New year, new books! Look no further than Ira Madison III's new book of essays titled Pure Innocent Fun. He is the host of pop culture podcast Keep It. He has written for many publications including MTV News and GQ. He's also appeared on WWHL with Andy Cohen and The Wendy Williams Show. To say he is qualified to write about pop culture is an understatement.

In this nostalgic collection of original essays, Ira combines memoir and entertainment criticism. The essays are written strong enough to stand alone but together, they create a worldview of pop culture in the 90s and 2000s sprinkled with Ira's coming-of-age as a Black gay man. Key cultural moments shaped him into the funny talented man he is today.

Reading Pure Innocent Fun was like meeting an old classmate at a reunion brunch and reminiscing. Ira had me cackling and nodding my head in agreement throughout most of the book. He captured the sentiments of Gen X / millennials that grew up watching a lot of Black families on TV.

His takes are hilarious on Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Steve Urkel vs. Stefan Urquelle, Marlena Evans being possessed by the devil on Days of Our Lives and the younger daughter from Family Matters that was written off the show with no explanation. I thought I was the only one that remembered she was sent up to her bedroom and never came back downstairs!

Ira could not have picked a better title. It is pure fun to read this collection of essays, especially if you were born in the 80s. Prepare to be entertained!

Happy Early Pub Day, Ira Madison III! Pure Innocent Fun will be available Tuesday, February 4.

Disclaimer: An advance copy was received directly from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Opinions are my own and would be the same if I spent my hard-earned coins. ~LiteraryMarie

Thank you to NetGalley for a preview of this essay collection in exchange for an honest review. Finding that my favorite podcaster had an essay collection being released that was all about early 2000’s pop culture felt like a real gift, and thankfully my expectations were met. Ira Madison III has such a distinctive voice as a writer and comedian, and reading this book felt like sitting with him in front of a warm fire hearing him spin his tales. The chapter towards the end about him coming out were particularly strong and moving. It’s not often that someone has connected with so much of the same popular culture as you. And it’s even less common for them to have similar opinions! I feel really lucky to have discovered Madison’s voice for myself. Check this one out! Only complaint is I wish it was longer!

This is a fun read! Ira Madison III has always been a reliable figure in pop culture commentary. He was one of the first people who I consistently recognized across social media platforms, from Twitter to Letterboxd to Spotify to Threads/Bluesky. (I mean, I don't have Bluesky because I just can't handle another social media site, but I know Ira Madison III has an account.) I've always enjoyed his takes on Housewives and he's just a fun, fresh voice. This translates to Pure Innocent Fun. There's nothing controversial in these essays. There are no huge hot takes or takedowns. Just encyclopedic knowledge of the shows that, if you were born between let's say 1983-1995, you grew up watching. It's a fun look back at everything from soaps to TRL to Dinosaurs (Ira, thank you for reassuring me that the show was not just a fever dream, and informing me that Jessica Walter has been that bitch longer than I realized), this book has it all and some relatable tidbits about growing up in the closet. I ended up drinking a bit of wine and going down a rabbit hole planning my 1999-themed murder mystery party after reading about TRL, so overall I say this book was a big win. How do we put this book in a time capsule so gay kids can read it in 5, 10, 20, 50 years?

Here's what Ira Madison III, author of Pure Innocent Fun, and I have in common: we're both Millennials, and we were both enamored of Chuck Klosterman's 2003 pop culture essay collection Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs as teenagers.

When I heard of Madison's new book, directly suggested by the publisher as being a deeply Klosterman-inspired but distinctly Millennial voice, this seemed directly targeted to me & like a fresh way for me to get into the genre.

And I think that that explicit comparison is what made this book suffer in my estimation. Neither the personal memoir aspect nor the pop culture essay aspect of this book really felt deeply fulfilled enough to capture my interest. Ostensibly about the ways that pop culture shaped him throughout his upbringing, somehow I still don't really feel like I have a strong sense of who the author is as a person from the personal stories. And as to the pop culture element, it felt like each essay lightly brushed against too many different topics, only loosely related, rather than diving deep into one or two connecting topics. If reading Klosterman's essays is like watching an episode of a television show and then changing the channel, Madison's essays were like watching six minutes of a show and then changing channels during the ad break without ever finishing an episode of anything. I think it would be better if this book had been marketed without that comparison, because for the right audience, it will stand on its own.

