Book Description
In his classic caper novels, Donald E. Westlake turns the world of crime and criminals upside down. The bad get better, the good slide a bit, and Lord help anyone caught between a thief named John Dortmunder and the current object of his intentions. Now Westlake's seasoned but often scoreless crook must take on an impossible crime, one he doesn't want and doesn't believe in.But a little blackmail goes a long way in... WHAT'S SO FUNNY?All it takes is a few underhanded moves by a tough ex-cop named Eppick to pull Dortmunder into a game he never wanted to play. With no choice, he musters his always-game gang and they set out on a perilous treasure hunt for a long-lost gold and jewel-studded chess set once intended as a birthday gift for the last Romanov czar, which unfortunately reached Russia after that party was over.From the moment Dortmunder reaches for his first pawn, he faces insurmountable odds. The purloined past of this precious set is destined to confound any strategy he finds on the board. Success is not inevitable with John Dortmunder leading the attack, but he's nothing if not persistent, and some gambit or other might just stumble into a winning move.
Customer Reviews:
Too much is never enough.......2007-08-14
John Dortmunder, the brains behind his gangs various capers is roped into what appears to be an impossible heist. So impossible in fact that he is only going to undertake it to avoid being collared for another long forgotten theft.
Those fans who have roared at the Dortmunder gang's travails all these years will not be disappointed in What's So Funny. It is easily the funniest Dortmunder in years. The only one funnier will be the next one, may they never stop coming. Those who are new to John and his pals will be able to get the full effect of a Dortmunder caper without having to read all the preceding novels but will most assuredly want to.
Classic Dortmunder Humor Offset a Slow First Half Plot.......2007-07-25
What's So Funny? is uncharacteristically slow in the beginning. The best Dortmunder books have a humorous crime that goes awry in the first few pages to get the book off to a flying start. It's like the opening action sequence in a James Bond novel or movie . . . it sets the mood and gets the blood pumping.
What's So Funny? starts instead with an ex-cop, Johnny Eppick who advertises he's "For Hire," blackmailing Dortmunder inside the OJ Bar & Grill. It seems Eppick has a photograph of Dortmunder in felonious possession of stolen merchandise. What's more, Eppick seems to know way too much about Dortmunder for Dortmunder's comfort.
The blackmail effort is for an elderly retired inventor, Mr. Hemlow, who wants to recover a stolen chess set worth millions that had once been intended for the last czar, but the Russian Revolution countered that option before the chess set was delivered. Hemlow's father and some fellow army and navy personnel sneaked the set out of the USSR during the anti-Soviet battles just after World War I. Their sergeant retrieved the set from his squad after they returned to the U.S. and disappeared with the chess set. Now, Hemlow's granddaughter, an apprentice lawyer who fancies herself an amateur historian, has located the set. Hemlow wants Dortmunder to liberate the valuable prize.
Dortmunder is stymied when he learns that the chess set is locked up in a very secure bank vault in the very building where four law firms are fighting over the set. But Hemlow and Eppick don't want to let Dortmunder off the hook.
Eventually, Dortmunder thinks of an angle and the story proceeds in normal Donald E. Westlake fashion. The main outlines of how the story will proceed are obvious in advance, but the humorous mix-ups aren't. Four of the sequences are marvelous as Dortmunder and Eppick miss some illegal house sitters, Dortmunder and Kelp set up to case the site of the heist, the gang is surprised while casing the joint and has to vacate the premises quickly, and the timetable for the heist is voided and Dortmunder has to improvise.
To make up for the slow beginning, Mr. Westlake has larded in more than his usual humor about telephones and electronic devices, and Dortmunder's persecution complex and provided two classic malapropism sequences at the bar in the OJ Bar & Grill. There's also Stan Murch's klutzy idea for a heist to keep you chortling. Otherwise, just be patient and you'll find that the story gets a lot more interesting starting on page 95.
In classic Dortmunder style, the book ends with a final irony that will stay with you.
I love the Dortmunder books and adore Mr. Westlake's humor. But the weak plot in the beginning definitely drops this book for the usual five-star level for Dortmunder to only four.
Have a lot of great laughs!
What's So Funny? Donald Is!.......2007-07-08
The master caper artist is back with another great entry into the series! My Dad and I have been enjoying his books for years and have a special fondness for the Dortmunder series. This one is a treasure, impossilbe to put down and very funny!
