversary of his father's death.

Mitch makes the rounds of all the popular late night chat shows.

Endnotes:

1. “Marlon Bundo” with Jill Twiss, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver presents A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo (Chronicle Books, San Francisco, 2018) In the spirit of Beckett and Pynchon's elusive yet intricately constructed worlds, A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo challenges the reader to consider the absurdity of existence through the eyes of a rabbit — an animal whose very presence in this narrative serves as a symbol of alienation. At first glance, this work may appear as whimsical, child-oriented fare, but one must look beyond the pastoral exterior to truly appreciate its thematic depth. Through the highly symbolic relationship between Marlon and another rabbit, we witness a courageous dismantling of a conformist society. an audacious statement on societal inclusivity, it is a narrative that speaks to the untold stories of marginalized voices, deftly employing a metaphorical layering akin to the works of postmodern literary deconstructionists, a critique of the infantilization of the literary world. Slack Score: 11; Snark Score: 12; Overall FCA ranking: 71
2. Jimmy Fallon, Your Babies First Word Will be Dada (Feiwel and Friends, New York, 2015) A deconstruction of phonetics, deliberately subverting language itself. As the book eschews traditional storytelling for a form of linguistic abstraction, it forces the reader to question the very foundation of communication. The protagonist — a baby learning to speak — is initiated into a world where meaning is elusive, and language is presented as a fragmented system, reminiscent of the nonsensical utterances found in the early works of the Dada movement. The seemingly chaotic string of sounds presented as the child’s first words parallels the avant-garde's challenge to linguistic precision. The boundary between child and language dissolves here, creating a potent commentary on the artificial constructs of meaning and the role of the adult interpreter. A postmodern meditation on the nature of creation itself designed for the literati, who will appreciate its allusions to the destabilization of language as a social tool.Slack Score: 15; Snark Score: 2; Overall FCA ranking: 43
3. Seth Myers, I’m Not Scared, You’re Scared (Flamingo Books, New York, 2022) [A navigation of the disorienting terrain of self-perception, offering a narrative in which the protagonists — a bear and a rabbit — engage in a dialogue that exposes the tenuous nature of emotional experiences. The back-and-forth between the characters, each professing their own lack of fear, is a reflection of the performative nature of bravado and self-deception, which one could view as a thinly veiled critique of social masks and expectations. The dialogue itself oscillates between a strange, almost surreal repetition of thoughts, as though the characters are trapped in a loop of denial and confrontation — much like the cyclical nature of fear itself. One might suggest that this narrative is an allegory for the human condition — the tension between self-assurance and vulnerability, the false bravado we project to avoid confronting our inner anxieties. The book’s surrealist approach to this common emotional experience is innovative and experimental, questioning the very constructs of courage and fear, as well as the cultural narratives we build around them. Slack Score: 15; Snark Score: 12.5; Overall FCA ranking: 169
4. Stephen Colbert, I Am A Pole (and So Can You), (Spartina, New York, 2012) [Stephen Colbert’s I’m a Pole (and So Can You!) At first glance, this might appear to be little more than a whimsical exploration of a child’s desire to claim an ethnic identity, but upon closer inspection, it becomes clear that Colbert is using the figure of the pole — and by extension, the notion of identity itself — as a metaphor for the absurdity of self-definition in a postmodern world. In