Coyote vs. Acme: A Valuable Lesson for Anyone Wanting to Learn the Art of Writing Satire

By Timothy Sexton, published Jul 31, 2007
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Satire may be a lost art and it may be what closes on Saturday night in relation to Broadway, but it's still the greatest possible comedic achievement. Yes, we'll all have a good laugh at a rich snob slipping on a banana peel, but that laugh is enriched exponentially if you can place the slapstick within the realm of satire. (One of the funniest scenes in movie history is when George C. Scott falls over backward in the War Room in Dr. Strangelove. It's funny enough as pratfall, but the humor is deepened as a result of the satire of Scott's character's position.) One of the finest examples of satirical literature of the past few decades is Coyote v. Acme by Ian Frazier. Coyote v. Acme is a short piece that takes the form of a legal brief being brought by the famous Warner Brothers cartoon character Wile E. Coyote as he files a lawsuit against the infamous manufacturer of those negligent products sold by Acme Corp. Anyone who has watched a Warner Brothers Roadrunner cartoon is familiar with the long history of poor Wile E. Coyote and his purchase of product after product from Acme that never delivers on their promise to help him catch the Roadrunner.

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Ian Frazier was probably one of the best humor staff writers at The New Yorker--other than the guest shots from Steve Martin--who wrote hilarious pieces for that mag in recent years (using his absurdist satiric persona). By the way, the book that's still in print under the "Coyote v. Acme" title has other essays inside that Frazier wrote for the New Yorker. A lot of people say that it's kind of spotty on the humor...but that's how all satire usually operates in the human mind. The more straight-faced the satire is--the higher it goes over the heads of the majority. ;) Anyway--thanks, Tim, for trying to get people interested in deep satire such as this. Most people can't really convey satire perfectly, though, and end up going into the easier route of parody...

Posted on 08/01/2007 at 9:08:00 AM

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