Review: I AM A POLE (AND SO CAN YOU!) by Stephen Colbert

This is a very short book in verse, a parody of the overtly polemic children's books sometimes published by neoconservative talk show hosts. For several years Colbert played a character, also named Stephen Colbert, who satirized such hosts, and this book appeared just after his first one, I Am America (And So Can You!).

The audio version, which I have, is read by Tom Hanks, so it's both well-written and well-read. The problem is that it depends on the reader having a heavy sense of irony for its humor. The joke is often not always made because the joke is always assumed to have been made. There's a wide streak of knowing sarcasm in this book and in all of Colbert's books, as if he were saying, "Those people really believe this, but we know better."

In short, to use CS Lewis' term, it's flippant. That's why despite it being very, very funny, I don't recommend it.