Paul Rosa

I think most of these letters are too obnoxious to be funny. The premise is rooted in author Paul Rosa sending a properly sarcastic response to a marketing department's patronizing letter: e.g., they said "you're the kind of customer we'd like to see more often" and he wrote "what kind of customer wouldn't you like to see more often?"

From there, he decided it would be funny to harass other corporations by pretending to be an idiot; and so on these pages he sends dozens of letters asking show more absurd questions or pretending to need help saving himself from a disaster caused by the company's product. Some of them are funny but others are too degrading to be. The reader must ask whether, as a means of passive-aggressive revenge against corporations, the mission of writing letters more stupid than sarcastic makes that much sense. show less

In the 1970s, actor/ comedian Don Novello launched a brilliant spoof in which (as Lazlo Toth) he sent off- beat letters to corporations and politicians. The hilarious letters and serious replies they elicited were published as The Lazlo Letters in 1977. Nearly 20 years later, Paul Rosa steals Novello's idea and persona without attribution in order to try the same stunt. The result is not very successful.

The problem is that Rosa's letters are too obvious as fakes -- they are long-winded show more monologues, far too well worded to be from the supposedly - demented author, and too clearly crafted for effect. Little wonder that so many were ignored by the recipients, not even eliciting a form letter in response. Further, since Rosa used his real name, some recipients recognized him as the standup comedian.

There are amusing moments. For example, in the persona of a professor of entomology, he writes to Caterpillar Inc (makers of construction equipment) to seek a job. However, where Lazlo Toth was clever and subtle, Rosa is heavy - handed, annoying, and downright crass (to wit, his letter to the makers of Preparation H).

With this book and other such attempts like The Timewaster Letters, Letters from a Nut and Wilber Winkle Has a Complaint, a once - clever idea has grown stale through overuse. show less

Thought this would be a hoot. Kind of is, but by the time you're halfway thru it it gets a bit .......... redundant.

Unusual letter to corportations--some were clever