My Dead Dad Was in ZZ Top Paperback – January 21, 2011

This book is so funny in a sarcastic-type of way. It's really only good for people who know a lot about music, but if you do, it's really awesome and really funny.If you like this you might also want to try Adult Swim's "Delocated."

This is strictly for fans of Jon Glaser. Unless you're a fan of all the bands he includes in the book, you probably won't appreciate or even recognize his dry, subtle humor. In other words, this book has the potential to be boring and tedious. After a solid opening with his dead-dad-in-ZZ Top bit, which was a segment in one of his stand-up routines years back, the book falls into a lull with the song lyrics. Some of the lyrics were indeed hilarious -- for example, Bob Dylan changing "Highway 61" into an advertisement for a sub sandwich shop -- but the rest of this section takes effort to get through.The book picks up after the song lyrics, though, and most of the supposedly true behind-the-scenes stories about the rock stars are entertaining. Without even knowing the bands very well, I laughed out loud at the stories about the Keith Richards-Mick Jagger name change, The White Stripes, The Sea and Cake, The Butthole Surfers, and most of the others. Even when I didn't laugh out loud, I was interested enough in reading the last half of the book just to see what scenarios Glaser would concoct.Still, I know that part of my motivation to read the book and to plow through the slow, unfunny parts was that I already liked Jon Glaser's comedy before I bought the book. I don't think My Dead Dad was in ZZ Top can earn Glaser any new fans.Regardless of comedic value, one feature about the book continually frustrated me: the length and the glossy pages. The cost of the book could've been much lower if he had placed 2-3 of the "document" facsimiles and section openers on a single page instead of devoting 1 whole page to each one. Some of the facsimiles are very short and really belong on one of the previous pages. Most sections are very short, too, and yet for each section, the book includes a blank side of a page and then a whole page devoted to the heading and a 1-2 sentence introduction. This 168-page volume only contains around 40 pages of actual text! And the glossy pages were just completely unnecessary.I hate to say this about Jon Glaser, but I wonder if he purposely padded the book with more pages and included unnecessary features in order to jack up the cost per unit. I would've preferred more content in fewer pages.But, hey, not many books are actually laugh worthy, and if you like Jon Glaser, you'll definitely laugh at some of the content in this book. I do see myself rereading sections of My Dead Dad several times, and I'm glad I could support him as a comedian. If he writes another book, I'll buy that, too.

Had me going there for a while but, the more I read, the more obvious it became that it was all a joke.

I could not read the "evidence" letters pictured in the book because they were so tiny via my kindle for PC. All the info was in the letters, not in the written pages, so it was a total waste. This book does not translate well for kindle use.

This book made me laugh. If you like Jon Glaser's work, then this book will give a serious case of cancer of the chuckle. Make sure you wear your laugh diaper.

Haven't finished reading this book yet, but so far it has been a fun read. Not my normal choice in reading but so far I find it to be a pleasant change of pace.

My husband loved it, he likes Jon Glaser in Delocated and this was on his wishlist. It is a funny book. The book came quickly and was in great condition.

I really enjoy Glaser's sense of humor in general, but the bit wore thin fairly quick in this book. There were a few legitimate laughs, but I found myself limping through the last half, disappointed.