I was just starting graduate school many moons ago when “101 Uses for a Dead Cat” made its debut.
Oh, you’re too young? Haven’t heard of it??
Here’s what Wikipedia had to say about it:
101 Uses for a Dead Cat, by Simon Bond, was a bestselling collection of macabre cartoons. The book was promoted with the tag line, “Since time immemorial mankind has been plagued by the question, ‘What do you do with a dead cat?'” It consisted of cartoons depicting the bodies of dead cats being used for various purposes, including anchoring boats, sharpening pencils and holding bottles of wine.
Release
First published in 1981 (ISBN 0-517-54516-0), it was eventually republished in 20 countries and sold over 2 million copies.[1] It spawned two sequels, 101 More Uses of a Dead Cat and Uses of a Dead Cat in History, as well as calendars featuring the cartoons and even a book in response called The Cat’s Revenge – More Than 101 Uses for Dead People. In 2006, a 25th anniversary edition of A Hundred and One Uses of a Dead Cat was published with a new foreword.[2]
Besides, stimulating your creativity, you could get rich with the “101 uses” theme. Two million copies is none too shabby.
Here’s some ideas to get you started: 101 Uses for an unemployed Lobbyist; 101 Uses for David Letterman; 101 Uses for Flavored Water; 101 Uses for Michael Vick, 101 Uses for a Pharmaceutical Rep.
Give it a whirl.