A Shimmying Slab of Blatant Self Promotion

"Do you want money—more money than you can imagine? Do you want power—nearly unlimited power? It's possible. Hell, it's easy. Just watch what Michael Gerber does...the things he says...who he associates with...how he lives his life, day-by-day...Look at all these things, study them, consider them—then do the exact opposite."--Zig Mandino, famous motivational speaker

Michael Gerber (born June 14, 1969) is the author of the Barry Trotter series, million-selling parodies of the Harry Potter books. Gerber is also responsible for the less well-know but arguably funnier The Chronicles of Blarnia: The Lying Bitch in the Wardrobe and A Christmas Peril, spoofs of C.S. Lewis and Charles Dickens respectively.

He has written two non-parodic novels, Freshman and Sophomore, half of a four-book series which follows a student's progress through the mythical, Ivy/Oxbridge-inflected Stutts University. In writing these satirical romps, Gerber drew upon his satire-worthy, romping-intensive experiences as a student at Yale University, specifically his activities on The Yale Record college humor magazine. Gerber currently runs The Record's alumni organization.

Hey, here's a thought--why not buy a few of his books?

Before inflicting himself on the novel form, Gerber contributed humor to The New Yorker, Saturday Night Live, and many other venues. One of the highlights was a back page casual that made the then President of Harvard Larry Summers so angry he refused to speak to The New Yorker for three years. (That was, perhaps not coincidentally, the last time Gerber has appeared in that magazine.) Much of this magazine work was co-written with Jonathan Schwarz, and perhaps Gerber's proudest moment came when he received a four-figure check for a piece that Schwarz had written entirely without his input. (This piece has been widely anthologized, ensuring that this shameless coattailing will perpetuate for generations to come.) An exhaustive, some might say exhausting, collection of his magazine and TV work from the 1990s has been published under the title Our Kampf. This book has nothing to do with Hitler or Nazism, unless saying so will make you buy it. A few of his (?) print pieces have made it to the web, and are listed below.

The Periodic Table of Rejected Elements (The Atlantic)
Harry Potter and the Errant Golf Cart (The New York Times)
Lunch With Oppenheimer (Esquire)
Why the ____s Hate the ____s (Village Voice)

Gerber grew up in St. Louis, Missouri and Oak Park, Illinois—or, to be strictly accurate, the Tivoli movie theater, followed by the Music Box. His first published work was a humor column for The Trapeze, the student newspaper of Oak Park and River Forest High School. Though many at the time questioned the quality of this material, it did allow him to meet his wife. Gerber has a slight case of cerebral palsy which, according to his wife, does not prevent him from being a damn good dancer.

A devoted fan of The Beatles, Gerber has recently finished a humorous mystery novel loosely based on the life and times of that group. In 2007, he co-founded Hey Dullblog, a well-respected group weblog on all things Beatle. "I only started writing comedy because The Beatles weren't hiring. Blame them."

Gerber lives in Santa Monica, California (or, more accurately, the Aero Theater). You may contact him via this blog; if you would like to receive updates, info about appearances, help with your college humor magazine, or access to limited edition projects, send an email to mikesnewbooks[at]gmail[dot]com.

Gerber's philsophy can be summed up thusly: "This plane of existence has some real flaws, and don't think I haven't noticed." He does not know why he wrote this in the third person, but he assures you that, were he finishing a brief autobiography that you wrote, he would certainly go directly to Amazon and buy your books.