One Nation, Extra Cheese
by Modern Humorist
Three Rivers Press

From a cultural perspective, modern America may as well have a great big red calligraphic bullseye inscribed on its ass. We're fat. We buy stupid stuff. We drive terrible, environmentally antagonistic luxury cars. And we eat brobdingnagian portions of incredibly specious food.

Now Web humor institution Modern Humorist has decided to join the proud Canadian tradition of jeering at these — and many other — great American flaws.

"One Nation, Extra Cheese" is a neat little shorthand exploration of all the many reasons travelers from foreign lands might want to hate us, or at least have a heavily accented laugh at our expense. Presented as a palm-friendly guidebook for visitors to the United States, "One Nation" breaks American foibles down into easy-to-recognize categories including US Regions, Drugs and Alcohol, Cuisine and Minnesota.

"One Nation, Extra Cheese" lacks the slick, elaborate photo illustrations of "Rough Draft," Modern Humorist's previous effort; instead, airline safety-style cartoons and spare-but-elegant charts punch up the text.

The wan line art, while appropriately guidebookian and often amusing, takes on a certain drabness as the book continues; very often, three panels are stacked near each other following a 1-2-3 pattern that is efficient but ultimately numbing. The same layout occurs at least twenty-one times in a 143 page book.

From panel to panel, the pattern is this: That's normal. That's absurd. Oh my, that's terribly absurd!

Has Modern Humorist lost the love? "Rough Draft" was as gorgeous, innovative and funny as anything published in recent years, on par with the Onion's monumental effort, "Our Dumb Century."

But the Modern Humorist website has been sporadically updated in recent months and much of "One Nation" feels rote. Gifted jokesmiths, the writers behind "One Nation" don't fall flat, but they don't soar; much of the book's material has already taken sound and perfectly respectable beatings at the hands of Conan O'Brien, Dave Barry, David Letterman and "The Simpsons." This reviewer didn't laugh aloud until page 115, which featured an "I'm cooking with Elvis Costello" souvenir apron and a box of CostellOs ("All other oat cereals are less than zero.")

Still, American culture is a dusty humor desert, and "One Nation" is a clean cold drink. Its skewers are sharp and its aim is true, but it's a true shame that the authors couldn't muster the effort to go hunt for rarer game.

— James Norton (jrnorton@flakmag.com)