Buub to the Rescue

This rapid-fire comic entertainment mixes slapstick and satire in a gag-jammed throwback to the madcap spirit of the Marx Brothers. What passes for a plot is set in a former Italian colony in Africa, the Republic of Lunitunia, where there’s absolutely no such thing as the Mafia. They do, however, have a little problem with the Maaf’i-aaarrggh...

This rapid-fire comic entertainment mixes slapstick and satire in a gag-jammed throwback to the madcap spirit of the Marx Brothers. What passes for a plot is set in a former Italian colony in Africa, the desert Republic of Lunitunia, where there’s absolutely no such thing as the Mafia. They do, however, have a little problem with the Maaf’i-aaarrggh... Nubile American lass Penny Vaguely, freshly graduated from Blessèd Rejection College, searches Lunitunia for a missing holy relic. The desert cacti thwanng with menace Sergio Leone-style. Maaf’i-aaarrggh henchmen are hot on her trail. She meets romantic chauffeur Luigi Buub (pronounced with two syllables boo-oob) and they get entangled with rival kidnapping gangs and a basketball mascot on the run for war crimes and − well, it ain’t Madame Bovary! With a dash of S.J. Perelman, a dollop of Spike Milligan and a tasteless flavour entirely its own, Buub to the Rescue is just the ticket if you’re in the mood for laughs. Is it ridiculous? You betcha! Offensive too! There’s a giggle on every page.

Jay Pepie is the pen name of an American journalist who has worked in Europe for many years. He used to cover the movie business in Italy.