Kinky Friedman
Musician, author and would-be politician, Kinky Friedman is the former leader of the band The Texas Jewboys. A friend of radio personality Don Imus, he was a frequent guest on the Imus in the Morning program starting in the 1970s. He has written several murder mysteries about a musician, author and would-be politician named Kinky Friedman, who also dabbles in private detection. While most of the books are set in New York City, one or two are set in Texas.
Works written by Kinky Friedman include:
- A Case of Lone Star
- Armandillos and Old Lace
- Blast From The Past
- Elvis, Jesus and Coca-Cola
- Frequent Flyer
- God Bless John Wayne
- Greenwich Killing Time
- The Love Song Of J. Edgar Hoover
- Musical Chairs
- Roadkill
- When the Cat's Away
Kinky Friedman provides examples of the following tropes:
- Big Applesauce
- Drink Order: Jameson's.
- The Vodka McGovern: Vodka, the juice of a freshly squeezed orange, topped with soda water.
- Dual-Meaning Chorus: In the song "We Reserve The Right To Refuse Service To You," the narrator is denied entrance to a cafe with the title words, as he looks like a Communist and a Jew.
- In the next verse, the rabbi at the synagogue tells him that because he doesn't have a ticket and tie, "We reserve the right to refuse services to you."
- The next verse takes a more serious anti-war tone as the narrator wishes he could refuse military service to U.S. troops in South Asia.
- Finally, the narrator fears that when he tries to get into heaven, he'll be told, "Our quota's filled for this year / On singing Texas Jews, / We reserve the right to refuse service to you."
- The same goes for "They Ain't Makin' Jews Like Jesus Anymore", which starts off with an anti-semite accosting Kinky in a bar with the title phrase, and ends with Kinky punching him out with the words
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They ain't makin' Jews like Jesus anymore |
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- Five-Man Band: The Kinkster, McGovern, Rambam, Ratso, and Stephanie DuPont.
- Good Smoking, Evil Smoking: Friedman smokes cigars. Often.
- Irishman and a Jew: Kinky and McGovern
- Our Product Sucks: Friedman's campaign slogans for his 2006 campaign for Texas governor included "Why The Hell Not?" and "How Hard Could It Be?"
- Refuge in Audacity: In the mid-90s, he was invited to the White House and handed a Cuban cigar to Bill Clinton right in front of a bunch of reporters with the words "Don't think of it as supporting their economy, think of it as burning their crops."
- Third-Person Person: Friedman is known for referring to himself in the third person, though it's tongue-in-cheek on his part.
- Uncle Pennybags
- Write Who You Know