Stinker Lets Loose!

By: Mike Sacks, James Taylor Johnston

Narrated by: Jon Hamm, Eric Martin, Andy Richter, Rhea Seehorn, Andy Daly, Paul F. Tompkins, James Urbaniak, a full cast

Length: 5 hrs and 53 mins

Publisher's Summary

[Contains explicit content] The outrageous, madcap, and oft-forgotten 1977 cult movie classic is now finally available as a multi-cast audio extravaganza. You ain't never heard anything like it! Oh, and it’s now a New York Times audio bestseller!

Bestselling author Mike Sacks (And Here's the Kicker, Poking a Dead Frog) has just discovered the original novelization of the long-lost classic movie, Stinker Lets Loose!

Mike has teamed up with director Eric Martin to adapt the novelization into a fully immersive cinematic audio experience, and an epic all-star cast has come together to introduce Stinker to a whole new generation of fans! It's Smokey and the Bandit meets Every Which Way But Loose meets Smokey and the Bandit Parts 2 and 3. Feel the thrill as Stinker teams up with old pals Boner and Jumbo, plus new friends Buck and Rascal the Chimp, for a crazy ride across the highways and byways of Bicentennial America and meets scores of beautiful Southern gals, reams of treacherous villains, and even the Big Man!

Will Stinker truly Let Loose? Or will Big Government and the Smokeys bring him down? 

A loving send-up of a bygone era of trucker films and their beer-swillin', skirt-chasin', verb-shortenin' heroes, this audio adventure is a joyride in absurdity; with its rapid-fire jokes only matched by their total outrageousness. But enough of this jaw-jackin'. If you don't listen, then the joke's on you! 

Now with a special bonus chapter! Enjoy a live performance of highlights from the audiobook, performed by a full cast of actors and musicians at SF Sketchfest. Tune into Chapter 50 for the full live show!

Narrated and Directed by Eric Martin

Starring Jon Hamm as Stinker

Rhea Seehorn as Gwyneth

Andy Daly as Boner

John DiMaggio as Jumbo and Sheriff Sledge

Paul F. Tompkins as Clarence Macleod and Mr. Walsh

Jessica McKenna as Buck

Kimmy Gatewood as Betty

Mark Gagliardi as Big Red

Justin Michael as Pip

With James Urbaniak as President Jimmy Carter and Jeremiah King

Guest Starring Andy Richter as Orville Max

And Phillip Baker Hall as the Big Man

Introduction by Mike Sacks

Full cast includes: Scott Brick, RC Bray, Rachel Butera, Emily Woo Zeller, PJ Ochlan, Suzanne Elise Freeman, Heather Forte, Robert Beitzel, and Seth Allen

Original songs by CJ McKnight as played by Mark Rozzo

"This movie made my eyes bleed, and the book made pus run out of them. The two things were made for each other. They're awful and awfuler. This novelization stinks." - David Sedaris

Rated R. Contains mature 1970's themes.

Presented by Audible Comedy / An Audible Original Production

©2017 Sunshine Beam Publishing (P)2018 Audible Comedy

Live performance at end is worth it!

This is in two parts: the recorded performance for Audible and a 90-minute live performance by most of the original cast.

The story is absurd, especially at the end. You’ll be amused and horrified by the way the characters speak, but the story is not great. In fact the low-brow humor and overly campy and possibly predictable devices are a little trite.

However, the fun part is the live performance in the last chapter, which was an add-on update after I purchased the original version (Thank you Audible folks for the update). This performance is excerpts from the story and not a retelling of the whole story. Totally worth it.

Jon Hamm, Andy Richter, and Paul Tompkins read their parts on stage in front of a live audience, but unfortunately Rhea Seehorn was not available. The character originally played by Philip Baker Hall, also not available, was replaced by someone doing the character in a spot-on impression of Christopher Walken. Always made the audience laugh.

Not great, but great fun. Recommend.

17 of 17 people found this review helpful

I literally had tears from laughing so hard.

It's the audio version of Smokey & the Bandit meets The Naked Gun. I wish the book had been twice as long.

16 of 16 people found this review helpful

Wish I'd written this

Where does Stinker Lets Loose! rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Solidly in the top 1/4.

What did you like best about this story?

It was constantly hysterical.

What about the narrators’s performance did you like?

It moved quickly.

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

I did in fact do so.

Any additional comments?

Anybody who loves 70s exploitation will adore this. It's pure fun. The "novelization" captures the spirit of the genre. The story has the same shaggy plotting that exists mostly as a series of setpieces. And what accurate setpieces! The performances by a stellar cast are wonderfully energetic. Highly recommended

14 of 14 people found this review helpful

Took me a while but I remember this movie too now!

What did you like about this audiobook?

This book is such a wildy fun and fully produced soundscape of what it was like to be in a dusty trailer park in the 70s.

How has the book increased your interest in the subject matter?

I'm very glad I'm not the only one that remembers this movie. I thought I was crazy for years!

Does the author present information in a way that is interesting and insightful, and if so, how does he achieve this?

I feel like I have a deeper understanding of the mustache craze of the 70s now and I'm looking forward to it's hipster revival.

What did you find wrong about the narrator's performance?

Wrong? Wrong! Nothing is wrong, minus the few occasions I wasn't completely convinced there was genuine hair in Hamm's upper lip.

Do you have any additional comments?

This is such a wonderfully funny and peculiar story I'm glad it was really fully realized by Audible. I had to stop listening at work because I was laughing too much and was starting to get stares.

