Funny Business
The Old-School Wedding Crashers and Knocked-Up Virgins Who Changed Comedy Forever
$78.43
- Hardcover
304 pages
- Release Date
6 October 2026
Summary
A celebration of a generation of iconic comedies—the raunchy, blockbuster “Frat Pack” films of the early 2000s—and a no-holds-barred look at their rise and fall in Hollywood, the effects of which can still be felt in the fractured media landscape of today.
If you were a moviegoer in the early aughts, you had a front-row seat to a golden age of comedy. Ben Stiller, Seth Rogen, Will Ferrell, Owen Wilson, Steve Carell, and Vince Vaughn became unlikely leading men—a band of rowdy wedding …
Book Details
| ISBN-13: | 9798217047949 |
|---|---|
| Author: | Matt Singer |
| Publisher: | Penguin Putnam Inc |
| Imprint: | Penguin USA |
| Format: | Hardcover |
| Number of Pages: | 304 |
| Release Date: | 6 October 2026 |
| Weight: | 498g |
| Dimensions: | 152mm x 228mm |
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Critics Review
“With incisive commentary, sly asides, and a knack for telling detail, Matt Singer takes us on a massively entertaining ride. By taking very silly movies very seriously, he examines how a rowdy band of comics reinvented cinema, the conditions that allowed them to thrive, and the big question of whether it can happen again. An addictive, hilarious, rollicking read.”
—Nick de Semlyen, author of Wild and Crazy Guys: How the Comedy Mavericks of the ‘80s Changed Hollywood Forever
“They say the easiest way to ruin a joke is to explain it. But in explaining the stories behind so many iconic comedies and the people who made them, Matt Singer’s smart and revealing book made me eager to rewatch and laugh at them all over again.”
—Alan Sepinwall, author of The Revolution Was Televised: How The Sopranos, Mad Men, Breaking Bad, Lost, and Other Groundbreaking Dramas Changed TV Forever
“Hollywood has never quite known what to do with The Comedy: Do these movies merit the same artistic praise, the same awards, heaped upon weighty dramas? The answer is, of course, YES! Guess who’s figured that out? Matt Singer, whose book celebrates and defends one of the strongest eras in the history of American comedies.”
—Ben Mankiewicz, Host, Turner Classic Movies
“Only in hindsight is it clear that Seth Rogen, Ben Stiller, Christina Applegate, Will Ferrell, Kristen Wiig and Judd Apatow all were swept up in a movement that put the R, and the raunch, back in comedy cinema. The ‘Frat Pack’ was hiding in plain sight, until Matt Singer spotted it. He’s a natural storyteller, and this book is as funny as the films. Two thumbs way up.”
—Daniel de Visé, author of The Blues Brothers: An Epic Friendship, the Rise of Improv, and the Making of an American Film Classic
Matt Singer
Matt Singer is the editor and film critic of ScreenCrush. He is also the author of Marvel’s Spider-Man: From Amazing to Spectacular and Opposable Thumbs: How Siskel & Ebert Changed Movies Forever. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife and two daughters.
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