@PeanutFreeMom is a barrel of laughs

If you're looking for clever laughs, head over to Twitter and follow @PeanutFreeMom. 

PFM, aka "Debra Jones-O'Brien," plays a brittle, obnoxious, self-centered single mom with sensitive child in tow. 

"Debra's" tweets are consistently clever, and timely as well. With Hurricane Irene hitting the East Coast this weekend, topical tweets, apparently from the scene, include:

• "Whole Foods had plenty of bottled water stocked up for the upcoming hurricane, but not my brand. I'm beginning to panic..."
• "Our town has opened up several emergency shelters for the storm, but I just got us reservations at the Hyatt instead. #Irene"
• "Went to CVS out of desperation and asked a man where the bottled water was. He rudely said "I don't work here." Complaining to management."

And here's a pre-Irene tweet that capture's PeanutFreeMom's clueless spirit: "Just made Caleb mommy's famous "PB & J": Portobello Bruschetta & Juicebox." 

Classic. 

"Sh*t My Dad Says"

"Sh*t My Dad Says" is a great read."Sh*t My Dad Says" is a hilarious book. I recommend it to anyone looking for a long series of laughs. Or a fun book they can read 5 minutes a day. But I don't believe for a second that it's a true-to-life tale, as we've been led to believe. 

For those living in a cave, Justin Halpern's book is a spinoff of a popular Twitter feed that not only led to the best-selling book but now is a CBS TV series set to debut in the Fall. Starring William Shatner. Yep, that William Shatner. For reals. Apocalpyse soon to follow. 

"Shi*t My Dad Says" is obviously a recollection, of sorts. But there's no way a weasel kid could quote, verbatim, all this F-bomb-laced wisdom over the course of a decade. There's also no way a clearly educated man would drop expletive-laden "life lessons" like that right and left, hour after hour, day after day, year after year. I mean, could he? Even back in the day, when parents were actually allowed to parent?

Sue me, but I smell a little artistic extension at work. Halpern was a freelancer for Maxim when he started his Twitter feed, so he wasn't swimming in cash. Consistently posting "real" funny stuff on Twitter isn't easy, as anyone who Tweets regularly can attest. But if you're naturally funny, as Halpern is, who's to say a caricature of one's dad might not be a great character to build on? Just sayin. 

Here's the deal: When I see Pop with his own YouTube channel spouting this clever wisdom, I'll believe it. But when it's channeled through the boy, Halpern, I'll take it for what it is, which is great fun.

Update on Saturday, October 30, 2010 at 9:37 AM by Logan Molen

Jsutin Halpern is coming to Bakersfield. He'll be at Russo's Books at 1 p.m. Nov. 6. Let's see if Pop comes along.