Pure Innocent Fun - by Ira Madison (Hardcover)

About the Book

"In this inviting and joyfully raucous collection of sixteen original essays, written with a rare combination of humor and sharpness, Ira Madison III combines memoir and cultural criticism to offer an updated pop-culture manifesto. Alternately irreverent and emotionally resonant, Pure Innocent Fun will leave you laughing and inspired."--

Book Synopsis

NATIONAL BESTSELLER - In this nostalgic and raucous collection of sixteen original essays, Ira Madison III--critic, television writer, and host of the beloved Keep It podcast--combines memoir and criticism to offer a brand-new pop-culture manifesto.

"This is the most fun I've had reading all year. Like Chuck Klosterman before him, Ira Madison III takes seriously and analyzes the pop culture detritus that took up hours of our lives."--Lin-Manuel Miranda

You can recall the first TV show, movie, book, or song that made you feel understood--that shaped how you live, what you love, and whom you would become. It gave you an entire worldview. For Ira Madison, that book was Chuck Klosterman's Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs, which cemented the idea that pop culture could be a rigorous subject--and that, for better or worse, it shapes all of us.

In Pure Innocent Fun, Madison explores the key cultural moments that inspired his career as a critic and guided his coming of age as a Black gay man in Milwaukee. In this hilarious, full-throttle trip through the '90s and 2000s, he recounts learning about sex from Buffy the Vampire Slayer; facing the most heartbreaking election of his youth (not George W. Bush's win, but Jennifer Hudson losing American Idol); and how never getting his driver's license in high school made him just like Cher Horowitz in Clueless "a virgin who can't drive."

Brimming with a profound love for a bygone culture and alternating between irreverence and heartfelt insight, Pure Innocent Fun, like all the best products of pop culture, will leave you entertained and surprisingly enlightened.

Review Quotes

"This is the most fun I've had reading all year. Like Chuck Klosterman before him, Ira Madison III takes seriously and analyzes the pop culture detritus that took up hours of our lives as byproducts of the late 1900's. From Coldplay to Family Matters to Passions and everything in between, It feels like Ira has taken apart every dumb thing I've obsessed over and put it back together again--all my 'roman empires.' I laughed and cried and felt so, so seen. Buy it and KEEP IT."--Lin-Manuel Miranda, Pulitzer Prize, Grammy, Emmy, and Tony award winning creator of Hamilton and NYT bestselling author of G'morning G'night

"True to the book's title, Madison's humorous and perceptive essays will light a spark of recognition for those who came of age glued to their televisions at the turn of the century."--The Washington Post, "10 Noteworthy Books for February"

"Ira's wit, intelligence, and reverence for pop culture is on full display in this fantastic essay collection. What a pleasure to read."--Phoebe Robinson, award winning comedian and NYT bestselling author of You Can't Touch My Hair

"If you're old enough to have typed A/S/L in AOL chat rooms this will unlock so many core millennial memories. If you don't know what that means, this book will help you talk to your boss at work!"--Cody Rigsby, NYT bestselling author of XOXO, Cody

"A brilliant critical voice for millennials, those on the cusp, or anyone who has had their eyes open over the past few decades, Madison proves a worthy successor to his own idol, Chuck Klosterman. An engaging and often hilarious memoir-in-essays from a pop-culture fiend."--Kirkus Reviews

About the Author

Ira Madison III is the host of Crooked Media's pop culture podcast Keep It. His television writing credits include Uncoupled, Q-Force, Nikki Fre$h, and So Help Me Todd. He has written for GQ, New York Magazine, Interview, MTV News, and Cosmopolitan, among other publications. Nylon named him one of the "most reliably hilarious and incisive cultural critics writing now." He has appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Watch What Happens Live, The Wendy Williams Show, and the second season of the Netflix drama You. Ira Madison III lives in New York City.