'Punchlines' by Oliver Phommavanh

 Received from the Publisher

From the BLURB:

As long as you can make a girl laugh, she'll go for you, right?

Well, unless you're a seriously weird teenager like Johnny Khamka.  Surviving high school is hard enough, but how on earth can he get his childhood bestie, Josie, now a seriously hot teenager, to take him seriously?  The answer is to keep her laughing.  But when Johnny decides to take comedy seriously, he's suddenly at risk for not being funny at all.

From the talented and funny author of Thai-riffic! And Con-nerd comes another LOL story about surviving your teens.

Johnny Khamka has a funny bone that just won’t quit. When Johnny takes the stage and hears peals of laughter, he knows he’s right where he’s meat to be, doing what he was born to do. He inherited the funnies from his father, who MCs all the Laos and Vietnamese weddings in their neighbourhood – only difference is, Johnny intends to take his routine on the road, not be relegated to wedding receptions.

When nothing else in his life is going right, Johnny can always rely on himself for a laugh. At the moment, he’s struggling with the fact that his best friend (borderline cousin, really) has gone and got herself yet another boyfriend. Josie and Johnny’s fathers met in Villawood – and they’ve been best friends ever since, with Josie and Johnny growing up together and their families practically merging into one. Shortly after Josie got her braces off, Johnny (and every other guy in the universe) took notice of her as more than just a friend . . .  and he has been pining ever since. Now they’re in year 10, and new guy Ken is the latest in a string of boyfriends Josie has been torturing Johnny with.

But everything could be about to change. There’s a nation-wide hunt for Australia’s funniest teenager, and Johnny’s just signed up to compete in the tryouts. If he gets into the semi-finals, Johnny could then take the stage at the Opera House in the finals (and maybe get 10 billion hits on YouTube in the process?!). Maybe Johnny will be the new Anh Do, and take the comedy world by storm . . .  and finally get the girl?

But when fear of bombing creeps in and stage fright takes over, Johnny’s quirky, self-deprecating act takes a nasty turn. What lengths will he go to for a good laugh?

‘Punchlines’ is the new Australian YA novel from Oliver Phommavanh.

I read Oliver Phommavanh’s second book, ‘Con-Nerd’ last year and really enjoyed it. He wrote a fantastic coming-of-age book about cross-generational rifts and family pressure, and I promised myself I'd chase up any other books he wrote. Lo and behold, ‘Punchlines’ dropped into my lap and it was as good as I knew it would be.

Johnny Khamka is a second-generation Laotian who has found his calling at a young age. He loves comedy – Seinfeld is his hero and YouTube his addiction – and Johnny is never happier than when he’s making other people laugh. Johnny’s humour is sweet and self-deprecating, bordering on cheesy (and nearly drifting into dad-joke territory) but delivered with such carefree abandon and goodwill that his funny is infectious:

This just got real. I have the audience hypnotised. Kadir’s speech never happened.
‘My topic is identity so this is all about me,’ I say. ‘I’m single, but my friends call me desperate. I wish girls would just call me back.’
A few girls groan in perfect harmony. They don’t know I exist anyway. Most days, it feels like I go to a boy’s school.
‘I know I’m not good-looking. My chin looks like a map of the Pacific islands. I've got volcanoes erupting on my face, forming pus-clouds large enough to stop planes flying.’

Johnny is in year ten and apart of the Bad Bugs trio with his two best friends, Jeffro and Razeal (Bad Bugs being a group nickname that they haven’t been able to shake since year seven). A nation-wide hunt for Australia’s funniest teen kicks off and Johnny starts to take his comedy seriously. He sneaks away to a local comedy club to get some stage experience, but finds a big difference between delivering acne-themed punchlines to fellow teenagers, and sweating through a full set in front of sceptical adults. As Johnny gets increasingly self-conscious and afraid of bombing, his act takes a nasty turn and his friends find themselves the butt of his jokes.

Oliver Phommavanh has written another quirky and fantastic coming-of-age Aussie tale. Johnny is a fantastic protagonist – gangly, acne-riddled and hopelessly in love with his best friend. Johnny’s crush on Josie is part of the driving force behind his comedic yearnings – if he can’t be the tank-shaped super-jock Josie seems attracted to, then he’s going to try his hardest to get her attention another way. I thought Johnny’s crush was very sweet, but I did wish that Josie was slightly more worthy of his attentions – he’s such a nice guy, but she came across a little vapid. I feel like we needed another chapter, in which Johnny confronted Josie about her two-sided behaviour with him and her friends (and she had a chance to redeem herself). I really loved Johnny’s two best friends, the Bad Bugs boys – Jeffro and Razeal. These two were total crack-ups, and together the trio were adorably geeky!

As well as crushing on Josie and competing for Australia-wide funny fame, Johnny hits a speed-bump in his rise to the top when his dad is less than enthusiastic about his comedic pursuits. Working at a failing photo shop, Johnny’s dad knows a thing or two about entering into a dying industry – and he’s concerned that Johnny is setting himself up for disappointment with this fame game. But Johnny’s dad has other reasons for being concerned about his son’s need for the spotlight. I really enjoyed reading the family tension between Johnny and his dad; they used to have a really close relationship (both being funny men), until Johnny revealed his comedic ambitions.

