Shaggy Extracts

"Oh the stories... I’ll be gleaning many a tale of wisdom and joy from the rich fields of memories we’ve harvested together this year and I’ll be storing them away carefully in my neurological silo, ready to be ground into the flour of happy contemplation when one day I decide to bake for myself the nutty, gluten-free, sour-dough bread of my dotage."

Shaggy At The London Book Fair

Shaggy Ebook

Shaggy now on sale as an ebook. R85. Really affordable laughs.

Shaggy Review

Review of Shaggy: 14 Rather Amusing Rambles in South African Theatre Journal.

Shaggy Available to Order

To order your hot off the press copy of these ironic monologues with their shiny new cover contact admin@bkpublishing.co.za

Shaggy Reprint and New Cover

BK Publishing Press Release: Shaggy splashes out with a second print run and a brand new cover

Since it was first published in 2011, Shaggy: 14 Rather Amusing Rambles by Anton Krueger and Pravasan Pillay has garnered excellent reviews. This ingenious new take on the shaggy dog story has had readers laughing nationwide. The first run has sold out and so we’ve been back to the printers – this time with a fresh new cover that has already caught the attention of readers at the the Frankfurt Book Fair, where we sold out all the stock we’d brought along.

If you haven't already indulged in Krueger and Pillay's distinctly dry South African humour, here’s a taste of what to expect from this idiosyncratic duo:

“If you like Monty Python, Pieter-Dirk Uys, Robert Kirby and especially Woody Allen's Getting Even, you will love Shaggy. It provided me with loads of laughter.” Henning Pieterse, winner of the Hertzog Prize

“Satirical, whacky, and at times outright absurd... Krueger and Pillay don't so much skewer South African culture as they gently, yet doggedly, needle our politically over-sensitive psyches.” Ben Greaves, The Oppidan Press

“With this cracking collection Krueger and Pillay have established themselves as a brave new voice deserving of an appreciative audience.” Jonathan Amid, LitNet

To order your hot off the press copy of these ironic monologues with their shiny new cover contact admin@bkpublishing.co.za

Veertien Monoloë Deur Skarminkels, Losers En Idiote

Literator 32(3) Des./Dec. 2011:149-199 

Krueger, Anton and; Pillay, Pravasan. 2010. Shaggy – 14 rather amusing rambles. 

Pretoria: BK Publishing. 131 p. Price: R135,00. ISBN: 978-0-620-50458-4. 

Resensent: 
M.L. Crous 
Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University Port Elizabeth 

Tradisioneel is ‟n shaggy dog story ‟n besonder langdradige relaas vol kenmerkende irrelevante insidente en die slot grens dikwels aan die absurde. Dit is wat die skrywers van hierdie veertien monoloë probeer nadoen, maar dis opvallend dat hulle stories kort en soms op die man af is. Hulle hou doelbewus nie by die oorspronklike pa-troon nie.

Die outeurs spot met die akademie, lewer kommentaar op uitbuiters en manipuleerders en soos wafferse nasate van Horatius en Juve-nalis val hulle bepaalde swakhede in die samelewing aan. Die spre-kers in die monoloë is figure wat ‟n mens in die alledaagse raakloop: die afgeleefde akademikus, die uitbuiterkunstenaar, die grapjas, ‟n eertydse satanis en die skottelgoedwasser-cum-taikoen wat die spot dryf met die Kambodjaanse bevrydingstryd en soos ‟n wafferse see-rower Jenny in besit is van verskeie besighede in Margate. Margate in Natal en Germiston aan die Rand speel ‟n sentrale rol. Margate spog selfs met sy eie M.I.T.

Soos dit ‟n satirikus betaam, dra die skrywers ook deeglike kennis van die konteks wat betref dit wat hulle bespotlik wil voorstel. “The Beans” handel byvoorbeeld oor iemand wat ‟n bemarkingsvergade-ring toespreek en dan die beeld van ‟n blikkie bone gebruik om sy punt oor te dra. Uit sy reaksie op die onsinnighede wat die groep kwytraak, lei ‟n mens af dat alles op dowe ore val en hy sluit sy voorstelling met ‟n kragwoord af.

