The Best of Frank

Lynne Perras is a communication arts instructor in the Faculty of
General Studies, University of Calgary.

This collection of excerpts from Frank, a biweekly satirical magazine,
is crude, irreverent, and, for the most part, incredibly funny. The
magazine’s credo is voiced in the cover blurb: “Four years of
exposing the guilty, provoking the greedy and mocking the powerful.”
Brian and Mila Mulroney, Peter Mansbridge, Daniel Richler, Peter
Gzowski, Conrad Black, Don Cherry, the CBC, Maclean’s, TV Guide,
Harrowsmith, and The Toronto Sun are but a few of the targeted sacred
(and not-so-sacred) cows.

There are sample columns from such notables as “Alan Frothingham”
and “Barbara Schlemiel,” cartoon strips, magazine covers, newspaper
columns, and printed advertisements. An ad for Molson Canadian,
featuring Eric Lindros, recalls the hockey player’s infamous bar
fiasco: “Clean, Cold and ... hey, get the f--- outa my way Honey.”)
An excerpt from the CBC Radio Guide observes that during one
“Boringside” program, host Peter Gzzzzzi “unctuously pretends to
envy the lifestyle of yet another mental defective from Shrivel, Sask.
...; Stephen Clueless out-enunciates Dalton Cramp and Eric Alsoran in an
exchange of tedious political sermons.”

Despite the questionable taste of some of its humor, The Best of Frank
remains a hilarious and clever commentary on our times.