Graham Bany
July 28, 2026
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4 min read
During one of my many long drives this summer, I downloaded to and Thrilling Tales of Modern Men by Danny McBride. I read/listened to all eight of the released Dungeon Crawler Carl books this summer, too, but this is my favorite book of the year!Honestly, I cannot begin to explain just how much I love Danny McBride.
When I was in middle school, I remember my sister’s coming home from a trip. My memory might be wrong, but I believe they came home with a copy of it. This movie became my new hyper-fixation and my forever comfort movie. I bought it on iTunes Movie Store and watched it on my iPod Touch almost every day of 8th grade (and maybe that is the problem).
One of my longest enduring movie quotes that I throw out into the universe a few times a week is from Hot Rod and is spoken by McBride: “I go to church every goddamn Sunday! You’re gonna bring the demons out of me?! I’m freaking pumped! I’ve been drinking green tea all goddamn day!”
Over the years, I watched basically all of McBrides’ work. He was consistently part of many of the great movies from the final era of comedic classics. It was not until the pandemic hit that I found myself scrolling my new HBO subscription that I found a show called Vice Principals. As a teacher, I love watching shows about schools. This does not mean I want to watch them all the time. Really, it is more of a hate-watch. I want to see what they mess up. I am a lot of things, but my English degree and hating really make me want to analyze everything.
Truth be told, Vice Principals is one of the best teacher shows I have ever seen. Obviously we are not burning down the houses of our boss or doing all the shenanigans that are the hallmark of a McBride written show, yet the show highlights the hidden interpersonal conflicts within the political structure of a school and the rush to power that, in my opinion, highlights poor, misguided educational leadership. The show reflected some of my curmudgeony behavior and actually sparked a good amount of reflection within myself.
Regardless, I proceeded to binge all of Eastbound and Down and The Righteous Gemstones became appointment viewing as each episode released. McBride, as a writer, brings out curiosities in me, highlights issues I think about, and crafts narratives so ridiculously clever that he interweaves so much into. All this to say, when I saw he published a book, I did not stop to check reviews. I spent one of my valuable Audible credits on it without thinking twice (or at all really).
Thrilling Tales of Modern Men feels just like any of his other works. The audiobook being read by familiar voices John Goodman, Adam Devine, Erik Andre, Shane Gillis, and others made it all feel like another episode of any of his shows. The stories and their scenarios felt like cut plots that could have been added to any of his shows. This all could be a negative, rather McBride leans into his proven voice and created this masterpiece.
Of the stories in the book, the one that stood out to me the most centered around a man who was mourning the loss of his hair. His fixation leads him on a journey with some magical elements that become seemingly unavoidable. Through this, he finds the truth in the reality around him that were present whether he changed or not. Maybe, as a 30 year old, I am thinking more about the onset of my mortality and the fading of my youth (and hairline), but the story ends with a realization I needed to be shown again.
Another favorite is the story of a cul-de-sac where someone has parked a boat. The escalation is a classic Righteous Gemstones mess, and a reminder that poor communication can lead us to the worst in ourselves.
Our parent’s don’t need robotic care. Our found family is important. Fake nice is not a problem solving tool. Our youth fades. Sometimes people do bad things just for the sake of it. Hope is always there. I love McBride. I admire his writing. I hope that through the strange things I say and jokes I try to make that the wisdom and love McBride adds.
Educator, writer, and edtech thinker.
[…] wrote all about this in another post. You can read all about it here: link. I just love Danny McBride. This book is so fun. It highlights so many things I am starting to […]