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John Oliver’s Gay-Bunny Book Is Outselling the Mike Pence Book It’s Trolling

John Oliver’s Gay-Bunny Book Is Outselling the Mike Pence Book It’s Trolling

Guess who just managed to pull a best-selling book out of their hat? That’s right: it’s John Oliver ..

adminMarch 20, 2018 5:30 pm

Guess who just managed to pull a best-selling book out of their hat? That’s right: it’s John Oliver and the staff of Last Week Tonight—specifically, writer Jill Twiss—whose picture book, the somewhat cumbersomely titled Last Week Tonight with John Oliver Presents A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo, is, as of this writing, the No. 1 best-selling book on Amazon. It’s a sweet victory, made even sweeter by the book that’s currently down at fourth place: Marlon Bundo’s A Day in the Life of the Vice President, a picture book written by Mike Pence’s 24-year-old daughter, Charlotte, and illustrated by his wife, Second Lady Karen Pence.

The results may be even more satisfying for Oliver on the children’s book chart, where the Pence joint is being outsold not only by the hardcover version of A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo, but also by the Last Week Tonight creation’s Kindle edition. The Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo audiobook, featuring the talents of Jim Parsons, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Jeff Garlin, Ellie Kemper, John Lithgow, Jack McBrayer, and RuPaul, is also Audible’s current No. 1 best-seller, beating out slightly more substantial audiobooks like James Comey’sA Higher Loyalty and the movie tie-in version of A Wrinkle in Time.

This, of course, is no coincidence. Last Week Tonight’s bunny book, which follows a sprightly young rabbit named Marlon as he meets and falls in love with a dashing male rabbit named Wesley (and defeats a stink-bug bad guy that doesn’t think boy bunnies should marry each other, one who looks an awful lot like Mike Pence), would not exist were it not for the Pence family’s book, a gentle dramatization of life in the Naval Observatory from a bunny’s-eye view.

The Last Week Tonight crew specifically wrote their take on Marlon Bundo to piss off Pence, who is notoriously anti-gay rights. In a deliciously petty flourish, Oliver and Co. made their bunny book available one day before the Pence family’s—and they also gave the book a purposefully similar title and cover, all the better to accidentally ensnare unsuspecting consumers. Proceeds from both books will be donated to charity: the Pence family’s are going to A21, which works to end human trafficking, and Tracy’s Kids, an art-therapy program for children with cancer, while Last Week Tonight chose the L.G.B.T.Q.-friendly Trevor Project and AIDS United.

“Please, buy it for your children, buy it for any child you know, or just buy it because you know it would annoy Mike Pence,” Oliver said of the book on his show Sunday. “You would be doing a nice thing in a really dickish way, and isn’t that the dream at the end of the day?”

At least the real Marlon Bundo—looking mighty spiffy in a bow tie, just like his Last Week Tonight twin!—appears to be taking the competition in stride. Perhaps his first biographer, Charlotte Pence, will have a chance to address the rivalry when she stops by The ViewTuesday afternoon.

Get Vanity Fair’s HWD NewsletterSign up for essential industry and award news from Hollywood.Full ScreenPhotos:Barack Obama and Joe Biden: The Ultimate FriendshipPreviousNext

