Kinky Friedman
Musician, author and would-be politician Kinky Friedman is the former leader of the band The Texas Jewboys. 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.
This is a partial list of his novels:
- 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
They ain't makin' Jews like Jesus anymore |
- 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