Kid-Friendly Egghead

Stand-Up Comedy Historian
Apr 9, 2023
2 min read

Updated: Dec 17, 2023

Before Inside had even premiered, I was obsessing over Bo's fantastic poetry book (and audiobook!)—Egghead or, You Can't Survive on Ideas Alone.

If you haven't read or listened to Bo's book yet, it's full of his clever wordplay and witty turns of phrase. However, it is also full of profanity and sexually explicit language (which is totally fine for adults, obviously).

My issue arose when I was trying to show my then-7-year-old daughter a few funny and age-appropriate poems, but I had some difficulty finding them easily.

As such, one of my ideas that will never happen is a kid-friendly version of Egghead. I know people hate censorship and bowdlerization, but I'm suggesting a poetry book you could easily share with kids in the classroom.

I think I just really want Bo to be like Shel Silverstein or Jack Prelutsky were in my childhood!

The poetry book even has Lin-Manuel Miranda's seal of approval!

One of his poems in Egghead made my kid laugh harder than I've ever seen a kid laugh (they're not all suitable for kids but this one was.)

Anyway, here's my list of child-appropriate pieces in Egghead. Enjoy, and please share these 100+ poems with any kids you know who like sardonic humor (I know I was one!).

All of the poems can be found here. And if you'd like to purchase your very own copy of the original Egghead, it's available on Amazon here!

Egghead, a Kid-Friendly Version

Effortless

A Dog's Poem

The Squares

Magic