Watch a master at work.......2007-06-03
There's a scene in WHAT'S SO FUNNY? where Dortmunder dives out a second story window, landing on the roof six feet below, then shinnies down a rickety ladder to a pitch-black alley below where he uses his pen light to pick the lock of a building he's casing. This scene is so expertly paced, with such specific detail that you will swear Westlake actually went to the place and did a dry run.
The plot of the story revolves around an ex-cop private detective blackmailing Dortmunder into stealing a bejeweled, golden chess set meant for Czar Nicolas II. But it's hidden away in the vault of a bank, and it never comes up for air. The heirs to the chess set are locked in a legal struggle to see who inherits and it's Dortmunder's job to convince them its authenticity is suspect. They will have to bring the chess set out into the open to have experts check it out, and that's when Dortmunder and crew will pounce.
WHAT'S SO FUNNY? isn't as hilarious as the blurbs on the cover say, but it has its moments. Dortmunder (think Walter Matthau) is a sad sack who can't win for losing. At one point he's mistaken for a homeless person. Also, the rest rooms in Dortmunder's favorite hangout are labeled "The Pointers" and "The Setters."
One of the drawbacks of the novel is that you can predict the ending. Dortmunder will remind you of Charlie Brown. He will never get to kick the football, he will never win the ballgame, he will never win the hand of the little red-headed girl.
So far I've read only two of the Dortmunder capers, plus a couple of Westlake's other novels, but I'm rapidly becoming a fan. As the scene at the beginning of this review indicates, this author of the screenplay for "The Grifters" is a true Grand Master.
Burgling into history: a lesson in unintended consequences.......2007-05-30
Well before you get to the end of this irony-dripping mystery, even the first time reader will feel a special something for John Dortmunder somewhere in the chest cavity, close to the heart. He's just so... vulnerable. And, lacing his tale with humor of a sardonic nature, (sometimes reaching over-the-edge funniness), Westlake provides another gem of human limitation in the quest for gain and retribution.
Wait'll you get a load of the wrap-up.
Book Description
Britain's hottest young comedian presents a seriously funny, up-close look at joking matters—from the social origins of laughter, to the art and craft of humor, to why we can never remember the punch line—featuring over 300 jokes.
As the host of the hit game show Distraction (now in its third season on Comedy Central) and one of the premier stand-up acts working today, award-winning comedian Jimmy Carr has won over millions of fans around the world with his trademark rapier wit, laced with “exquisitely economical and perfectly timed one-liners” (The Guardian). For this book he teams up with friend and fellow comedy writer Lucy Greeves to take an in-depth look at where humor comes from and how it works, through exploring its purest form: the joke.
Only Joking begins with the mechanism of laughter—how it happens and why even infants do it—then delves into the power of the punch line, exploring the basics of all jokes, from the use of shock and surprise to advanced stand-up techniques such as the “pull-back/reveal.” Carr and Greeves go on to explore taboo humor, jokes that bomb, and the psychology of finding something funny. They look into the long-standing connection between politics and humor, and discuss the survival prospects for contentious jokes in the current political climate. Throughout the book they conjure up a supporting cast of colorful joke enthusiasts, from Sigmund Freud to Lenny Bruce, and discuss their influence on the jokes we tell today. Surveying across national, ethnic, and gender divides, this rollicking analysis of why joking will always be close to the human heart is an irresistible exploration of humor that makes clear why we need a good laugh now more than ever.
Customer Reviews:
You'll like ONLY JOKING, And that's no joke!.......2007-09-14
I laughed when I read ONLY JOKING by Jimmy Carr and Lucy
Greeves, but I'd recommend that you read it because the answer
to the book's subtitle--WHAT'S SO FUNNY ABOUT MAKING
PEOPLE LAUGH?--is what made it more than just a collection
of jokes.
The authors take an in-depth look at humor and view it from
several perspectives, including a discussion of why jokes are
important, the science of laughter, offensive jokes and why we
laugh at them, and why we need political jokes.
One chapter alone made it worth reading to me; i.e., Chapter 6,
" No way to make a living" (How to be a professional jokester).
Here were the five basic rules for telling a joke:
1. Pick your moments. It's easiest, of course, to tell a joke when
everyone's relaxed and enjoying himself. Telling a joke to
relieve tension is a high-risk strategy, but potentially hilarious.
besides, there'll be other funerals.
