Wigfield: The Can-Do Town That Just May Not - Softcover

Sedaris, Amy

Softcover

ISBN 10: 078688696X ISBN 13: 9780786886968

Publisher: Hyperion- Acquired Assets, 2004

Synopsis

Now in paperback, a hilarious, satirical look at a small town on the verge of extinction, from the comedic team behind Strangers with Candy.

In his desperate search for a small town dying in America, intrepid journalist Russell Hokes stumbles upon a quarter-mile stretch of concrete and gravel dotted with strip clubs and used auto parts shops. Welcome to Wigfield. Population: vague.

Upon his arrival, Russell Hokes wanders the streets searching for the salt of the earth. Instead he finds a town in crisis. Why State Representative Bill Farber wants to tear down the Bulkwaller Dam, thereby flooding the town.

Will Russell Hokes save the town? Is Wigfield merely posing as a town to collect federal disaster relief? Won't you please buy this book?

About this title

Review

Wigfield is in peril. The Bulkwaller Dam, which towers over the tiny town, is scheduled to be destroyed which would in turn wipe out Wigfield. Journalist Russell Hokes travels there to profile the brave and honest citizens who are struggling to save their community. Well, sort of. Actually, Wigfield is not so much a town as a series of ramshackle strip clubs and used-auto-parts stores, lacking any kind of civic infrastructure whatsoever. And its people are not so much "brave and honest" as "brutal," "homicidal," and "lacking any redeeming virtue whatsoever." Similarly, to call Hokes, who narrates his own struggles to gather accumulate 50,000 words, a "journalist" is at best an exaggeration and at worst an abomination against the institution of journalism itself.

The world of Wigfield, as concocted by the brilliant Stephen Colbert, Paul Dinello, and Amy Sedaris (creators of the Comedy Central series Strangers with Candy), is somewhat reminiscent of the slice-of-life small-town humor of Christopher Guest's Waiting for Guffman. But instead of putting on a musical, as the Guffman folks did, the people of Wigfield busy themselves trying to acquire government handouts and stabbing each other to death. When the government rebuffs their efforts, based on the fact that they're not technically a town, they come up with a plan to get paid anyway. Wigfield's residents (as played by Colbert, Dinello, and Sedaris) are portrayed in a series of compellingly grotesque portraits by renowned designer and photographer Todd Oldham. The humor of the book--much like the town's mentality--is dense, as nearly every sentence contains one or several grimly hilarious references. Fans of feel-good whimsy are advised to navigate toward lighter fare but social pariahs, disgraced journalists, brooding malcontented sociopaths, and anyone who enjoys dark, twisted, and profoundly funny writing will find a home in Wigfield. --John Moe

About the Author

Amy Sedaris, Paul Dinello, and Stephen Colbert met at Chicago's Second City and have been collaborators ever since. They have developed two separate series for Comedy Central: Exit 57, and Comedy Central's first live action series, Strangers with Candy. Amy Sedaris is one half of the "Talent Family"-the other half is David Sedaris--and together they have collaborated on eight plays, including the Obie Award-winning One Woman Shoe. Stephen Colbert is a writer and correspondent on the Peabody Award-winning The Daily Show. In addition to TV work, Dinello and Colbert are successful screenwriters. They all currently reside together on an organic date farm on the Tunisian coast.

Todd Oldham is a well-known designer and photographer.

About this edition

• Publisher: Hyperion- Acquired Assets
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 078688696X
• ISBN 13: 9780786886968
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 227