Deurgaans word ook met eietydse studente se verwysingsraamwerk gespot. Hulle kan assosieer met popkultuur en is dikwels in staat om die belangrikste literatuurteoretiese begrippe uit te spu, maar tot meer as dit is hulle nie in staat nie. Ook feministiese herskrywings en herlesings van byvoorbeeld die geskiedenis word onder die loep geneem. In “The Director” word ‟n Jamie Uys-gedenklesing gelewer en spot die spreker heerlik met die Suid-Afrikaanse filmbedryf met sy toilethumor.

‟n Satirikus is nie altyd te eksplisiet nie. Hy spot deur middel van die taal, deur middel van ironie en deur onderspeling en ‟n mate van oordrywing. Soos met alle goeie satires is dit belangrik dat ‟n mens dit in lewende lywe sien afspeel. Om Nataniël of tannie Evita op papier te lees, is nie naastenby so snaaks soos om hulle op die verhoog te sien nie. Myns insiens is dit ook die geval met hierdie “nogal amusante” stories – die subtiele humor ten spyt.

Purchase Shaggy Online

Shaggy: 14 Rather Amusing Rambles by Anton Krueger and Pravasan Pillay is available to purchase online at Red Pepper Books.

Or write to andrea@alookaway.co.za to order a copy directly from the publisher.

Acerbic, merciless and funny

Playwright, poet and dramaturge Dr Anton Krueger has been exceedingly prolific of late.

The Rhodes Drama lecturer has written three books recently: Experiments in Freedom- issues of identity in new South African Drama, for which he was awarded the Vice-Chancellor’s Book Award 2011; a poetry anthology called Everyday Anomalies; and Shaggy, a collection of ramblings/monologues he co-wrote with Pravasan Pillay.

The latter was launched at NELM’s Eastern Star Gallery recently, producing chuckles and a fair amount of squirming as Krueger’s deliberately banal brand of humour was shared with the gathering.

Prominent local poet, Harry Owen, who introduced the book, revealed how it was written in a remarkable way after Pillay and Krueger struck up an online friendship a few years ago. Finding that their shared a subversive brand of black humour, they decided to co-write what they call “fourteen stories written by creeps, losers and an idiot”. 

The two have only met face to face on a few occasions yet their writing seamlessly melds into a distinctive and indistinguishable style. As Owen noted, one doesn’t know who wrote what. One of these ramblings, 'The Actress', came about when Krueger sent Pillay an article about a vacuous actress expressing her regret that her twin babies couldn’t share in her elation for an award she has yet to receive. Pillay is currently based in Sweden.

Shaggy was launched in Pretoria and Cape Town earlier this year, where some of the pieces were performed by professional actors. Owen describes the effect of reading it as “hilarious but uncomfortable; you squirm in your seat, asking yourself, could I be that one?”

Deliciously subversive and filled with bathos, almost everyone and everything is raked over the coals; from self-important academics to delusional community leaders; parodying the many idiocies of South African life. “He puts a pin into pomposity, ego and ignorance... deflates self-delusions, but does it lightly, with a smile” says Owen. He likened the seemingly pointless humour to Monty Python, Alan Bennet (Adding: “now that’s a compliment!”) and Ken Kesey’s One flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest .“Biting, cutting commentary, acerbic, merciless but above all, funny,” he concluded.

Krueger then read 'The Activist'. It is told from the rather warped perspective of the ‘leader’ of the Margate University Communist Society, who chastises fellow members for not forgoing their cell phones and continually updating their Facebook statuses.

It soon becomes a jumbled ride into the mind of a down-and-out, power hungry, washed-out student, who puts his foot into it by inadvertently revealing his own admiration for high status jobs and fat salaries, coupled with an (un)healthy penchant for Grand Theft Auto. Packed with gems such as: “Suggestions for lectures entitled ‘Revolutionising 24-hour clock time’ and ‘Why poor people have less money,’” Krueger had the audience guffawing with laughter, concluding the banal and absurd diatribe with the immensely ironic “...now that’s enough laissez-faire discussion for one meeting!”

by Anna-Karien Otto
20 September 2011
First published on the Rhodes University website.