The Internet suggests to me that Madison is a well-liked writer & podcast host, and I bet that for his existing audience, who already appreciate his writing style & tone & share interests & maybe have more interest in him as an individual, this book will be a fun way to enjoy more of what they like about the author! It was not a bad book, and it made for reasonably fun, breezy reading. Madison is clearly a very intelligent, somewhat self-deprecating, funny guy. If nostalgia is your thing – and c'mon, we're Millennials, of course nostalgia is our thing - you will definitely get plenty of nostalgia to feed on here! It just wasn't what I thought it would be and perhaps I am simply not the target audience here.

Would I recommend to a friend?: Potentially yes, I could certainly see myself recommending it to particular friends who I think would enjoy it. Not across the board to all my friends, though.

Would I reread this book?: No

I really enjoyed “Pure Innocent Fun” by Ira Madison III. If you are a fan of Keep It, you will love this. His voice is so unique and clever.

Even if you don’t listen to Keep It and/or are not aware of him, this is a really fun book that made me laugh out loud but also tear up at more serious reflections. And I learned a lot!! The amount of references and films I wrote down to look up later 👀

I have already preordered my physical copy of this book to add to my bookshelf. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced reader copy. All opinions are my own.

I usually love essay collections about pop culture, but I could not relate to this one. There were way too many references, which became tiring whenever I was lost and had no context to understand the point being made. I felt that the writing relied too heavily on these references, outshining any of the personal reflection and authenticity that I seek in memoirs. I do appreciate Madison's quirky sense of humor and intelligence, but I struggled to pick this up day after day, because the overarching story did not feel compelling.

In Pure Innocent Fun, Ira Madison III, does an excellent job of weaving pop culture facts into telling the story of his youth and upbringing. Reading this book felt like taking a nostalgic trip colored by popular music and movie catchphrases that shaped a generation. References to MTV's Daria and love for anything Destiny's Child will always get my attention.

His humor is witty and the storytelling of his personal journey is endearing. He is an excellent writer and readers will float through this book as if they are listening to a long-time friend sharing stories of their past.

As someone who enjoys all things pop culture, I had to take a few notes and look up a few things that I either never knew or that had long escaped my memory.

This is a fun and engaging read that I would certainly recommend. Next up for me is to check out his podcast, which I have apparently been missing out on for years.

I'm older than Madison (a solid Gen Xer), but my sister is pretty close to his age so a lot of his childhood references resonated just enough given what I saw her watching/listening to over the years that I was able to catch the general vibe here. Admittedly, I'm a solid Chuck Klosterman fan (he's my age exactly), so there were some areas where we differed or I couldn't relate, but on the whole the easy-going and conversational writing style (like Klosterman's own, albeit with disparate referents) made this a fun and enjoyable read.

For me, essays like these are best managed either in doses or by skipping around depending on the particular theme/topic of each. Reading too many consecutively got to feel repetitive, even when the topics were different, and I suspect this is where the age difference came into play (Klosterman essay collections are roughly analogous and I don't get the same feeling there) as it occasionally led me to lost interest. As soon as I picked the book back up after a break I was right back in it, which is why I think it's the age/relativity thing at play. On the whole it's a fun collection. I really enjoy the walk down memory lane and the thoughtful, yet lighthearted-in-presentation, consideration of the social aspects of a particular slice of pop culture.

What a treat! I love listening to Ira on Keep It! and I was 0% surprised to find that Pure Innocent Fun was entertaining, hilarious, and steeped in the pop culture that raised us. I can't wait for the world to read this in February!

Thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley for the ARC of Pure Innocent Fun!

As a Marquette alum and superfan of his podcast, I had to read this book and I'm so happy to report that I loved it. Every page felt like I was sitting across from Ira talking about all sorts of things that interest me. His writing is smart and open and funny and his knowledge about music and film is unmatched. Loved it. Pick this one up! Thanks so much to the publisher for the gifted copy!

Ira Madison III has such a great sense of humor/personality. I love his writing style and the overall tone of this amazing essay collection. Usually essay collections are a hit or miss for me, so "Pure Innocent Fun" was a pleasant surprise. To be honest, it was the super cute cover art that made me request this book. It's so nostalgic and eye-catching. The theme of this essay collection is pop culture. Ira talks about how pop culture shaped his childhood as a closeted young black teenager growing up in Milwaukee, WI. in the '80s and '90s. He talks about his love for Buffy the Vampire Slayer (t.v. show), his fondness for Tom Cruise, Angelina Jolie, pop music, films, soap operas, and so much more. This was such a fun and light-hearted read. I learned so much about this author, and I really like him as a person and writer. An underrated gem!

