I'd like to register a complaint: I'm going to be laughing about that gag for probably the rest of my life.

I just saw Jasper here in San Diego at a signing the other day, and told him how much I love the "little" jokes throughout the books. Little did I know that the best one (for a long time Python fan such as myself) was still to come, at the end of Jack & Mary's visit to Castle Spongg. Didn't see it coming AT ALL, and just busted up laughing out loud, alone in the house.

Simply brilliant, and only confirms Jasper's place at the top of the list of the most entertaining writers out there.

Thank you, Mr. Fforde.

That was brilliant! I loved that. Jasper has mentioned Python a couple of times at signings I have been to.

~~...how much I love the "little" jokes throughout the books.~~

There's no certainty in what I'm about to say; as I have absolutely no proof of it, but I'd be willing to wager that Mr. Fforde is a fan of the old BBC radio shows Round The Horne and Beyond Our Ken. There are several things that lead me to think this, one being the name of the Spongg foot care empire. I'm a faithful listener to the repeat broadcasts of both shows, which are entirely the same show with only a different name, a few years, and one less writer to differentiate the one from the other, and I swear the name Sir Talbot Spongg and something to do with foot care products were both mentioned in the episode The Portrait of Florien Thrust (or at least in the same series).



Post Edited (08-05-05 08:03)

It's not a brilliant joke, it's a classy reference to a brilliant joke.

~~It's not a brilliant joke, it's a classy reference to a brilliant joke.~~

Oh dear, let's all split hairs shall we? ::grin::