Linda Stenman on Shaggy

Shaggy (BK Publishing, 2011) is a collection of amusing monologues from South African writers Anton Krueger and Pravasan Pillay. In each text, a - how shall I say this - not so successful individual speaks to co-workers, audiences and comrades.

After reading a couple of texts, you notice that you begin every new chapter with thinking, "no, not another one!". Loser, that is. Let's face it - the characters in this book impress no one but themselves. But it makes a funny book. My favourites are "The Actress" and "The Foreword" (I'm a huge fan of footnotes). My rating is four stars for some of the stories, and three for others.

I say: ***(**)

First published on Linda Loves Books

Shaggy Launch In Grahamstown

Shaggy Review by Ben Greaves

Henning Pieterse on Shaggy by Anton Krueger and Pravasan Pillay

In literary theory the interlinking terms parody, satire, persiflage and pastiche all, in one way or another, denote the sending up or inversion of existing texts and textual norms. All the stories in Shaggy are satirical in nature; they are also parodies. Satire is derived from satura – a dish filled with various types of fruit, also connotating saturation and satiety. These texts are characterised by the humorous way in which a weakness of a person or a flawed aspect of society is sent up. Parodies render a well-known text, person or situation absurd, by imitating characteristics of these persons, texts or situations in a comical fashion.

In each Shaggy story a different persona becomes the narrator: a retired comic/comedian offering words of advice to a novice; a director of the SABC faced with the conundrum of dealing with a reduction of spending on programming from R4500 per minute to R1-50; a useless lecturer addressing his class and trying to salvage, in an extremely ingratiating way, both his job and his students’ future; a very stupid jailbird planning an escape, a wannabee Marxist activist desperately trying to justify his ultra-capitalist tendencies to his comrades; a restaurateur with an extremely weird addiction; a chairperson of a writing circle confessing about his sojourns into South African satanism; a Bollywood actress being interviewed and displaying every cliché about her trade; a young inventor trying to sell his South Africanised version of the Rubik’s cube; a literally obsessive whistle blower addressing his local police station, and a certain Prof Alex Fitzpatrick, who goes on a lengthy discourse about the number four, in the last sketch, aptly called “The Foreword”.

These stories vary from quips to sometimes absurd and side-splitting puns, jokes and send-ups. For example, in a footnote to the discourse about the number four, we learn about Professor Doctor Heinz Mannheim:

“Mannheim was awarded his professorship in Linguistics at Letz University at the remarkable age of seven, but a severe stutter prevented him from taking up lecturing duties. Instead, he was given free reign in his writing and research. The name Mannheim was consequently to become intimately associated with fields as diverse as Infant Biology, Water Mechanics, and the then nascent field of Hide-And-Go-Seek Studies. The latter occupied much of the pre-pubescent professor’s research hours” (p 127-8).

The satirist’s weapons are mainly under- or overstatement, irony, and sometimes sarcasm, and all these elements are found in abundance in these stories, but never in a condescending way. The cudgel or the rapier may be employed in getting the message across and, wisely, the rapier is mainly used.

If you like Monty Python, Pieter-Dirk Uys, Robert Kirby and especially Woody Allen (Getting Even), you will love Shaggy. It provided me with lots of hoots, and I hope it will do the same for you.

Shaggy: Side-splitting South African Short Stories

Review by Jonathan Amid

Title: Shaggy: 14 Rather Amusing Rambles
Author: Anton Krueger and Pravasan Pillay
Publisher: BK Publishing, Pretoria
ISBN: 9780620504584

In a country beset by crime, political sideshows, service delivery protests and escalating electricity prices there doesn’t always seem to be too much to laugh about, let alone the kind of laughter that makes your abdominal muscles (that you didn’t know existed) contract and contort and your cheeks start to tickle with tears of joy. Into this seeming void step Anton Krueger and Pravasan Pillay, who have just released their first collection of 14 short stories, entitled Shaggy: 14 Rather Amusing Rambles. The title in itself did not prepare me one bit for the riotous, rollicking “rambles” I was about to encounter, nor did it give any real hint of its completely overblown yet often scintillating mix of razor-sharp wit, a dry-as-dust tone and a willingness to engage the reader on an intellectual level.

