Kinky's Celebrity Pet Files
By Tanya Turgeon
Kinky's Celebrity Pet Files
by Kinky Friedman
Simon & Schuster, 2009
208 pages
$24.95
Review by Tanya Turgeon
Raise your hand if you're tired of hearing about the indiscretions of the rich and famous; as in,
Lindsay Lohan is going to rehab. Again. Tiger Woods is a cheater. And so is Jesse James. And so
is the former governor of South Carolina. Hopefully a majority of hands just departed from their
computer mouse. Well never fear, Kinky Friedman is here to share with you some very
entertaining anecdotes about, wait for it, celebrities doing some good for a change. And happily
animals are the benefactors.
This is not to say that Kinky's friends haven't committed a truckload of indiscretions themselves,
but their devotion towards furry, feathered, and four-legged creatures seems to make up for it.
Take Richard Pryor for instance, who "had the God-given ability to make a cosmic joke out of
cocaine addiction, eight marriages, two heart attacks and quadruple bypass surgery, killing his
car, multiple sclerosis, a childhood from hell, and last but not least, the famous incident of setting
himself on fire." But what Kinky reveals is perhaps the lesser known fact that Pryor was an avid
animal lover whose heart belonged to two rescue dogs and a miniature horse named Ginger.
Each chapter represents Friedman's very personal tribute to someone-and Friedman seems to
know them all-who has left his or her mark on this world through immense talent and a special
bond with animals. Just to give you a brief preview: there is Jim Nabors, who flies his four
Staffordshire Terriers from
Honolulu to Maui each Fourth of July because "they are frightened by the fireworks." There's
Fats Domino who was thought lost after Hurricane Katrina because he was out searching for his
Bichon Frise, Winnie the Pooh, who sadly did not survive.
There's Lily Tomlin who says of her Norwich Terrier, "Tess died in 1993, during the O.J. Simpson trial. She abhorred injustice." Be warned, this is the first book in nearly seventy reviews that may be considered R-rated. The
language is, shall we say, colorful; there are many drug references; and Kinky, like the celebrities
he reveres, makes no effort to maintain a PC status, which is exactly why this book is so funny.
One look at the cover in which Kinky is depicted as St. Francis of Assisi and you know you're in
for a laugh. Friedman's own talent as a writer and observer of life is reflected in the fact that each
humorous moment is matched with an endearing one. "I always say that money may buy you a
fine dog, but only love can make him wag his tail."--Kinky Friedman
The message from Kinky and friends is loud and clear, don't take life too seriously and love the
animals in your life.
