In November of 2017, I published a speculative novel entitled UNTIL THE LAST DOG DIES, which was about a young stand-up comedian who must adapt as best he can to an apocalyptic virus that destroys only the humor centers of the brain. Halfway through the book, the comedian contracts the illness himself. As evidenced by recent events, that novel seems to grow more and more prescient with each passing day. Case in point...
1) What follows is a brief excerpt from David Moye's 4-30-26 HUFFPOST article entitled "Comedian Rob Schneider Demands ABC Cancel Jimmy Kimmel For Making Jokes":
It’s not a laughing matter: MAGA-supporting comedian Rob Schneider wants ABC to fire Jimmy Kimmel for making jokes.The former “SNL” cast member apparently didn’t like it when Kimmel joked last week that Melania Trump has “a glow like an expectant widow,” a joke that was made well before Saturday’s shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
On Monday, two days after the shooting, the first lady demanded Kimmel’s ouster.
Schneider, a former “SNL” cast member, agreed with the first lady and took to X on Wednesday to post an open and very long letter to Walt Disney Company CEO Josh D’Amaro.
In his diatribe, Schneider called for Kimmel to be canned for “a pattern of reckless, dehumanizing rhetoric that disrespects human life and contributes to the toxic climate of hatred and violence threatening our nation.”
Schneider also claimed “keeping Mr. Kimmel on your network” represents “a serious and dangerous mistake that reflects poorly on Disney’s values and leadership.”
After comparing the Melania joke with Kimmel’s previous edgy jokes about Charlie Kirk after his death, the man who gave the world “Deuce Bigelow: European Gigolo” declared, “This is not comedy.”
To read the entire article, click HERE.
2) From THE GUARDIAN'S 5-1-26 article entitled "Jimmy Kimmel: ‘Trump Has Three Wars Going on Right Now – Iranians, Ukrainians and Comedians’":
Jimmy Kimmel woke up on Thursday morning to, somehow, yet another call from the president for his show to be cancelled. As Donald Trump posted on Truth Social: “When is ABC Fake News Network firing seriously unfunny Jimmy Kimmel, who incompetently presides over one of the Lowest Rated shows on Television? People are angry. It better be soon!!! President DJT”“Or what?” Kimmel laughed on Thursday evening. “If incompetently presiding over not just one of but the lowest rating in history is the reason I should be fired, we should both be out of a job. Because you’re not doing too good, either.
“Isn’t there a war dragging on?” he continued. “Imagine if FDR had taken to the airwaves during the Battle of the Bulge to complain about a little orphan Annie comic strip that he didn’t like.
“Trump has three wars going on right now – Iranians, Ukrainians and comedians” [...].
And on a more serious note: “All of this is meant to distract from the prices he didn’t lower on day one, or the Trump-Epstein files that his attorney general refuses to release, and to distract us from the illegal war he started and can’t figure out how to get out of.”
Would you like to see more "Humor Virus" Proofs? If so, you can find them in this CRYPTOPOST and this CRYPTOPOST and this CRYPTOPOST and this CRYPTOPOST and this CRYPTOPOST!
PRAISE FOR
“By turns mystical and ashcan-real, insanely funny and grimly ghastly, Guffey’s novel cuts a zigzag trail through conventionality as it follows Elliot Greeley in his half-serious, half jesting quest for some deeper meaning to existence. If you build your life on laughs, what happens when the laughs disappear? Kissing cousin to Max Barry’s novel Lexicon, about killer language, and to Ben Marcus’s The Flame Alphabet, about language killed, Guffey’s standup debut is standout speculative fiction.”
--Paul DiFilippo, Locus
“Taps into the cultural zeitgeist…. A nihilistic
satire that takes the idea that death is easy and comedy is hard to a whole new
level.”
--Kirkus Reviews
“Guffey’s debut takes full advantage of an
absurd, unexpected premise, delivering one of the strangest dystopian novels in
a year filled with them.”
--B&N Sci-Fi &
Fantasy Blog
“Guffey’s sardonic, cleverly written comedic
debut relies heavily on absurd synchronicity, bold characterization, and heavy
irony to make its points about the apocalyptic nature of American
humorlessness.”
--Publishers Weekly
“Not only a novel unique to this [political]
moment, but one that is to comedy what Catch-22 was to war. One
of the great books of the year.”
--Adam-Troy Castro, Sci
Fi Magazine
“A playful amalgam of Andy Kaufman and Philip K.
Dick by way of Shaun of the Dead.”
--Damien Lincoln Ober, author
of Doctor Benjamin Franklin's Dream America
“This satirical tale explores the role of comedy
in maintaining a healthy democracy…. A clever concept.”
--Kirkus Reviews
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