25 of 26 people found this review helpful

AWFULLY WONDERFUL!!!

Would you listen to Stinker Lets Loose! again? Why?

You bet y'er tuchus I'll be listenin' to this over an' over again! If Jesus Christ ever crossed the land bridge this is undoubtedly the tome he'd chisel onto golden plates and bury deep in the ground to plant the seeds of American freedom. Come to think of it, Mike Sacks may himself be the holiest prophet we've got anywhere north of an Ocean City MD boardwalk psychic. Possibly wiser than A Ripley's Believe it or Not ticket-taker. Definitely holier than a South of the Border bartender. In other words, this story's got it all.

What did you like best about this story?

The attention to detail is phenomenal and really captures the era being celebrated and satirized. Paired with tremendous production quality to enrich the story, characters seared themselves into my mind's eye with distinctive voices.

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

Not much to say on this front, other than the fact that the narrator was exactly what I imagined while reading the book. He totally nailed it.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

​I laughed. I cried. I belched.​ I think I guffawed too. (but I can't be sure on that one)

Any additional comments?

Is there a sequel (or even a prequel) on the horizon?

23 of 24 people found this review helpful

Beyond compare- a real page turner

It’s somewhere between the best school play EVER and fine European cinema. What made Lincoln in the Bardo fail makes this one work: an ensemble cast who genuinely sounds like they had a fine time performing this.

33 of 35 people found this review helpful

Monkeys, Muscle Cars, & Madcap Marathons!!

In the late 70's & early 80's (thanks primarily to Burt Reynolds and director Hal Needham setting the tone of the genre) Southern-Fried Trucker movies & TV were all the craze. They were outrageous, fun loving, anti-establishment thrill rides that surprisingly managed to function as family entertainment because they had something for EVERYBODY. For us kids, there were the car chases, odd animal sidekicks, & tons of sophomoric jokes that we wouldn't *completely* get until we were older. Adults enjoyed the irreverent humour that thumbed it's nose at snooty "Northeastern" intellectualism & reveled in blue collar working men & women's pride.

"Stinker Lets Loose" is a rowdy celebration of this era of American film & TV that evokes all the nostalgia of that era without taking itself too seriously. Or even, AT ALL. But it's a GOOD thing, this satirical look back. It lovingly pokes fun both at itself & the entertainment genre it seeks to emulate. It brings back everything that we loved about this time, but through the filter of a modern day P.O.V. that allows us to laugh not just at the insanity of Stinker & company's adventures---but also to laugh WITH them as they move from one ridiculous setting to the next. It's just pure FUN. And man, is it FUNNY.

It's clear that everybody involved in creating this production was significantly invested in it & determined to make "Stinker Lets Loose" as much of a damn good time for the listener that they possibly could. And they pull it off AMAZINGLY well. You will lose yourself in the nostalgia for that bygone American era that the story recreates, and revel in the sheer ridiculousness of it all at once. It's fun, it's crazy, the performances are magnetic & AMAZING, it keeps the story moving at a great pace, and even though it's comedy satire, its written SMART. And not just "Country Smart"...as Stinker might be apt to say. It's SMART satire for everybody to enjoy. So pop yourself open a cold one, sit back, and have a damn great time with Stinker and the gang. You will NOT regret taking this big rig marathon muscle car ride.

Also? Don't ever get physically caught by a horned-up monkey about to travel by air. This should be common sense, but malt beverages can be historically known to impair sound judgement. Consider it a Pro Tip.

10 of 10 people found this review helpful

Great send-up of a 70s trucker movie for your ears

Where does Stinker Lets Loose! rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

This doesn't really sound like an audiobook; I'd say it's more in a category on its own. The multi-cast, mockumentary format complete with a soundtrack and SFX makes this more of an audio cinematic experience than other audiobooks

What about the narrators’s performance did you like?

I loved the performances across the board.

Any additional comments?

This is a parody. It's entertainment. It's tongue-in-cheek. The fun is in the experience, NOT in the meaningful story. If you are expecting a more traditional narrative or a more traditional audiobook, you might be disappointed -- or positively blown away.

Hemingway this is not. Every Which Way But Loose for the ears? Yeah, that's more like it.

21 of 22 people found this review helpful

I haven’t seen this movie since I was in the womb!

5/5 retelling. It’s almost like I was back in that theatre in the womb hearing it for real!

8 of 8 people found this review helpful

Hilarious Southern-Fried Summer 1977

Unabashed, exciting, profane, and ultimately a truly hilarious wild ride through 1970s car culture action comedies. Jon Hamm brings all of his acting chops that impressed fans of 1950s-60s nostalgia on Mad Men and deftly translates it from Manhattan to the I-95 corridor, outperforming my memories of Burt Reynolds and Clint Eastwood in their own trucker and simian comedies. Mike Sacks weaves a seat of your pants story at the same time creating so many southern-fried twists of language that will have you laughing and repeating the few which are repeatable in polite company. I can’t recommend this enough to those of us who remember 1977 all too well.

8 of 8 people found this review helpful

A parody of the film ‘Smokey and the Bandit’

An enhanced multi-voice audiobook; with sound effects + music. Starring Jon Hamm (Mad Men), Rhea Seehorn (Better Call Saul), plus others.

It’s a parody of Burt Reynolds film Smokey and the Bandit.

Very entertaining and utterly absurd, though as it pokes fun and ultimately mocks this kind of 1970s film you really need to have previously watched Smokey to understand the humour.

3 of 3 people found this review helpful