Fifty percent of all marriages in the United States end in divorce. The other 49 percent of marriages are not as strong as the Obama-Biden relationship.Courtesy of The White House/By Pete Souza.
Mini-golfing is a popular dating activity, as Obama and Biden discover here.Courtesy of The White House/By Pete Souza.
It’s important to make your loved ones laugh.Courtesy of The White House/By Pete Souza.
Here, Obama and Biden are either exercising or realizing that they left the oven on.Courtesy of The White House/By Pete Souza.
Very few people have double dates as public as when the Obamas and Bidens attend Democratic conventions.From Digital Focus/Alamy.
The two practice their “dads watching their hyperactive children on the playground” poses.Courtesy of The White House/By Pete Souza.
Biden anxiously waits for Obama to play fetch.Courtesy of The White House/By Pete Souza.
Obama orders lunch while Biden wonders whether he should claim he forgot his wallet.From AFP/Getty Images.
This tender, intimate gesture reminds one of senior prom.Courtesy of The White House/By Pete Souza.
Nobody puts Barack in the corner.Courtesy of The White House/By Pete Souza.
Biden anxiously waits for Obama to finish his call and look at that cool bird outside.Courtesy of The White House/By Pete Souza.
Obama and Biden stare into each other’s eyes, wishing that they had a milkshake to share.Courtesy of The White House/By Pete Souza.
This is a metaphor of sorts.Courtesy of The White House/By Pete Souza.
Hugs for everyone.Courtesy of The White House/By Pete Souza.
Not only do they share meals together, they don’t even look at their phones while eating. Now that’s commitment.From Getty Images.
Either they’re a) dressed to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, b) acting as groomsmen in a wedding, or c) accidentally dressed the same and are now impromptu twins. (The real answer is a, but c is frighteningly plausible.)Courtesy of The White House/By Pete Souza.
Of course, every once in a while, couples get embarrassed by each other in public.By Cheriss May/NurPhoto/Getty Images.
Taking a breather, and possibly gossiping about the audacity of those Republicans in the Senate.Courtesy of The White House/By Pete Souza.
They even got matching armchairs!Courtesy of The White House/By Pete Souza.
Friends don’t let friends grieve alone.Courtesy of The White House/By Pete Souza.
Look at them. I mean, just look at them.Courtesy of The White House/By Pete Souza.
Even they know that no one has what they have.Courtesy of The White House/By Pete Souza.
They’re not ashamed to show their love in front of a stadium full of people.2010 Getty Images
And this photo was only the beginning move of their special, five-minute-long secret handshake.Courtesy of The White House/By Pete Souza.
Don’t go! Please don’t go!Courtesy of The White House/By Pete Souza.

Hillary BusisHillary Busis is the Hollywood editor at VanityFair.com. Previously, she was an editor at Mashable and at Entertainment Weekly. She lives in Brooklyn, just like everyone else.

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HomeCelebrities
John Oliver’s Gay-Bunny Book Is Outselling the Mike Pence Book It’s Trolling

John Oliver’s Gay-Bunny Book Is Outselling the Mike Pence Book It’s Trolling

Guess who just managed to pull a best-selling book out of their hat? That’s right: it’s John Oliver ..

adminMarch 20, 2018 5:30 pm

Guess who just managed to pull a best-selling book out of their hat? That’s right: it’s John Oliver and the staff of Last Week Tonight—specifically, writer Jill Twiss—whose picture book, the somewhat cumbersomely titled Last Week Tonight with John Oliver Presents A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo, is, as of this writing, the No. 1 best-selling book on Amazon. It’s a sweet victory, made even sweeter by the book that’s currently down at fourth place: Marlon Bundo’s A Day in the Life of the Vice President, a picture book written by Mike Pence’s 24-year-old daughter, Charlotte, and illustrated by his wife, Second Lady Karen Pence.

The results may be even more satisfying for Oliver on the children’s book chart, where the Pence joint is being outsold not only by the hardcover version of A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo, but also by the Last Week Tonight creation’s Kindle edition. The Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo audiobook, featuring the talents of Jim Parsons, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Jeff Garlin, Ellie Kemper, John Lithgow, Jack McBrayer, and RuPaul, is also Audible’s current No. 1 best-seller, beating out slightly more substantial audiobooks like James Comey’sA Higher Loyalty and the movie tie-in version of A Wrinkle in Time.

This, of course, is no coincidence. Last Week Tonight’s bunny book, which follows a sprightly young rabbit named Marlon as he meets and falls in love with a dashing male rabbit named Wesley (and defeats a stink-bug bad guy that doesn’t think boy bunnies should marry each other, one who looks an awful lot like Mike Pence), would not exist were it not for the Pence family’s book, a gentle dramatization of life in the Naval Observatory from a bunny’s-eye view.

