Aristocrats, Child Stars, and Black Cherry Martinis

In this Book Club episode, the hosts take on P. G. Wodehouse’s Laughing Gas (1936) — a novel that moves with the rhythm of a screwball comedy. Aristocrats stumble into Hollywood, a child star swaps bodies with an English earl, and chaos ensues. It’s a farce full of cocktails, pratfalls, and satire that feels almost cinematic.

Wodehouse gleefully pokes fun at aristocrats, studio heads, child stars, and anyone else in reach. Along the way, the discussion touches on cocktails, mistaken identities, and the sharp parallels between his writing and the screwball films of the 1930s.

Laughing Gas offers comic relief, clever Hollywood in-jokes, and a reminder that books can lighten the weight of life.

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