Pervert's Guide man's new book, an urban myths tome and Youth, an underrated gem

Too Good to be True: The Colossal Book of Urban Legends

Dr Jan Harold Brunvand is a professor emeritus of The University of Utah, he is an American folklorist best known for spreading the concept of urban legends as modern folklore. He has written extensively on the subject since the 1970s.

Too Good to be True, first published in 1999, has now been released in a revised and expanded second edition. In the introduction, Brunvand quotes Nobel Prize winning novelist Gabriel Garcia Marquez, who in 1989 discusses plots that are: “Passed down from generation to generation and country to country, with slight modifications along the way.” He suggests: “There ought to be an anthology of these stories that are repeated all over the world.”

Fortunately, Brunvand is on the case and Too Good to be True is the answer to Marquez’s appeal. Some of these myths predate urbanisation, versions in some cases stretch back as far as Aesop. Too Good to be True is divided into sections: Sex, Dogs, Cars and so on. It is a substantial anthology culled from more than forty years of investigations.

The first impression is akin to watching a programme of short comedy sketches; the book consists of a multitude of routines, often cross-referenced to many sources. This is an invaluable book for anyone who has ever tried to write or perform comedy – a goldmine of stock material that can be adapted and a handbook of humorous situations complete with punchlines.

After a few hours trawling through Too Good to be True, it seems that there is hardly an element of modern life that is free of urban myth. There is an overall feeling of sitting through a series of any generic sitcom – the guy who buys condoms from his date’s father, the Cadillac convertible that gets filled with concrete... you can almost hear the canned laughter.

There are cultural misunderstandings, caught-with-your-pants-down escapades, The Dead Parrot Sketch [YouTube] repeated across multiple species ad infinitum. As a reference work, Too Good to be True is fun to dip into, but it is not so satisfying consumed in large portions. There is a flatness to the narration, reminiscent of wading through an anthology of tabloid media.

Too Good to be True is a comprehensive volume of that grey area between fact and fiction in which most of modern life seems to exist. To judge by his bibliography, Jan Harold Brunvard does seem to be rather a one-trick pony, and has been exploiting his pet subject for more than four decades.

The format of this book is probably better suited than most to a digital version where multiple sources and media versions could be linked more effectively. There are few books that I could better recommend to writers of light entertainment, the material is laid out like an archeology of humour and is an endless source of routines and twists that can be adapted to just about any situation.

As a coffee table or toilet browsing material, it is passable, but as a straightforward read, at 530+ pages of mainstream comedy routines, it is not what you’d call the most engrossing narrative.

Author Jan Harold Brunvand
Title Too Good to be True: The Colossal Book of Urban Legends (Revised Edition)
Publisher W.W. Norton and Company
Price £12.99 (Hardback)
More info Publication web site