Slurps, who’s clueless, nearly kills this band of treasure hunters several times. As they drift down a Honolulu river on their way to find the statue, they convince a local girl, Leilani, to be their guide. In The Stench of Honolulu, Handey’s new novel, Wrong Way Slurps is an arrogant and self-indulgent hustler who sets off for Honolulu with his friend Don to steal the Golden Monkey statue, a Hawaiian treasure. In case you didn’t know: The “Deep Thoughts” character, also named Jack Handey, gives himself the nickname Wrong Way Slurps. And boy does that Wrong Way Slurps cause some damage. “I was curious what would happen if the ‘Deep Thoughts’ character was set loose in the world, what kind of damage he would cause, so I set him on an adventure with his friend Don,” Handey says. Most of Handey’s previous books have been collections of short anti-aphorisms, like Deep Thoughts and his similar work Fuzzy Memories, so it’s interesting that Handey would now choose to write a novel. Handey’s response: “I am very happy to have entered the ‘inspiration’ stage of my career, as opposed to my earlier ‘you stink’ phase.” The question comes up so often that his website offers a survey called, “ Is There a Real Jack Handey?” Countless comedians and comedy writers such as stand-up comic Anthony Jeselnik and even Mike Smith, Alibi contributor and writer of the Twitter feed have cited Handey as their inspiration. Of course many still don’t realize that he is, indeed, a real person. Handey has inspired an entire generation of comics, whether they know it or not. His writing is no longer merely satire it has a distinctly recognizable voice. “Specifically books like Notes to Myself and I Touch the Earth, the Earth Touches Me by Hugh Prather.” Although they started as parodies, “Deep Thoughts” are so entirely Handey that they’ve been included in collections along with his other similar works. These short absurdities “were first inspired by New Age-type writings of the 1970s,” he recalls. He’s responsible for sketches such as “Toonces, the Cat Who Could Drive a Car” and “Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer.” His “Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey” segment appeared regularly on “SNL” in the early ’90s. Handey wrote for “Saturday Night Live” from 1985 to 19 to 2002. In his new novel The Stench of Honolulu: A Tropical Adventure, he demonstrates an almost unearthly ability to maintain a surreal narrative that unfolds like a drunk, greedy and murderous Dickensian plot. Handey’s writing is concise, witty and absurd. All those tweets you painstakingly compose, desperately hoping to craft the perfect one-liner to make you famous? Handey did that 30 years ago, he did it better than you, he did it smarter than you, and he continues to be funnier than you. To all would-be comedians: Jack Handey is better than you.
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