Live performance at end is worth it!

This is in two parts: the recorded performance for Audible and a 90-minute live performance by most of the original cast.

The story is absurd, especially at the end. You’ll be amused and horrified by the way the characters speak, but the story is not great. In fact the low-brow humor and overly campy and possibly predictable devices are a little trite.

However, the fun part is the live performance in the last chapter, which was an add-on update after I purchased the original version (Thank you Audible folks for the update). This performance is excerpts from the story and not a retelling of the whole story. Totally worth it.

Jon Hamm, Andy Richter, and Paul Tompkins read their parts on stage in front of a live audience, but unfortunately Rhea Seehorn was not available. The character originally played by Philip Baker Hall, also not available, was replaced by someone doing the character in a spot-on impression of Christopher Walken. Always made the audience laugh.

Not great, but great fun. Recommend.

22 people found this helpful

Wish I'd written this

Where does Stinker Lets Loose! rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Solidly in the top 1/4.

What did you like best about this story?

It was constantly hysterical.

What about the narrators’s performance did you like?

It moved quickly.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I did in fact do so.

Any additional comments?

Anybody who loves 70s exploitation will adore this. It's pure fun. The "novelization" captures the spirit of the genre. The story has the same shaggy plotting that exists mostly as a series of setpieces. And what accurate setpieces! The performances by a stellar cast are wonderfully energetic. Highly recommended

16 people found this helpful

Took me a while but I remember this movie too now!

What did you like about this audiobook?

This book is such a wildy fun and fully produced soundscape of what it was like to be in a dusty trailer park in the 70s.

How has the book increased your interest in the subject matter?

I'm very glad I'm not the only one that remembers this movie. I thought I was crazy for years!

Does the author present information in a way that is interesting and insightful, and if so, how does he achieve this?

I feel like I have a deeper understanding of the mustache craze of the 70s now and I'm looking forward to it's hipster revival.

What did you find wrong about the narrator's performance?

Wrong? Wrong! Nothing is wrong, minus the few occasions I wasn't completely convinced there was genuine hair in Hamm's upper lip.

Do you have any additional comments?

This is such a wonderfully funny and peculiar story I'm glad it was really fully realized by Audible. I had to stop listening at work because I was laughing too much and was starting to get stares.

27 people found this helpful

Monkeys, Muscle Cars, & Madcap Marathons!!

In the late 70's & early 80's (thanks primarily to Burt Reynolds and director Hal Needham setting the tone of the genre) Southern-Fried Trucker movies & TV were all the craze. They were outrageous, fun loving, anti-establishment thrill rides that surprisingly managed to function as family entertainment because they had something for EVERYBODY. For us kids, there were the car chases, odd animal sidekicks, & tons of sophomoric jokes that we wouldn't *completely* get until we were older. Adults enjoyed the irreverent humour that thumbed it's nose at snooty "Northeastern" intellectualism & reveled in blue collar working men & women's pride.

"Stinker Lets Loose" is a rowdy celebration of this era of American film & TV that evokes all the nostalgia of that era without taking itself too seriously. Or even, AT ALL. But it's a GOOD thing, this satirical look back. It lovingly pokes fun both at itself & the entertainment genre it seeks to emulate. It brings back everything that we loved about this time, but through the filter of a modern day P.O.V. that allows us to laugh not just at the insanity of Stinker & company's adventures---but also to laugh WITH them as they move from one ridiculous setting to the next. It's just pure FUN. And man, is it FUNNY.

It's clear that everybody involved in creating this production was significantly invested in it & determined to make "Stinker Lets Loose" as much of a damn good time for the listener that they possibly could. And they pull it off AMAZINGLY well. You will lose yourself in the nostalgia for that bygone American era that the story recreates, and revel in the sheer ridiculousness of it all at once. It's fun, it's crazy, the performances are magnetic & AMAZING, it keeps the story moving at a great pace, and even though it's comedy satire, its written SMART. And not just "Country Smart"...as Stinker might be apt to say. It's SMART satire for everybody to enjoy. So pop yourself open a cold one, sit back, and have a damn great time with Stinker and the gang. You will NOT regret taking this big rig marathon muscle car ride.

Also? Don't ever get physically caught by a horned-up monkey about to travel by air. This should be common sense, but malt beverages can be historically known to impair sound judgement. Consider it a Pro Tip.

12 people found this helpful

AWFULLY WONDERFUL!!!

Would you listen to Stinker Lets Loose! again? Why?

You bet y'er tuchus I'll be listenin' to this over an' over again! If Jesus Christ ever crossed the land bridge this is undoubtedly the tome he'd chisel onto golden plates and bury deep in the ground to plant the seeds of American freedom. Come to think of it, Mike Sacks may himself be the holiest prophet we've got anywhere north of an Ocean City MD boardwalk psychic. Possibly wiser than A Ripley's Believe it or Not ticket-taker. Definitely holier than a South of the Border bartender. In other words, this story's got it all.

What did you like best about this story?

The attention to detail is phenomenal and really captures the era being celebrated and satirized. Paired with tremendous production quality to enrich the story, characters seared themselves into my mind's eye with distinctive voices.

What does the narrators bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Not much to say on this front, other than the fact that the narrator was exactly what I imagined while reading the book. He totally nailed it.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

​I laughed. I cried. I belched.​ I think I guffawed too. (but I can't be sure on that one)

Any additional comments?

Is there a sequel (or even a prequel) on the horizon?

23 people found this helpful

Beyond compare- a real page turner

It’s somewhere between the best school play EVER and fine European cinema. What made Lincoln in the Bardo fail makes this one work: an ensemble cast who genuinely sounds like they had a fine time performing this.

33 people found this helpful

Great send-up of a 70s trucker movie for your ears

Where does Stinker Lets Loose! rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

This doesn't really sound like an audiobook; I'd say it's more in a category on its own. The multi-cast, mockumentary format complete with a soundtrack and SFX makes this more of an audio cinematic experience than other audiobooks

What about the narrators’s performance did you like?

I loved the performances across the board.

Any additional comments?

This is a parody. It's entertainment. It's tongue-in-cheek. The fun is in the experience, NOT in the meaningful story. If you are expecting a more traditional narrative or a more traditional audiobook, you might be disappointed -- or positively blown away.

Hemingway this is not. Every Which Way But Loose for the ears? Yeah, that's more like it.

21 people found this helpful

I haven’t seen this movie since I was in the womb!

5/5 retelling. It’s almost like I was back in that theatre in the womb hearing it for real!

8 people found this helpful

Hilarious Southern-Fried Summer 1977

Unabashed, exciting, profane, and ultimately a truly hilarious wild ride through 1970s car culture action comedies. Jon Hamm brings all of his acting chops that impressed fans of 1950s-60s nostalgia on Mad Men and deftly translates it from Manhattan to the I-95 corridor, outperforming my memories of Burt Reynolds and Clint Eastwood in their own trucker and simian comedies. Mike Sacks weaves a seat of your pants story at the same time creating so many southern-fried twists of language that will have you laughing and repeating the few which are repeatable in polite company. I can’t recommend this enough to those of us who remember 1977 all too well.

8 people found this helpful

I literally had tears from laughing so hard.

It's the audio version of Smokey & the Bandit meets The Naked Gun. I wish the book had been twice as long.

17 people found this helpful