FATHER'S DAY BOOKS
Another Great Category :)

The Nose - Leslie Townes Hope - made it to 100 years old. Killer.

For some reason unbeknownst to anyone, even me, I keep on thinking Burns lives and Hope died. It's people like these comedians who made funny fun. And they were the first to do it to mass audiences.

Almost all the jokes seem old - they are old. But still the delivery and the timing is there. True comedy. It won't translate as well on the page, but it's one of those, dare I say it, once in a lifetime, occurrences.

Download some Bob Hope comedy on Gnutella, Kaaza or whatever and get a taste of the humor. And then buy your dad and yourself a copy of this book.

Book Loons - by Theresa Ichino

The comedian's career began some 80 years ago. My Life in Jokes is a series of vignettes that illustrate what was happening in history as well as in his own life. It helps to have some familiarity with events of the time period to really appreciate the jokes, for example, his digs at McCarthyism. Since I am old enough to have seen Hope on television, what I read is filtered by my memory of his presentation, which I suspect also helps in appreciating his humour.

Bob Hope's humour is self-deprecating and never cruel. Nor is it sleazy or crude (some present-day comics should take note). His interest in current events makes for an intriguing background to his amusing observations. At the time that I was laughing at his wry quips about the U.S.S.R., it never occurred to me that he had actively sought the opportunity to make a potentially risky visit.

Slate - Neil Pollack's "When the Laughter Stopped."

1923: With vaudeville partner George Byrne, Bob debuts on Broadway in the revue Arise, Ye Children of Oppression. The show closes when Ruby Keeler breaks an ankle during the Potemkin dance. "I used to struggle to make ends meet," Bob later said. "I wouldn't have had anything to eat if it wasn't for the stuff the audience threw at me. That just shows you how a political system based on class stratification degrades the working man."