Over the weekend I tore through Thomas Pynchon’s new Inherent Vice, which is excellent and, like all good Pynchon books, frequently hilarious. Given its late-60s LA-hippie setting and Pynchon’s affection for rock music, it’s not surprising to encounter talk throughout about acts like the Trashmen, Thunderclap Newman, and Wild Man Fischer. Less expected—and thus more Pynchonesque—was a frequently repeated joke revolving around a P. Diddy reference. (I’m not gonna spoil it here.)