The Ridiculous Race 26,000 Miles, 2 Guides, 1 Globe, No Airplanes [Paperback]

The most absurd, hilarious, and ridiculous travelogue ever told, by two hit-TV comedy writers who raced each other around the worldfor bragging rights and a very expensive bottle of Scotch

It started as a friendly wager: two old friends fromThe Harvard Lampoon, Steve Hely and Vali Chandrasekaran now hotshot Hollywood scribes, challenged each other to a race around the globe in opposite directions. There was only one rule: no airplanes. The first man to cross every line of longitude and arrive back in L.A. would win Scotch and infamy. But little did one racer know that the other planned to cheat him out of the big prize by way of a ride on a quarter-million-dollar jet pack.

What follows is a pair of hilarious, hazardous, and eye-opening journeys into the farthest corners of the world. From the West Bank to the Aleutian Islands, the slums of Rio to the steppes of Mongolia, traveling by ocean freighter and the Trans-Siberian Railway (pranking each other mercilessly along the way), Vali and Steve plunge eagerly and ill-prepared into global adventure.

The Ridiculous Raceis a comic travelogue unlike any other, an outrageous tale of two gentlemen travelers who can't wait to don baggy cardigan sweaters, clench corncob pipes between their teeth, and yell at their sons, You lazy bums! When we were your age, we raced around the world without airplanes!

Steve Helywrites for the Fox animated comedyAmerican Dad!He was twice president of The Harvard Lampoon, and has been a writer and performer onLast Call with Carson Dalyand a writer forThe Late Show with David Letterman, the latter earning him an Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Writing for a Variety or Comedy Show.

Vali Chandrasekaranwrites for television'sMy Name Is Earl. In 2006, his scriptJump for Joywas nominated for a Writer's Guild Award. He has been an editor ofThe Harvard Lampoonand a management consultal“