John Oliver takes aim at Mike Pence in "A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo"

Note: This review is for the Audible version.

Typically, I don’t write a lot about politics.  I have a great deal of interest in politics, and I tend to be pretty active and vocal about my beliefs.  But when it comes to writing, I prefer writing about things that are a little more fun and less meaningful for people’s lives.  But every now and then, a topic comes up that I am hard pressed to avoid, and this week, that topic is Marlon Bundo…

Marlon Bundo is actually the name of Vice President Mike Pence’s pet rabbit.  The fact Mike Pence named his bunny after an actor who was pretty openly bisexual is kind of hilarious...but anyway…  This week, Marlon Bundo released a book (written and drawn by Mike Pence’s wife and daughter) called “Marlon Bundo's Day in the Life of the Vice President.”   Political commentator John Oliver was doing a scathing story this week about Mike Pence, and that inspired him to release a Bundo book of his own “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver Presents a Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo.”

Here is the segment from Sunday’s show to explain it...

As much as I loved THE COLBERT REPORT, it often feels like LAST WEEK TONIGHT captures the spirit of that show more than Colbert’s THE LAST SHOW.  Don’t get me wrong, Colbert is doing great work there too, but John Oliver has carried on the merry prankster tradition that Colbert used to do and takes it to the next level.  John Oliver released the book intending to get Mike Pence’s attention. And he seems to have succeeded admirably.

At press time, A DAY IN THE LIFE OF MARLON BUNDO was the top selling book on Amazon and the top audiobook with 97% of the reviews at 5 stars.. The Pences’ version was #6 on Amazon, but I think it is very possible the sales on the Pences’ version are inflated by John Oliver fans who bought the book just so they could write negative reviews of it...it had 90% 1 star reviews when I wrote this.  

Because the proceeds are going to charity, I decided to pick up the audiobook and the hardcover version of A DAY IN THE LIFE OF MARLON BUNDO.  

While I was totally on board buying this book to support charity and to rub the Vice President the wrong way, I was surprised to find that the audiobook was a beautiful, well-told story about love and democracy.  Bundo falls in love with another male bunny, but a white-haired stink bug tries to say that they are not allowed to get married. The other animals rally behind Bundo, talking about their own differences, and voting to replace the stink bug in charge.   In the end the lesson learned is “Stink bugs are temporary. Love is forever.”

The audiobook has a terrific cast. Jim Parsons (THE BIG BANG THEORY and YOUNG SHELDON) played Marlon Bundo, and he is joined by Jesse Tyler Ferguson (MODERN FAMILY), Jeff Garlin (THE GOLDBERGS and CURB YOUR ETHUSIASM), Ellie Kemper (THE OFFICE and UNBREAKABLE KIMMY SCHMIDT), John Lithgow (RICOCHET, 3rd ROCK FROM THE SUN, and too many things to list), Jack McBrayer (WRECK-IT Ralph and 30 Rock), and RuPaul (RUPAUL's DRAG RACE).  And at just $1.74, it’s a hell of a deal.

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF MARLON BUNDO is available for purchase at Amazon.com or a pair of websites Oliver created to mess with Pence: BetterBundoBook.com and FocusOnTheFurmily.com. All proceeds go to the LGBT organizations the Trevor Project, which “provides crisis and suicide-prevention services for LGBT youths,” and AIDS United.  So that makes three worthy causes you can support by picking this book up...Trevor Project, AIDS United, and pissed off Mike Pence.

I am proud to share this book with my children, and I hope the Stink Bug gets the message.   

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver Presents a Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo by Marlon Bundo, Jill Twiss, and EG Keller

Hardcover - $19.99

Kindle - $11.99

Audible - $1.74

Published by Chronicle Books

40 Pages