‘Punchlines’ definitely lives up to its title – there were some moments when I was LOL-ing like crazy. Johnny’s jokes may be gloriously cheesy sometimes, but Phommavanh has a very wry and sharp sense of humour;

‘You could be on TV,’ Alice says.
Dad frowns. ‘How many Asians do you see on TV?’
‘There are heaps on Border Security.’ I go to the fridge and peel off the permission note. ‘This could be my launch into the laughosphere.’

Oliver Phommavanh has written another fantastically funny young adult novel. Johnny Khamka is a gangly-great leading man, and his comedic plight is both refreshing and entertaining.

5/5

'Con-Nerd' by Oliver Phommavanh

Received from the Publisher

From the BLURB:

IT'S ONE SMALL STEP FOR NERDS, ONE GIANT LEAP TO BEING COOL.

Mama tells me I'm gifted and talented. But I know the truth. I'm just a nerd.

Kids call me Con-nerd - half Connor and all nerd.

I'm supposed to become a doctor but I have this deep, dark secret: I want to be a cartoonist.

And all of a sudden my mega-cool comics are getting noticed at school - I might even get into a special art class. That would sure impress this girl I'm keen on . . . and it might just be my chance to show the world my true destiny.

But I'm not sure Mama will see it quite that way . . .

Everyone has a Connor in their class. He wears glasses, gets straight-As, keeps to himself and doesn’t have too many friends. He’s a nerd – so much so that his nickname is Con-nerd.

Connor’s one saving grace is his wicked drawing ability. His Mama may have high hopes that Connor becomes a doctor – but when Connor has a pen in his hand it becomes clear that his destiny lies in Manga and comic books.

But Connor’s cartoonist dreams are a secret. . . or at least they were, until he meets a new girl called Tori. Suddenly Connor wants to be noticed. He doesn’t want to blend into the wallpaper anymore.

When Connor decides to stand-out, his classmates come to help. He gets a makeover and a chance to show off his drawing-genius.

‘Con-Nerd’ is the second novel from Aussie YA author, Oliver Phommavanh.

I have to admit that I haven’t read any young-young adult books for quite a while. If anything is touted as being 10+ reading I’m quick to turn away. Or at least, that used to be the case . . . until I saw the movie adaptation of Jeff Kinney’s ‘Diary of a Wimpy Kid’. I loved the movie so much that I had to read the books . . . and I ended up having a cackling good time! Not since ‘The Magic Faraway Tree’ have I so enjoyed middle-grade reading. So I wasn’t as hesitant as I'd normally be to pick up the latest novel from new Aussie YA author, Oliver Phommovanh.

It’s true – geeks shall one day inherit the earth. Or at least, it looks that way with the current media obsession of all things nerdy. Think about it – ‘Glee’ is all about the slushied social piranhas. Mark Zuckerberg was voted TIME magazine’s 2010 achiever of the year. And vintage thick-framed nerd glasses are the new must-have fashion accessory. It’s official – geek is chic.

Phommovanh’s Connor harks back to a more vintage nerd. He’s a recluse who has familial pressure to be geeky and achieve the all-important career goal of becoming a doctor. For all his home-cooked pressures, Connor feels the need to hide his one burning obsession . . . drawing.

And it’s a shame, because Connor is really talented. It only takes a little help and encouragement from his classmates for Connor to realize just how talented he is, and how much he wants to be a cartoonist . . . no matter how scared he is of his mother’s wrath;

I whisper in his ear. ‘I can’t draw.’

‘You want raw what?’ Stephen scratches his head.

I scribble it down in the back of my book. I’m in trouble. Miss won’t let me draw.

Stephen takes my pencil. Just do it anyway.

It’s your fault, you told me to fake my mum’s signature.

No one forst you.

I take my red pen and correct his spelling of forced.

Stephen rolls his eyes. ‘Oh, sorry, Con-nerd.’

‘That’s right, I’m a nerd,’ I snap. ‘So why do you hang out with me?’

‘Because you’re a mad drawer,’ Stephen says.

I tap my glasses. ‘Well, I can’t draw or play basketball anymore, so you can leave me alone.’ Mum’s right, we won’t be friends next year.

‘Man, I liked you better as a nerd,’ Stephen says. ‘Now you’re just a jerk.’

Phommovanh’s ‘Con-Nerd’ is wickedly funny. I forget that that’s one of the charms of young-young adult fiction – such comedic books are laugh-out-loud BIG funny, going for the unabashed, ridiculous laughs. In a book about nerds there’s plenty of target-practice, but I quite liked that Phommovanh is never cruelly funny. The biggest and best laughs come from Connor’s perspective of life as an under-achiever in his mother’s eyes. And while there are laughs to be had, Phommovanh is actually doing a serious exploration of parent’s pressuring their children to do better, be better, be the best you can be! . . . all the while ignoring their kids true talents and enjoyments.

5/5

Oliver Phommavanh's debut novel