Guy Noir and the Straight Skinny

By: Garrison Keillor

Narrated by: Garrison Keillor, Tim Russell, Sue Scott

Length: 4 hrs and 8 mins

Publisher's summary

On the 12th floor of the Acme Building, on a cold February day in St. Paul, Guy Noir looks down the barrel of a loaded revolver in the hands of geezer gangster Joey Roast Beef, who is demanding to hear what lucrative scheme Guy is cooking up with stripper-turned-women's-studies-professor Naomi Fallopian. Everyone wants to know - Joey, Lieutenant McCafferty, reporter Gene Williker, Guy's ex-girlfriend Sugar O'Toole, the despicable Larry B. Larry, the dreamboat Scarlett Anderson, Mr. Kress of the FDA - and Guy faces them one by one, as he and Naomi pursue a dream of earning gazillions by selling a surefire method of dramatic weight loss. In this whirlwind caper Guy looks death in the eye, falls in love, and faces off with the capo del capo del grande primo capo Johnny Banana.

©2012 Garrison Keillor (P)2012 HighBridge Company

Entertaining!

What about the narrators’s performance did you like?

The performance was great. However, the audio had a lot of bass and was difficult to hear in the car at times.

Any additional comments?

Guy Noir and the Straight Skinny was a great audio book. Read by Keillor himself, it was nonstop FUNNY!!! There are more than a few one-liners that kept us laughing all the way from New Jersey to Virginia. The Audible version is four hours and eight minutes. The time goes very quickly as Guy Noir finds his way through a series of misadventures with a very unusual cast of characters and a tapeworm. Very entertaining!!!

Tops

Great geezer humor. Well done on all counts. listened twice. I liked it very much.

Great fun!

I enjoyed listening to Garrison Keillor and crew tell this story of Guy Noir. Great fun to listen to during the COVID quarantine. I enjoyed it so much I listened to it twice in a row over a weekend off. As an essential worker, I have been working long hours with few breaks during the COVID shutdown. This was a great break and distraction!

Interesting

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

I think I'm on the border. I gave this book a shot, as it is outside of my comfort zone, and it was better than I thought.

Would you be willing to try another book from Garrison Keillor? Why or why not?

Maybe. Some parts were quick clever and funny, but overall I was not entirely impressed.

Have you listened to any of the narrators’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I have not, although I thought the narration was great.

Could you see Guy Noir and the Straight Skinny being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

No. I don't think it would lend itself well to a screen.

Very entertaining

Mr. Keillor at some of his best. Any fan would be happy to own this. Not a fan? Check it out you will be.

Guy Noir not the greatest detective.

Would you consider the audio edition of Guy Noir and the Straight Skinny to be better than the print version?

Never read the print version. I preferred to listen to Garrison Keillor speak the words.

What other book might you compare Guy Noir and the Straight Skinny to and why?

I would compare it With Dirk Gentry. Because they are both funny detectives, who have strange adventures.

What does the narrators bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Keillor is the best narrator of all time. I think he can make anything he reads funny.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes I did read it in one setting.

Any additional comments?

I loved Keillor in Prarrie Home Companion. I will listen to him read anything.

Easy Street ain't Easy!

I recently finished listening to Guy Noir and the Straight Skinny a radio play written by Garrison Keillor and performed by Garrison Keillor, Tim Russell, and Sue Scott.

Guy Noir, for the uninitiated, is a character from one of the radio skits performed on the Prairie Home Companion on NPR back in its heyday. Guy Noir, known to most as Guy, is a hard bitten private dick who resides in Minnesota. The radio skits often diverge from the main story line with Guy's musings on philosophy, life, and love. Love is a favorite topic, particularly if it's steamy.

In this adventure Guy is approached by an old friend, Naomi Fallopian, with the deal of a lifetime. Naomi is an ex exotic dancer turned women's study professor who wants to get rich and go back to dancing where she can be worshipped again. She needs him to protect the secret to a new, almost magical, weight loss pill.

Life on easy street isn't always easy though. His problems start with Joey Roastbeef, a seventy year old mobster with an air tank and a gun tries to horn in and only get worse when Larry B. Larry, a sleazy lawyer with all the right connections on the wrong side of the street, comes to call.

He is able to run faster as he is taking his own product, being able to say he is not just a supplier but a customer. Life is complicated as, as the weight falls off, women fling themselves at him and do everything but rape him in public.

Conclusion: This is a full Guy Noir adventure full of high jinks, completely inappropriate humor, and lots of hilarious scenes. If you want Dick Tracy, don't look here. Guy Noir's life is normal and ludicrous all at the same time. It might even make someone like Joey Roastbeef crack a smile.

Great 'Guy' read!

Wonderful funny hilarious enjoyable read! Will make you smile, laugh, cackle to your hearts content.

What the hell did I just listen to?

And why did I get so attached? I have no idea. All I can say is the male narrator sounds like Howard Stern. It was entertaining.

funny noir spoof

while I generally tire of Keillor's voice rather quickly, this is more of a radio play, i suppose taken from the Prairie Home broadcasts, and so has sound effects and several other players.

I thought it was very funny at times, and enjoyed it, though I do think that it goes on just a little too long, which sounds odd given that it is only a few hours long, but I think in many instances certain stories that rely on a joke premise or odd setup, need to get to the "punchline" quickly as length only dilutes the premise and drains away the fun in favor of continuing for another episode, much like TV shows that go on too long after the initial creative surge runs out.

but, in general i had fun with the first 2/3 for sure.