Review: The Material

Others have based reviews on whether they found this book funny or not, but I'm going off on a different track. I think "The Material" is less about humor than a satiric look at academia, specifically MFA programs, and feels similar in tone to Richard Russo's "Straight Man" or Jane Smiley's "Moo," (both recommended, but I digress.) The students in the story have paid substantial money to attend the program, which tries to mimic the comedy club environment, but with only the same few anxious, grim teachers as the audience. Why not just go to open mike nights at the clubs? Much lower cost, more diverse audiences, more opportunity to try out off the wall bits, and more genuine—if still painful—feedback. As a side note, I looked up some well-known comedians. Those who got college degrees (not everyone), majored in subjects such as communications, English, or scriptwriting. Quite a few left their original disciplines (law was noted frequently), to go into comedy. Part of that may be a lack of formal comedy programs, but part of it is the overly structured, siloed nature of higher education, a learning environment that subjects like comedy don't fit into very well. And no, I'm not bashing academia overall - I taught at a college for nearly a quarter century, best job on earth - but they do have quirks and obstacles. This book shows us some of them.