Mitch holes up in a private gym for two weeks with his newly acquired sidekick slash personal trainer Andy Richter to transform himself into a muscle-bound caped detective.

Endnotes:

1. Louie Anderson, Hi Mom: Stories for My Mother, But You Can Read Them Too (Touchstone Books, New York, 2018) p. ; Capsule Summary: Continuing the Hi Dad formula, a series of letters to the deceased matriarch of the Anderson clan. Thankfully, less traumatized and more jovial than the earlier book, but still weighted down by the plodding conceit. Most interesting aspect is the creation of Christine Baskets as a tribute to his mom and a poignant third (fourth? fifth?) act in a long and varied career. Side note: the hardest I have ever laughed was watching Louie Anderson live at the Paramount Theatre in 1991 with my father. He did a bit about stubbing his toe that had both of us gasping for air and literally falling out of our seats. Cara and I also saw him deliver the JFL keynote address in 2019 afterwhich he posed for selfies with us and was very comforting regarding our recently deceased cat Carl. His books are more therapeutic than hilarious, but he’ll always have a very warm place in my heart. Slack Score: 2; Snark Score: 7; Overall FCA ranking: 176
2. Zarna Garg, This American Woman; A One-in-a-Billiion Memoir (Ballantine, New York, 2025) p.227; Capsule Summary: A comedian origin story very much unlike any other. Garg didn’t grow up dreaming of being Joan Rivers or anything like that, in fact, she seems to have barely understood that stand up comedy existed before her daughter essentially dared her into it, following a string of entrepreneurial failures. Hers is a story of brutal impoverishment and hardship as a homeless youth on the streets of Mumbai and extraordinary wealth and privilege at various other times of her life. Like her hero and champion Kevin Hart, she is unabashedly ambitious and driven by financial rapacity. I don’t love that, and her prolonged tales of frustration with her children’s $100,000/year elementary school education were not something I found very relatable. Nevertheless, she is a talented writer and a funny human, and occupies a unique cultural perspective in the world of stand up, which is invaluable and her daughter apparently truly cares for her more than any teenager has ever cared for a parent, so that says everything you need to know about her value as a human. Slack Score: -7; Snark Score: 9; Overall FCA ranking: 115
3. Trrevor Noah, Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood (One World, New York, 2016) p. 43; Capsule Summary: Regardless of your opinion of Noah as a stand up or Daily Show host (pretty mid on both fronts as far as I’m concerned) there’s no question that this is a top tier FCB. Noah’s story of growing up in South Africa semi-secretly (see the title) is riveting, wryly engaging, and tremendously moving, especially the last chapter on his mother. ; Slack Score: -9; Snark Score: 12; Overall FCA ranking: 8

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Live recording of Mitch performing at Zingers, in Sheboygan Wisconsin, on the anniversary of his father's death.

Mitch makes the rounds of all the popular late night chat shows.

Endnotes:

1. “Marlon Bundo” with Jill Twiss, A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo (Chronicle Books, San Francisco, 2018) An audacious statement on societal inclusivity, employing a metaphorical layering akin to the works of postmodern deconstructionists, a critique of the infantilization of the literary world. Slack Score: 11; Snark Score: 12; Overall FCA ranking: 71
2. Jimmy Fallon, Your Babies First Word Will be Dada (Feiwel and Friends, New York, 2015) A deconstruction of phonetics, subverting language into a world where meaning is elusive and language is presented as a fragmented system. The seemingly chaotic string of sounds presented as the child’s first words parallels the avant-garde's challenge to linguistic precision. Slack Score: 15; Snark Score: 2; Overall FCA ranking: 43
3. Seth Myers, I’m Not Scared, You’re Scared (Flamingo Books, New York, 2022) A navigation of the disorienting terrain of self-perception, the dialogue itself oscillates between a strange, almost surreal repetition of thoughts, as though the characters are trapped in a loop of denial and confrontation — much like the cyclical nature of fear itself. Slack Score: 15; Snark Score: 12.5; Overall FCA ranking: 169
4. Stephen Colbert, I Am A Pole (and So Can You), (Spartina, New York, 2012) In this surrealist work, the reader is asked to engage in an almost Sisyphean act of identification: the protagonist, a figure who, through sheer assertion, becomes a "Pole," Through a chaotic blend of humor and paradox, I’m a Pole (and So Can You!) disrupts the reader’s expectations, presenting identity not as a fact but as an ever-shifting, often absurd construct. Slack Score: 13; Snark Score: 14; Overall FCA ranking: 78
5. Jimmy Kimmel, The Serious Goose, (Random House, New York, 2019) The progressive, almost hypnotic attempts by the reader (or rather, the characters in the book) to force the goose to smile mirror the struggle between the human desire for emotional expression and the societal pressures to remain “serious." Slack Score: 2; Snark Score: 8; Overall FCA ranking: 36
6. Amber Ruffin, Sidney the Squirrel Doesn’t Fit In (Brightstar Tales, Oklahoma City, 2025) The acorn, traditionally a symbol of growth and potential, is something Sidney is unable to "digest" in the same way as his peers. The “tree of conformity” where all other squirrels gather confines Sidney’s sense of self. His inability to fit in is not merely a social issue, but a philosophical one: is the need to fit in an authentic desire or an imposition of artificial conformity? Slack Score: 7; Snark Score: 11; Overall FCA ranking: 57
7. Conan O’Brien,Floyd the Flamingo Who Couldn't Stop Dancing, (Sprinklewood Press, Modesto, 2026) Floyd’s dance becomes both a figurative “dance of death,” as he can never escape the invisible chains of social approval. O'Brien challenges the reader to reconsider the true cost of “fitting in” and whether perpetual performance is a path to freedom or a cage of self-doubt. Slack Score: -6; Snark Score: 9.5; Overall FCA ranking: 110
8. Jon Stewart, Naked Pictures of Famous People (Harper-Collins, New York, 1998) Stewart’s manipulation of famous historical and pop culture figures often distances them from their real-world counterparts, forcing readers to confront the notion that fame itself is a form of performance, a simulation of identity rather than an expression of authentic selfhood. Slack Score: 12.5; Snark Score: 15; Overall FCA ranking: 24