Real stars speak out for 'The Onion'

While The Onion uses sarcasm and parody to mock society and politics, the Onion A.V. Club uses celebrities to mock their own culture. Published in the back of The Onion Web site, behind all the fake news and witty opinion columns is a magazine filled with reviews of music, movies, books and interviews with some of the most unlikely of celebrities.\nThe Tenacity of the Cockroach is a collection of interviews with some of America's most enduring entertainers. It is a venting point for those famous people whom the limelight passed by quickly, or never really passed at all. The title itself is taken from an interview with Henry Rollins, who jumped the major label ship to create his own record label and book imprint.\nInterestingly enough, few of the chosen interviewees are trying to sell something, which is a welcome relief from the hordes of pages of Tom Cruise and Will Smith interviews in Entertainment Weekly and Rolling Stone. Typically, the "stars" that The Onion takes on have something to say about society, the entertainment business or profound insights into life itself.\nFew books could so gracefully combine Mr. T, Bob Barker, porn star Ron Jeremy and Gene Simmons. But the various interviewers all share a common ability to get these stars to open up to topics and discussions beyond the sentimentality and formulaic nature of "VH1's Behind the Music." \nEach and every one of these interviews is a great read in and of itself. Taking the nearly 10 years of the Onion A.V. Club's existence, Cockroach lends itself to hilarious quotes and anecdotes. From The Unknown Comic's run-ins with Frank Sinatra to XTC frontman Andy Partridge's "Let us out of this deal, oh great Satan," this book contains a wide array of emotions.\nYet, it's also mildly disturbing. These are the heroes of days gone past, with only a few exceptions of current stars (Andrew W.K., Conan O'Brien) or celebrities that have reinvented their careers (Peter Frampton, David Lee Roth). In general, these are former entertainers who are just plain fed up with the system, be it in movies, music, animation, books or comedy. Nothing says depressing better than five interviews with "Mr. Show" creators David Cross and Bob Odenkirk, which chronicle the conception and destruction of their critically acclaimed HBO series. This book should be mandatory reading for anyone who is considering getting into the entertainment industry.\nThat's not to say these people are has-beens, they are far from it. A good number of them are happy with their current status, doing what they've always wanted to do or just happy that they've moved off front-page tabloid status. But so many of them feel underappreciated (and underpaid) for all the time and effort they put into work that has enhanced our culture over the years. They have had the rights to their own work stripped away by the corporate system that now controls entertainment. "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" author Douglas Adams had to sit on the sideline and watch the creation of an atrocious TV movie based on his book. Lloyd Kaufman, co-head of Troma Entertainment, Inc., has started some fantastic movie careers (Marisa Tomei, Oliver Stone, Trey Parker), but many of his own cult-classics aren't available for rent thanks to the strangle hold Blockbuster has on the rental industry.\nAt its best, Cockroach manages to show the human side of these entertainers; not with crying, hugging, Oprah moments, but through intelligent conversation. Generally, the interviewer exists only to get the ball rolling. Who would've thought Vanilla Ice actually understood his own absurdity, or that little person Billy Barty snubbed roles which typecast little people later in his life. \nCockroach is void of the laugh-out-loud humor of The Onion, but it is a beast in and of itself. While The Onion is screaming that we're doomed, Cockroach is saying, "Yeah, but somehow, we'll come back. We always do"