When Christopher Hitchens died, Stephen Fry did a sort of memorial with Martin Amis and I think Salman Rushdie. They talked about games they would play in the afterlife, one of which was to make up alternative book titles that might have doomed the book to failure.
One was
For Whom the Bell Rings.
Here are a few others
The Sun Also Comes Up
The Old Man and the Ocean
The Big Nap
Catcher in the Barley
The Lord of the Gnats
On the Freeway
Finnegan’s Funeral
Any other suggestions?
Could also be movie or play titles or television programs
The Good Gatsby
The Moon is a Flogging Mistress
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Brat
Lord of the Fleas
A Room Without a View
The Call of the Mild
Gone with the Flatulence
On the Highway
The Handmaid’s Tail
Zen and the Art of Bicycle Maintenance
Brideshead Reviewed
The Good Gatsby The Moon is a Flogging Mistress A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Brat Lord of the Fleas A Room Without a View The Call of the Mild Gone with the Flatulence On the Highway The Handmaid's Tail Zen and the Art of Bicycle Maintenance Brideshead ReviewedVery good. I had thought of The Fair Gatsby.
Brief Illness of a Mockingbird
Leaves of Weeds
Mild Expectations
The Pinch Hitter in the Rye
The Lion, the Witch, and the Port-a-Potty
The Old Man and the Pond
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Next Town
Mister Zhivago
The Swiss Family Smith
Star Skirmishes
Star Trip
The Appropriateness of Hope
Brief Illness of a Mockingbird Leaves of Weeds Mild Expectations The Pinch Hitter in the Rye The Lion, the Witch, and the Port-a-Potty The Old Man and the Pond Hitchhiker's Guide to the Next Town Mister Zhivago The Swiss Family Smith Star Skirmishes Star Trip The Appropriateness of HopeGreat.
Celsius 238
World War P
The Origin of Feces
Ender’s Gain
Minority Deport
I, Reboot
Moby’s Dick
The Invisible Woman
Well played, Dead Monky.
T.V. shows:
Gomer’s Piles
Hogan’s Cowards
Little Outhouse on The Prairie
The Twilight Area
Lost In Place
The Big Valium
T.V. shows: Gomer's Piles Hogan's Cowards Little Outhouse on The Prairie The Twilight Area Lost In Place The Big ValiumThose are excellent!
More TV shows (that might not have been so successful):
Triplet Peaks
Happy Nights
Quantum Skip
Days of Our Afterlives
Corporal Kangaroo
Monty Python’s Floating Carnival
More TV shows (that might not have been so successful): Triplet Peaks Happy Nights Quantum Skip Days of Our Afterlives Corporal Kangaroo Monty Python's Floating CarnivalExcellent, Tim. :lol:
The Moon is a Harsh Mattress
The Lizards of Eden
Do Androids Dream of Electric Goats?
Taking some liberties with the one-word rule:
Proud and Prejudiced
And moving to album titles:
I Cam See Your Hooties From Here (John Scofield and Pat Metheny)
I should stop before I get myself in trouble.
The Holey Bible
A Tale of Two Towns
The Man in the Styrofoam Mask
King, of the Khyber Slingshots
Catch 2.2
The Prisoner of Paducah
More T.V.:
The Man From carbU.N.C.L.E.
The Patty Puke Show
The Fake McCoys
Have Pun Will Travel
The Dick van Dork Show
The Cartridge Family
And yet more T.V.
The Many Loves of Doobie Gillis
TRASH
Y’all In The Family
Queers
What Girl
American Pastie
McArthur Pork
Star Whores
(This one actually got made) Shaving Ryan’s Privates
(This one actually got made) Shaving Ryan's PrivatesI think I'll pass on that one.
You’ve outdone yourselves. This took off in a way I had not expected. Many clever suggestions. Stephen Fry, et al, would be gobsmacked, as they say in England.
Lois
Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie were a comedy team between 1989 and 1995. A sketch in their show ‘A Bit Of Fry and Laurie’ was a satire on the upcoming Broadcasting Act, a law which recognised the consequences of satellite broadcasting shortly to bring about a lot of new television channels.
Hugh Laurie walks into a restaurant and sits down at a table. This is a very high class restaurtant, everything about it is top class, everything on the table is the absolute best quality. Stephen Fry is the waiter.
Fry:- Oh I know who you are, Sir Archibold Smythe. You piloted the Broadcasting Act through The House Of Lords.
Laurie:- Yes indeed, you will have a lot more choice soon.
[Fry grabs the four corners of the table-cloth and uses it as a sack to carry away all that is on the table. He returns with a large sack and tips its contents onto the table. This amounts to a high pile of plastic cutlery, plates etc, cheap plastic versions of what was originally there.]
Fry:- You have a lot more choice now.
It stuck in my mind as comedy making an interesting point.
‘A Bit Of Fry and Laurie’ consisted of 25 programmes made between 1989 and 1995. Nearly all of it is on You Tube.
Here is something a bit more recent from Hugh Laurie :- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aaAtqGj-MrE