Search - Spalding Gray :: Terrors of Pleasure

The little monologue that screamed with laughter

My Twin | San Jose, CA United States | 02/05/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Laughed so hard I cannot listen to this album all of the way through in one sitting. I think it benefits from the lack of a 'moral to the story.' It's just Spalding relating his life for the cautionary tale it is.Required listening for first-time home buyers, it's the story of how he was bullied, albeit willingly, to buy a house he felt pity for: "The little house that cried." (Better that shack than the one that the agent said they could get cheap because the owner had to pay for a kidney transplant for his daughter.) Having just bought a house I can attest that it's just like Spuddy said it was. ...it's refrigerator day ...it's refrigerator day!!Both the Gang of Seven CD/Audio download and the video are blindingly funny. Do not try to operate a car while listening to this performance."

The pleasures of another's terror

Mr. T. Matthews | Ilford, Essex United Kingdom | 06/12/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is a tale for anyone who's bought or is about to buy a house. Gray creates a nightmare for himself in buying a rundown, white trash hovel - a story which just when you think he can't make matter worse for himself he does.
Gray's monologue's are brilliant constructions of autobiography and metaphor and this is no exception.
You'll have to listen to it all the way through in one sitting, as just as Gray's hysteria builds so will your laughter.
Highlights include an answerphone message from the seller, who in trying to cover up a lie only makes the lie more apparent, and Gray's audition for a movie of the week.
Much better than the HBO TV version, and a good introduction to Gray's work."