Danny McBride’s actions have always been a little trickier than he admits. The mullet, profanity, and desperate swagger of Kenny Powers’ persona taught viewers to laugh first and think later. It’s a little confusing to pick up his first collection of short stories, Thrilling Tales of Modern Men, and discover that while the jokes are still present, something more subdued and uneasy has been present all along.
Ten stories make up the book, and nearly all of them put a man in a precarious situation that jeopardizes any delicate self-concept he may have. divorce. a layoff. A wife who uses her bedroom as her home office. These are not dramatic, cinematic crises. These are the gradual deteriorations that most men find difficult to discuss, in part because, as McBride seems to grasp, most of these men have no one with whom to discuss them. They don’t have many friendships. They can’t quite put their strained relationships with their kids into words. The collection may land as hard as it does because of this specificity.
The McBridian detours into sheer absurdity are what prevent things from devolving into straight drama. A man going through a divorce turns into a mall illusionist, living inside a hanging cube suspended over the food court for the duration of his act. Another uses his damaged pride as fuel for a compulsive, increasingly insane confrontation with an enigmatic boat that appears in his backyard. Then there’s the tale that serves as the inspiration for the book’s cover image: a man, grieving over his wife’s terrible death at the hands of a carnival tiger, searches for and destroys copies of a book that he feels took advantage of the tragedy. Serious fiction shouldn’t be based on these premises. They do, somehow.
One of McBride’s most valuable skills has always been his ear for dialogue, which translates surprisingly well to the page in this instance. Depending on your tolerance, the voices’ consistency can either be a strength or a drawback. These men all sound like different versions of the same person: middle-aged, Southern, slow to recognize oneself, and quick to defend themselves. The register hardly varies from story to story, as critics will point out, and they won’t be mistaken. However, that consistency seems intentional. McBride is not attempting to write about a variety of male experiences. He is researching a particular strain of American masculinity with the laser-like focus of someone who was raised in it and spent years trying to understand why it seemed like a trap.
Near the end of the collection is the most illuminating tale. “Mr. Liptrapp’s Sword” chronicles the discovery of a cursed Civil War saber from a battlefield by a high school history teacher. In the acknowledgements, McBride, who wrote the recent Halloween trilogy and has a story credit on the 2023 Exorcist movie, mentions Stephen King. This story, which is gloomy, slow-moving, and filled with dread, reads almost like an homage. It’s also the most direct expression of what the entire book subtly argues: according to McBride, Southern masculinity is something that is passed down like an inheritance that no one requested, a set of limitations that men impose on their sons without ever considering their origins or the harm they may cause.
Reading these stories makes it difficult to ignore the fact that McBride is acting with more consideration than his public persona would imply. The humor serves two purposes: it makes room for grief, embarrassment, and the unique loneliness of men who were never taught any other way. It is genuinely funny in some places, the kind that catches you off guard. Thrilling Tales of Modern Men is worth a second look, regardless of whether you are an Eastbound & Down fan or just interested in what the comedian-turned-author has to say. It’s sadder than most comedies and funnier than most literary fiction. McBride appears to be fully aware of his strengths. Simply put, he’s not giving it much thought.
