| Title | : | More Bedtime Stories for Cynics (Bedtime Stories for Cynics, #2) |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | - |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Audible Audio |
| Number of Pages | : | 176 |
| Publication | : | First published May 3, 2019 |
| Awards | : | Audie Award Humor (2020) |
If children's literature is any guide, we should all be able to magically fall asleep simply by saying goodnight to the things we can see from our beds. But any adult knows that our work anxieties and shameful memories would rather stay up all night and chat. That’s where Offerman and Co. come in—with clever and occasionally downright dark parodies of the classic kids genre. What really happened after Snow White died, from the perspective of the one medically trained dwarf? A naive wizard professor reports back from the trenches of an underprivileged school of magic. A middle-aged man is haunted by the voices of his own aging body. The stories will make you laugh, cry and probably squirm a little.
Performers include: Patrick Stewart, Alia Shawkat, Jane Lynch, Aparna Nancherla, Harry Goaz, Mike Birbiglia, Ellen Page, Rachel Dratch, Gary Anthony Williams, Nicole Byer, and Matt Walsh.
Please note that this audiobook contains explicit content.
More Bedtime Stories for Cynics (Bedtime Stories for Cynics, #2) Reviews
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Gave it a shot under the premise of 1) famous readers, 2) humor, 3) short stories, as I thought all of those things might go well with listening in the car. I listened to the first and the second and was just so turned off by it that not even Sir Patrick Stewart could keep my attention for the second story.
The sound background is awful and allowed to dominate the story telling. The music is artificially dramatic, like in the worst-tv-movies, and the loudness of it interrupts the storyteller. In fact, in some instances, the story teller literally pauses to allow for some dumb swell of synthetic music.
The two stories I listened to were pretty close to terrible, one loosely based on the Frog Prince(ess) and one on Mr. Acid Reflux or something. They aren't streamlined and have unclear messaging (female solidarity? rage? unconventional lives?). These aren't funny; they are sad. The Princess mulls on settling for an insufficient love to escape her life; the man in the second story has severe estrangement from his own life. These aren't cynical--these are real and sad.
Alas, Offerman can't save it either. His 'introductions' are rambling and meant to be humorous, but fall quite flat (I think in the second one, he is pretending something-or-other). Thankfully, it was free. I'll be wiping this from my phone immediately.
True story: I stopped and switched to Whispers Underground for the seven thousandth time, just to get the bad taste out of my ears. -
More Bedtime Stories for Cynics and narrated by various voices. There are several stories in here and half are crazy and fun! The other half just are boring. I think it is worth the listen for the few good ones.
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Spur of the moment grab on Audible. (Did the free trial and this was one of my two picks for a credit)
I was entertained by all these stories in different ways. Some are more enjoyable than others, and some of the narrators were so=so, but I had lots of fun listening to it all :).
Nick's narrations before the stories sometimes was a bit boring sometimes.
The sense of humor in these won't be for everyone ,so I would recommend listening to the sample to see for yourself first.
Definitely want to listen to the first volume as well. -
These are like fairytales that have been given an adult beverage, a stage, a comedian with the magical mic 🎤, and license to make some fairy tales into an adult and humorous experience. Cause we’re more mature! No! Cause it’s silly. Some of us need more silly. Yep. Some of us really need to lighten up. Yeah. Some of these are funny. And some are relative ... depends on the sense of humor. Find a funny one for you !
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Not as funny as they think it is.
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This was part funny, part weird, and part creepy.
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This was a really fun cynical retelling of lots of our favorite fairy tales. If you love Nick Offerman, or any cynical retellings, then these might be for you.
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I haven’t listened to the original installment, but grabbed this one - part two - during a recent Audible sale. These are mostly satirical takes on classic bedtime stories, but for adults. Dark and humorous with a stellar cast. A fun, quick listen.
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Definitely not your typical bedtime tales!
While I didn't enjoy all the stories equally - finding some more morbid than others - they all met the title at fullspeed. The cast also did a wonderful job with all the stories and the interludes with Nick Offerman giving his thoughts, or a personal tale, were really awesome. The reason I got this book was due to watching him on Parks and Recreation, but the rest of the cast were equally as impressive in this read. -
For a cynic like me, this was H.I.L.A.R.I.O.U.S.!!!!!!
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I put 3 stars, because the narration of the audiobook was sooo good. Even if the stories were a bit shitty, the narrators did a really , reaaally good job.
