EVERYONE'S A CRITIC: The Ultimate Cartoon Book

Celebrating our brave new world where everything you do is researched on social media or websites like TripAdvisor, and where even your companion on a night out has been filtered through hours spent on dating apps, this collection of over 130 cartoons reflects the fact that nowadays "everyone's a critic". In a prestigious concert hall a man confides to his companion, "I heard this entire symphony yesterday while on hold", while a bagpiper arriving at the gates of hell is told by Satan "you'll be in charge of the music down here", to the sound of earsplitting wails from the inmates. Restaurants get their fair share of hilarious attention in this collection, starting with the front cover cartoon showing a dog dining in a restaurant and anxiously asking the waiter, "Is the homework fresh?" At another establishment a diner asks the waiter, "Would you say the tuna salad kicks ass?" Meanwhile, in the kitchen, a harassed restaurateur instructs the chef: "There's a restaurant critic out there. Thaw out a meal from that place they all like." Couples are a perennial source of amusement, for instance leaving the cinema: "But what I didn't sleep through, I liked"; or the ultimate put-down when arriving at a party: "Just don't be yourself". In other laughs, a woman in a supermarket wails: "I've only got seven ?likes' for what I've put in my trolley", and a Torturer addresses a man on the rack: "And finally, may I ask how satisfied you were with the way I handled your interrogation today?" There are hours of enjoyment in these wry reflections. 144pp, over 130 cartoons, biographies.