The Last Week Tonight crew specifically wrote their take on Marlon Bundo to piss off Pence, who is notoriously anti-gay rights. In a deliciously petty flourish, Oliver and Co. made their bunny book available one day before the Pence family’s—and they also gave the book a purposefully similar title and cover, all the better to accidentally ensnare unsuspecting consumers. Proceeds from both books will be donated to charity: the Pence family’s are going to A21, which works to end human trafficking, and Tracy’s Kids, an art-therapy program for children with cancer, while Last Week Tonight chose the L.G.B.T.Q.-friendly Trevor Project and AIDS United.

“Please, buy it for your children, buy it for any child you know, or just buy it because you know it would annoy Mike Pence,” Oliver said of the book on his show Sunday. “You would be doing a nice thing in a really dickish way, and isn’t that the dream at the end of the day?”

At least the real Marlon Bundo—looking mighty spiffy in a bow tie, just like his Last Week Tonight twin!—appears to be taking the competition in stride. Perhaps his first biographer, Charlotte Pence, will have a chance to address the rivalry when she stops by The ViewTuesday afternoon.

Get Vanity Fair’s HWD NewsletterSign up for essential industry and award news from Hollywood.Full ScreenPhotos:Barack Obama and Joe Biden: The Ultimate FriendshipPreviousNext

Fifty percent of all marriages in the United States end in divorce. The other 49 percent of marriages are not as strong as the Obama-Biden relationship.Courtesy of The White House/By Pete Souza.
Mini-golfing is a popular dating activity, as Obama and Biden discover here.Courtesy of The White House/By Pete Souza.
It’s important to make your loved ones laugh.Courtesy of The White House/By Pete Souza.
Here, Obama and Biden are either exercising or realizing that they left the oven on.Courtesy of The White House/By Pete Souza.
Very few people have double dates as public as when the Obamas and Bidens attend Democratic conventions.From Digital Focus/Alamy.
The two practice their “dads watching their hyperactive children on the playground” poses.Courtesy of The White House/By Pete Souza.
Biden anxiously waits for Obama to play fetch.Courtesy of The White House/By Pete Souza.
Obama orders lunch while Biden wonders whether he should claim he forgot his wallet.From AFP/Getty Images.
This tender, intimate gesture reminds one of senior prom.Courtesy of The White House/By Pete Souza.
Nobody puts Barack in the corner.Courtesy of The White House/By Pete Souza.
Biden anxiously waits for Obama to finish his call and look at that cool bird outside.Courtesy of The White House/By Pete Souza.
Obama and Biden stare into each other’s eyes, wishing that they had a milkshake to share.Courtesy of The White House/By Pete Souza.
This is a metaphor of sorts.Courtesy of The White House/By Pete Souza.
Hugs for everyone.Courtesy of The White House/By Pete Souza.
Not only do they share meals together, they don’t even look at their phones while eating. Now that’s commitment.From Getty Images.
Either they’re a) dressed to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, b) acting as groomsmen in a wedding, or c) accidentally dressed the same and are now impromptu twins. (The real answer is a, but c is frighteningly plausible.)Courtesy of The White House/By Pete Souza.
Of course, every once in a while, couples get embarrassed by each other in public.By Cheriss May/NurPhoto/Getty Images.
Taking a breather, and possibly gossiping about the audacity of those Republicans in the Senate.Courtesy of The White House/By Pete Souza.
They even got matching armchairs!Courtesy of The White House/By Pete Souza.
Friends don’t let friends grieve alone.Courtesy of The White House/By Pete Souza.
Look at them. I mean, just look at them.Courtesy of The White House/By Pete Souza.
Even they know that no one has what they have.Courtesy of The White House/By Pete Souza.
They’re not ashamed to show their love in front of a stadium full of people.2010 Getty Images
And this photo was only the beginning move of their special, five-minute-long secret handshake.Courtesy of The White House/By Pete Souza.
Don’t go! Please don’t go!Courtesy of The White House/By Pete Souza.

Hillary BusisHillary Busis is the Hollywood editor at VanityFair.com. Previously, she was an editor at Mashable and at Entertainment Weekly. She lives in Brooklyn, just like everyone else.

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