Sample
  • Glory Days

  • Stories
  • By: Simon Rich
  • Narrated by: John Mulaney
  • Length: 4 hrs and 5 mins
  • 4.6 out of 5 stars (36 ratings)

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Glory Days

By: Simon Rich
Narrated by: John Mulaney
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Publisher's summary

From the Thurber Prize-winning author of New Teeth, hailed as “a triumph of sustained humor” (Sarah Lyall, New York Times Book Review), comes a hilarious and powerful collection of short stories chronicling the plight of aging millennials. ​

Super Mario turns forty and is forced to “take-a stock” of his life and how “messed up it’s-a become.”

Goliath struggles to control the media narrative in the lead-up to his death match against David, a small, beloved child.

And a long-discarded participation trophy reminisces about the glorious field day in 1993, when he wound up in the arms of a jubilant, asthmatic Simon Rich.

High-stakes and heartfelt, Glory Days mourns the death of youthful innocence and hails the beginning of something approximating wisdom.

©2024 Simon Rich (P)2024 Voracious

Editorial Review

A welcome bit of silliness and surprising wisdom
Simon Rich was not on my radar until I recently caught an interview he did with Conan O’Brien. I delighted in their conversation, so when I saw Rich had a new book of humorous short stories coming out—narrated by one of my favorite stand-up comics, John Mulaney, no less!—I jumped on it. Rich and Mulaney were frequent collaborators when they both wrote for Saturday Night Live, and those sketch-writing roots are apparent in how much fun Rich has with point of view and character in Glory Days. He takes on the voice of an aging Super Mario in one story, a tooth fairy arguing for unionization in another. But the silly setups are more than funny bits; they’re vehicles for some real poignancy about aging, parenthood, and the slings and arrows of the Digital Age. After listening to this, I’ll be diving into Rich’s other titles for sure. — Phoebe N., Audible Editor

What listeners say about Glory Days

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Funny and Inspirational!

I love Simon Rich short stories! First of all they are are very entertaining, but the main reason for me liking them so much is how inspired I get. After reading both this book and his last book "New Teeth", i want to find every small quirky story idea i archived in my notebooks and give them another try :D John Mulaney´s performance is superb. And a highlight for me was the "Participation Trophy" story. Just loved the book!

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    5 out of 5 stars
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It’s weird to laugh this hard during therapy

I should not have listened on my 39th birthday. It made me consider my age, existence, and legacy with equal parts delight, terror, and humility. I will be recommending this to all my elder millennial friends until they are annoyed with me.

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Endless laughter

Fantastic selection of Simon Rich’s short stories. Really enjoyed his entertaining content and the narration!

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Brilliant stories made even better by John Mulaney's narration

While these wild stories would be great enough in printed form, the readings by comedian John Mulaney make the audio format even better. His impersonation of Super Mario tackling middle age is absolutely hilarious.

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Hilairous

Loved it and it made me laugh out loud. Great narrator and the tone was perfect for a midsummer pick me up

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great stories, terrible reader

the short stories are on par with simon rich’s others. i was a little surprised that rich didn’t read the book himself but figured it would be fine since it was a famous comedian reading. wrong. the performance is bad. there are whole sections where he stumbles thru lines and it’s wild they just went with it and didn’t have him re-read it.

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Drinks out your nose funny

Rarely has there been a better match between author and reader. John Mulaney reads Simon Rich probably better than Simon Rich.

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just great

entire thing was a hoot. will definitely listen to again. i laughed a lot! thanks

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Perfect match of book and narrator

Obligatory disclaimer: As in every collection, some pieces are better than others.

With that out of the way, i can affirm that Rich’s work ranges from amusing to hilarious. And John Mulaney is the perfect narrator for Rich’s wry, sardonic humor. I can only hope Mulaney agrees to narrate all Rich’s future books.

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Amazing coop of two genius comedians

Stories are smart and hilarious, while John’s performance is simply brilliant. Listened to most of the stories twice already, and that’s just the beginning

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