Comedian John Oliver left the world an early Easter egg when he and his staff released a book that targeted Vice President Mike Pence and the release of his daughter’s children’s book about the family bunny rabbit.
The parody book entitled: “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver Presents a Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo†was written by Jill Twiss, who works with the comedian and was released on Mar. 18 at the closing of the HBO show.
Oliver’s book, which tells the tale of a gay rabbit finding love, was purposely released to go on sale just before the Pence family released its children’s book on Mar. 19. The comedian’s version of the book turns the tale about the Vice Presidential pet, “Marlon Bundo,†into one of tolerance for gay marriage, which Pence has vehemently fought against his entire political career.
Penned by the Vice President’s daughter Charlotte and illustrated by Second Lady Karen Pence, the book entitled “Marlon Bundo’s A Day in the Life of the Vice Presidentâ€
The 24-year-old Charlotte Pence’s book was released and she and Complicit Mike and family immediately hit the trail hawking the children’s book. A portion of the proceeds from the Pence book will go to A21, an organization which fights sex trafficking.
During the tour, the Veep held an event at the headquarters of the Christian conservative, anti-gay group – Focus on the Family.
For her part, Charlotte Pence said she has no problem with the comedian’s parody book.
Pence has been an outspoken critic of the LGBTQ community over his political career in both Congress and as governor of Indiana. While on the campaign trail with then candidate Donald J. Trump, he repeated his long held believe that gay marriage leads to societal collapse.
Oliver simply could not resist the opportunity to tweak the nose of the vice president while he toured the country with his daughter for her book.
Oliver who hosts HBO’s “Last Week Tonight†put together an alternate children’s book to lampoon the Pence family release a full day before it was due to hit bookshelves.
Oliver’s book is a tale of tolerance and is aimed at letting children learn that being different isn’t wrong and they have the right to rebel against lawmakers who write laws that are unfair or non-inclusive.
In the parody book the wedding ceremony of Marlon and Wesley is threatened by “Stink Bugâ€, who bears a resemblance to the vice president and tells the couple: “You can’t be married!â€
Oliver touted the “real children’s book†on the Mar. 18 edition of his program stating the satirical work “isn’t some adult book telling Mike Pence to go f*#k himself. Although, in buying it, that’s exactly what you would be doing.â€
The Oliver book was created in collaboration with Chronicle Books to benefit AIDS United and The Trevor Project – a crisis intervention charity that aims to the suicides of LGBTQ youngsters.
An audio version book is voiced by actors Jim Parsons, who narrates and Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Jeff Garlin, Ellie Kemper, John Lithgow, Jack McBrayer and RuPaul, who voice the characters.
At time of press, both books were listed as “Best Sellers†on Amazon.com with the Pence book a 4.5 stars from earlier in the week and was listed as the #11 most sold. It was the #1 Best Seller in the category of “Children’s Unites States Biographies.â€
The satirical children’s book sat at #1 on the “Amazon Most Sold & Read list.†The online giant listed the hardcover version of the book as “temporarily out of stock.â€
During the Mar. 18 episode of the show Oliver described the creation of the book and the good its purchase can do as a way to do something nice, “in a really dick-ish way.â€
Pence Book publisher Regnery Publishing lamented the release of the parody book with a similar title. “It’s unfortunate that anyone would feel the need to ridicule an educational children’s book and turn it into something controversial and partisan,†the statement read.
Oliver’s book is also available for sale at: betterbundobook.com.