Dying is easy, comedy is hard. No truer words have been uttered. That bon mot does, however, beg the question: Is it the ultimate triumph to be dead and funny in one fell swoop? Author Anthony Martignetti and editor/designer Daniel Melamud have, in the argot of comedians, “killed it” in a delightfully dark book of inventive tombstone inscriptions, Deep Thoughts From a Shallow Grave: Epitaphs to Die For.
What’s left to say after someone has left their body, soul and planet? Death never takes a holiday, and W.C. Fields was never buried under a tombstone with the epitaph, “On the Whole, I’d Rather Be in Philadelphia.” But the inscriptions below may provide the living with a heartfelt chuckle.