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This is likely not the Audible Original for everyone. The humor is not rip-roaring or goof-ball style. It's cynical, clipped, and dry. If you find amusement in those styles, then you will love this. More Bedtime Stories for Cynics explores the oddity and satire in being human. Every story is a dark parody about adult life. A man who can't escape his acid reflux, a middle-aged woman looking for love in all the wrong places, a man being haunted and harassed by his aging body, and so many more. These stories are all downright funny and relatable, and read by such a great cast of comedians. Nick Offerman, Jane Lynch, Ellen Page, and THE Sir Patrick Stewart to name a few. I absolutely recommend giving this a listen if you enjoy satirical adult comedy with a lean toward dry cynicism. This one gets an easy 5 stars across the board from me!
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This audiobook was a solid 3 stars. There was nothing too special about it. At times it was funny and amusing, while mostly it was frustrating and trying to be a very hipster book. Almost all of the references apply to people living in California or around a particular culture, so it was strange to pair that with dismal fairytales.
Some of the actors do a great job, while others are hard to listen to. Honestly, it is your typical anthology. You have some amazing work mixed in with mediocre work. It wasn't horrible, but it wasn't great either. -
Funny, entertaining, and great to listen to. Overall amazing.
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Meh.
Some of the stories are okay. But for the most part, this feels like trying too hard. Especially Offerman’s interstitial introductions. -
Trying too hard to be funny but falls flat in many places. The sound effects are too distracting and loud. Hard to get into the stories.
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Well this certainly got me to sleep. These nonsensical stories remind me a bit of the old Politically Correct Bedtime Stories: Modern Tales for Our Life & Times by James Garner.
I recommend to those who are sleepy or sleep with someone who has sleep apnea. -
I'm not so sure about the "cynics" part, but these are certainly twisted fairy tales. Most are entertaining, a few are really great, and a few were eye-rollingly bad. The best were "Dear Principle Toadflax" and "Beg for Mercy".
The first is told through a series of letters from a young teacher whose idealism is gradually assaulted by reality in what appears to be one of the "other" (non-Hogwarts) wizarding schools, probably the one set up to serve the children of Nockturn Alley, since those appeared to be entirely absent from JKR's mostly middle class schoolchildren.
The second is told from the POV of a disillusioned dog who feels his owners have betrayed his love and loyalty. The performance is actually what makes this story work, as Gary Anthony Williams reads the dog's raging thoughts with Shakespearean sensibilities, and I couldn't help laughing at "Never before on earth was there a more loyal woof-woof than Admiral Cuddleton the First!", declaimed with the outraged gravity of Hamlet himself.
Audible Originals monthly freebie. The audio production is excellent, as are all of the performances. -
As someone who almost always falls asleep listening to an audiobook or podcast, this was a very entertaining listen! Since these are "bedtime stories", I'd put them on as I was falling asleep and usually get a chuckle as I was drifting off.
Some are funnier than others, but the dark nature of the humor in some of them was right up my alley. I got this one as a freebie from Audible, but I liked it enough that I'll probably go check out the original one as well! -
Always hard to rate a book of short stories. I really enjoyed Demoting Pluto and Beg for Mercy. Some of the rest were just okay but the narration was always excellent.
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Too weird for me
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Meh. They were okay.
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A quick funny listen for the cynics out there!
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This is just so boring that I can't believe it was allowed to be released in this state.
The voice actors arnt enough to make this interesting.
These bed time stories feel absolutely childish. There are a few adult oriented quips but honestly, take those out, you're still listening to one of the worst stories I've ever heard.
Don't believe me? The debut first story is a good example of what you should look forward to. They are all that low quality. -
Despite the talented performers, this was simply awful. The stories weren't funny and some were downright miserable. I enjoy cynical humor most of the time, but this went beyond it into mean spirited and awful for what seemed like shock value alone. Nick Offerman was the only part I truly enjoyed, but it wasn't enough to uplift this audiobook any further than a single star. If it hadn't been so short I would have stopped pretty early on.
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I’m straight up vibing with this book it’s super funny but im giving it 4 stars instead of 3 because the voice acting is AMAZING but I can’t give it 5 stars because some of the stories I can’t tell which fairy tale some of the stories are.
Some are very obvious but some I just can’t place. If someone has a list of these stories and their originals that’s like be cool. Thanks -
Oof, was looking forward to this collection of short stories as I really need to laugh these days. But I don’t think I laughed at all?? This comedy turned into a tragedy quickly, I wouldn’t recommend it.
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Funny in a silly way, enjoyed it more than I thought I would!
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The narration was superb, the stories not so much
