John Oliver’s Pence-Trolling Gay-Bunny Book Sold 180,000 Copies in Two Days

John Oliver’s Pence-Trolling Gay-Bunny Book Sold 180,000 Copies in Two Days

[embedded content] Last Week Tonight is getting the last laugh in its (perhaps one-sided) feud with..

Last Week Tonight is getting the last laugh in its (perhaps one-sided) feud with Mike Pence. On Sunday, John Oliverannounced that staff writer _Jill Twiss and illustrator E.G. Keller had penned a picture book that purposefully apes the Pence family’s own children’s book about their bunny, Marlon Bundo. In a twist of expert trolling, Oliver just revealed that his team’s book not only beat the Pence family book on the charts, but has also sold 180,000 copies already—just days after its publication was announced. What’s more, the book isn’t even available in bookstores yet—only Amazon.

Oliver joked about those amazing results in a Tuesday night interview with Seth Meyers. The Last Week book (titled Last Week Tonight with John Oliver Presents a Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo) is a direct send-up of the Pence family’s own book, titled Marlon Bundo’s Day in the Life of the Vice President. While the Pence book is about Bundo following Vice President Mike Pence around for a day, the Oliver book is about Bundo falling in love with a boy bunny and getting married—a direct response to Pence’s anti-L.G.B.T.Q. reputation. In addition, all proceeds of the Last Week Tonight book go to non-profit organizations the Trevor Project and AIDs United.

While Oliver and his team probably hoped that their creation would beat the Pence book in sales, they couldn’t have predicted the book shooting all the way up the Amazon charts, beating out heavy titles like James Comey’s not-yet published A Higher Loyalty.

“At that point, it’s getting ridiculous,” Oliver told Meyers with a laugh. “It sold 180,000 copies so far, which is definitely more than we were prepared for.”

“You made the terrible mistake of giving the money away,” Meyers replied.

“I’m sure HBO will find it absolutely hilarious they’re getting no money out of this,” Oliver agreed. Though the first printing has already sold out, Oliver assured viewers that more are being printed, and that the book will soon be physically available in bookstores as well.

In the interview, Meyers also informed Oliver that fans of the book have found yet another way to troll Pence and anyone else who might not be fond of the book: via Amazon reviews. Fans are apparently pre-emptively leaving one-star reviews, in an attempt to head off haters who are purposefully looking for negative remarks about the book.

“I don’t actually dislike this book at all,” one review reads, “I just wanted the upset homophobes to read my comment as they scour the one-star section for appeasement.”

“One star because I fear the writing is above President Trump’s reading level,” another review reads. “Apart from that, I’m glad I bought it, and I hope it becomes a best-seller.”

The fates heard that fan’s request loud and clear.

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Audrey Hepburn has a joyful reunion with her son Sean, three years old, after wrapping filming on Breakfast at Tiffany’s and The Children’s Hour.
Goldie Hawn and Kate Hudson during the 24th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards at The Shrine Auditorium on January 21, 2018 in Los Angeles, California.Mike Coppola
Lauren Bacall smiling with her children Leslie and Stephen, New York, 1960.Mondadori Portfolio
Blythe Danner and Gwyneth Paltrow at the Food Bank For New York City’s 5th Annual Can-Do Awards Dinner on April 7, 2008 in New York City.L. Busacca
Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher at the Town Hall, New York City, for the School Benefit at Town Hall. November 6, 1972.Ron Galella
Viola Davis and her daughter Genesis Tennon attend the inauguration of Davis’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on January 5, 2017.Axelle/Bauer-Griffin
Singer Diana Ross and her daughter, actress Tracee Ellis Ross, attend the 2014 American Music Awards at Nokia Theatre, L.A. Live, on November 23, 2014 in Los Angeles.Charley Gallay/AMA2014
Dakota Johnson, Tippi Hedren, Melanie Griffith and Stella Banderas at the 22nd annual ELLE Women in Hollywood Awards.Frank Trapper
Catherine Deneuve with her son Christian Vadim shortly after his birth in Paris, in June 1963.REPORTERS ASSOCIES
Three-year-old Kitt McDonald with her mother Eartha Kitt during a press conference in London.
Bette Davis with her daughter Barbara Davis Sherry (later known as B.D. Hyman), circa 1965.Silver Screen Collection
Princess Grace of Monaco relaxes poolside with her nine-year old son Prince Albert on a winter holiday in Montego Bay, Jamaica.
Judy Garland with her daughter Liza Minnelli.
Elizabeth Taylor with her children Michael Wilding and Christopher Wilding, 1956.Apic/RETIRED
Lisa Bonet and Zoe Kravitz attend Saint Laurent at the Palladium on February 10, 2016 in Los Angeles, California.Kevin Mazur

Yohana DestaYohana Desta is a Hollywood writer for VanityFair.com.

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