Articles Written By Michael Rottman
TMN Contributing Writer Michael Rottman lives like a lord in Toronto. His miscellany has appeared in print in The Fiddlehead, Grain, and Opium, and online at Yankee Pot Roast, Cracked, News Groper, and McSweeney’s.
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Spoofs & Satire
This Will Be the Year That Was
As 2012 hatches, many face the new year with trepidation and excitement. Whose political fortunes will shine brightest? Were the Mayans right? Here are startlingly accurate predictions for the year ahead.
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Michael Rottman Explains Jokes
Cosa Nostalgia
How Hyman Roth’s quip in The Godfather: Part II picks up on a cinematic pastime, and exposits layer upon layer of information about his character.
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Michael Rottman Explains Jokes
Erogenous Gaps
Humor happens when an audience fills in the gaps—at its best, those gaps are packed layers deep with meaning. An explanation of an 18-word Mitch Hedberg joke.
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Spoofs & Satire
I Love You in Europe
Romance is in the air during February, especially when the air smells vaguely European.
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Spoofs & Satire
Being Nominated Is the Award
The allure of an awards show is not the thrill of victory, but rather the anticipation—and of course the potential for a handjob.
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Spoofs & Satire
From the Annals of Motherhood
When faced with insurmountable obstacles, when all other options have been exhausted—that’s when moms say the darndest things.
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Spoofs & Satire
Paul Is Death
While the most popular Beatles rumor turned out to be false, making the case for an even more dramatic revelation.
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Spoofs & Satire
The Fiery Furnaces Visit the Department of Motor Vehicles
The brother-sister duo’s narrative inclinations take over during a license renewal.
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Spoofs & Satire
Not Everyone “Got” It
In the early days of The Muppet Show, the famous bonhomie between celebrities and their Muppet co-stars wasn’t there yet. Here are the encounters that didn’t make a rainbow connection.
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Spoofs & Satire
Interview With the Genie
For man and djinn alike, a soft economy makes for a tight job market.
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Spoofs & Satire
In the Event That You Have Accidentally Swallowed the Higgs Boson
Ingesting a wily particle is no laughing matter. Ten steps of concrete advice to consider before your hands grow to the size of large cities.
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Personal Essays
Meir Comes Clean
Sixty years after the founding of Israel, the pomp-and-circumstance of the anniversary—celebrated last week on the Jewish calendar and today on the secular one—prompts a different sort of recollection.