What Krueger and Pillay set out to do with Shaggy is completely explode the conventions and form of the traditional shaggy-dog tale, with its usual long-winded narration and anti-climactic punchline mutated here into 14 short, sharp, seriously funny monologues set forth from the mouths of a motley crew of “scheming misanthropes whose speeches are full of sound and fury, signifying very little”.

Among this “rogues gallery” we find “manipulative, ingratiating, deluded, egotistical, inauthentic, spiteful narcissists” that all operate in Margate of all places, letting loose outlandish, eccentric and mercifully short spurts of highly imaginative verbal defecation. Some of the most memorable and ridiculous characters (often megalomaniacal and mischievous) are an SABC executive that spins a hilarious web of codswallop around the financial woes of the enterprise; a Picasso-wannabe conceptual artist that extols the virtues of the culinary as well as the corporeal; a brilliantly sketched film director of fatuous fluff who sees himself as an avant-garde auteur completely misunderstood by the censors; a Cambodian woman both compulsive and obsessive about washing dishes, despite her ownership of cosmetics empire Khmer Rouge with its arch rivals Ku Klux Glam (LOL!); and a completely ludicrous Satanist hell-bent on selling timeshare.

To say that these short stories present a shaggy and scraggly collection of characters that do little but “talk shit” would be to sell Krueger and Pillay’s work short. Through the “rambles” of these characters the authors devilishly deconstruct the quotidian and mundane, leaving the reader with little desire to breathe before the next over-the-top tale. Not a single story is without tremendously fine humour, a feather-light touch and a rib-tickling turn of phrase. If variety is the spice of life then humour is surely not far behind, and with this cracking collection Krueger and Pillay have established themselves as a brave new voice deserving of an appreciative audience.

First published on Litnet.

Mrs Parnaby

Purchase online at Red Pepper Books.

Dye Hard Interview with Pravasan Pillay: Humour Me

Pravasan Pillay was born in 1978 in Durban. He has published a chapbook of poetry, Glumlazi (2009), and a collection of comedic short stories Shaggy (2011), co-written with Anton Krueger. Pillay's poetry and short stories have appeared in numerous books and journals and on websites. His short story 'Mr Essop' appears in The Edge of Things, an anthology of South African short fiction published by Dye Hard Press.His humour pieces have appeared in A Look Away Magazine, Mail & Guardian and McSweeney's. He is the editor and co-founder of the small press Tearoom Books. Pillay has worked as a freelance journalist, philosophy lecturer, production and project manager, and copy editor. He currently lives in Sweden and works as the international editor of a Swedish trade magazine. Read more HERE.

Anton, Shaggy

Shaggy by Anton Krueger and Pravasan Pillay

Shaggy:14 Rather Amusing Rambles

by Anton Krueger and Pravasan Pillay

Published by BK Publishing

“But listen to me rambling on! I’m sure you must be dying to rush home to feed your cat.”

14 monologues by creeps, losers and an idiot.

Prepare yourself for a cast of some of the most manipulative, ingratiating, disillusioned, egotistical, inauthentic, spiteful narcissists operating in
contemporary South Africa. Within these pages you will encounter fourteen first-hand shaggy stories told by a rogues gallery of scheming misanthropes whose speeches are full of sound and fury, signifying very little. These hilarious blowhards will make you snigger, cringe and wish your cousin had rather given you Spud 5 for your birthday.

Price: R135
To order a copy write to: andrea@alookaway.co.za

Or purchase online at Red Pepper Books.

Invitation To The Launch of Shaggy by Anton Krueger And Pravasan Pillay