Thank you, Netgalley and Random House for the digital ARC.

If you love the 90s and pop culture, this book is for you! It was very funny and I really enjoyed the different stories that Madison shared. I would definitely recommend this book!

Thank you to NetGalley for a copy of this book!

As someone who also had a spiritual pop culture awakening thanks to Sex, Drugs, & Cocoa Puffs, I felt Pure Innocent Fun in my soul.

Critiquing pop culture is such an art, and one that I am constantly thirsting for. This is the perfect essay collection for millennials who grew up with the most wild public figures whose actions and legacies still reverberate today. It's always a fun (and sometimes scary) look back into what we consumed as we came of age.

The writing was a bit...erratic? Almost like he was typing out whatever came to him in a stream-of-consciousness kind of way. Sometimes I lost track of what the chapter was originally supposed to be about, but at the same time, I could relate to all the different types of feelings and experiences, and it definitely made for a unique way of presenting information.

Also I thought I was the only person who remembered Bobby's World, so thank you, Ira.

Thanks to the publisher for the automatic approval to read this!

Ira Madison III's essay collection Pure Innocent Fun warmed my fellow xennial heart. We were only born a few years apart so Madison's tales about growing up and the pop culture of the time resonated heavily with me. The sound of opening the Disney VHS plastic clamshells, the appointment television, and our shared love for Daria. Madison grew up in Milwaukee and went to a school that was predominantly white and was closeted. I hard agree with many of his pop culture hot takes- Bring it On is a perfect movie, Ashlee is the superior Simpson, etc. Because I grew up at the same time as Madison, I understood his references, and so when he went into a historical background on some of the events it was a bit annoying, but I understand this will be for a wider audience. For fans of Ira's podcast Keep It! this will definitely be in your wheelhouse and is an overall light and amusing read.

Thank you to Random House via NetGalley for the advance reader copy in exchange for honest review.

Pure Innocent Fun by Ira Madison III is hands-down the most fun I’ve had reading this year. With sharp humor and heartfelt insight, Madison takes us on a nostalgic ride through the pop culture moments that shaped him—and so many of us—growing up in the ’90s and 2000s.

From learning about sex via Buffy the Vampire Slayer to mourning Jennifer Hudson’s American Idol loss like it was a national tragedy, Madison’s essays are equal parts hilarious and relatable. His mix of memoir and pop culture criticism is spot-on, making you laugh out loud while sneaking in reflections on identity, race, and growing up as a Black gay man.

If you’ve ever loved something so much it shaped who you are, this book will hit home. It’s a must-read for anyone who lives for a good pop culture deep dive—or just needs a good laugh.

Thank you #Netgalley for the advanced copy!

As a millennial, so many stories brought me back to my childhood and the shows that so many of us watched. Each essay starts with a pop culture quote and then tying the stories to a social media/pop culture moment. It is an entertaining fast read!

Pure Innocent Fun by Ira Madison III is a cotton candy read. Light, devoured quickly, and done. These personal essays are mostly funny but not that deeply personal. Madison is a talented writer but these essays don't go deep. Entertaining enough though. Thanks to #RandomHouse and #netgalley for the opportunity to preview this book.

Loved this collection of pop culture essays - I was entertained and brought back to an enjoyable time in my history. Very talented essays to get through at your own pace. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

Ira got us through the first trump administration, and it looks like he’s gonna get us through the second!!! There is no better voice on pop culture today. If you love his substack and his podcast free order this book now!

Huge fan of Ira and a regular listener of his podcast Keep It!, so I was estatic to receive an ARC for this one (thanks publisher)!

I think I loved the idea more than the execution. While reading about pop culture from the last few decades was nostalgic and getting tidbits of Madison's own life interesting, I found the essays themselves to be repetitive and long winded. While they each truly touch on great moments in time, I feel like we could've found the point quicker and landed a more impactful ending. because after a few of these, I found myself questioning how we started in one place and ended somewhere completely.

Still an interesting interpretation with it's memoir and pop culture anthology mix that would've done better with a second editor.