2. Know where you're going before you start. Hopefully, in the
direction of the punch line. It sounds obvious, but it's amazing
how often people embark blithely on a joke they think they know
without rehearsing the all-important ending, only to find
themselves completely lost.
3. Don't be tempted to over-elaborate-using fewer words often
works better. Eddie Izzard makes it look easy, but remember
that one man's surreal flight of fancy is another man's
rambling incoherent humiliation.
4. Project a demeanor of relaxed confidence-it gives your
listener permission to laugh. You can try deadpan if you
like, but normal social joke-telling usually requires the
teller to laugh too.
5. Enjoy it. If you're all tense and competitive about sharing
a joke with friends, if your entire self-esteem is resting on
the outcome, then you're doing it for the wrong reasons.
On the other hand, you are showing signs of the borderline
personality disorder that characterizes all the best
comedians; perhaps you should consider doing this for a
living?
Carr and Greeves also presented a compilation of jokes
that can be seen throughout the book . . . I particularly liked
this joke from Carr:
* My dad used to say, "Whatever doesn't kill you makes you
stronger." Until the accident.
There were hundreds of other quips from such comic geniuses
as Steve Martin, Sarah Silverman, Gary Shandling, and Jay
Leno . . . in addition, there were these jokes that at least had
me chuckling:
* I was a ballerina, but I had to quit after I injured a groin
muscle. It wasn't mine.--Rita Rudner;
* I don't want to achieve immortality through my work. I want
to achieve immortality through not dying.--Woody Allen;
* I was on a date with this really attractive model. Well, it wasn't
really a date date. We just ate dinner and saw a movie. Then
the plane landed.--Dave Attell; and
* I never believed in Santa Claus because I knew no white dude
would come into a black neighborhood after dark.--Dick Gregory.
You'll like ONLY JOKING. And that's no joke!
Very funny.......2007-04-24
This is one of the few library books that I managed to finish reading before I had to return it. Not only did I learn a fair bit about humor (did you know that some animals laugh?) but the book appealed to my warped sense of humor. There's a quote at the beginning of each chapter -- "God is a comedian, performing for an audience that is too afaid to laugh. Nietzsche". There's a joke at the bottom of almost every page -- "What do I think of Western civilisation? I think it would be a very good idea.--Mahatma Gandhi". Each chapter ends with a couple of pages of jokes -- "Remember: it takes forty-two muscles to frown and only four to pull the trigger of a decent sniper rifle.--Mitch Henderson". And the text itself can be very funny -- "In Rome there was a special fool market, a sort of boutique adjunct to the main slave market, where you could buy a genuine idiot. These days you can't give them away, but in the first century A.D. they were reassuringly expensive." And, by the way, some of the jokes are definitely NOT G rated.
Not Just for Laughs.......2007-03-22
This book is both an entertaining and informative treatise on humor, laughter, joking and comedy. Authors Carr and Greeve craftily combine serious research with genuine humor and comedy. The best feature of the book are the hundreds of jokes that are included in the book - one joke at the bottom of each page and a series of jokes to conclude each chapter. There are interesting and insightful discussions about the place of humor in the human psyche, cultural development, and politics, among others. The authors give proper due to appropriate sources, both scholarly and other. At times, however, they segue into their own theories without clearly stating so, while giving the impression that their conlcusions are supported by all that preceded them. The two final chapters were a letdown, with an unnecessarily long review of the place of offensive humor, and a somewhat anticlimatic concluding chapter. The only other criticism I have is that a disproportionate number of Carr's jokes appear among those at the bottom of the pages, presumably objectivelty selected from a very large number of candidates. Seems like a bit of nepotism by the father of these one liners (though they are very funny). Nevertheless, I highly recommend this book for the sheer enjoyment of the humor and the well-covered history and role of comedy.
Only Joking: What's So Funny About Making People Laugh?.......2007-01-14
Humor is infective. If you want a brief history of humor, and lots of great examples,this is a good read. It touches on the different humor perceptions of males and females, and explains, as well as can be, why some can tell funny stories and some get lost in the timing and other factors. I think it's a hoot! Good clean fun with a "G" rating. Many familiar names among the contributors. awp
Best book on Humor, with Humor.......2007-01-05
Proving that he's much more than just a TV game show host who likes to hook contestants' genitals up to live electrodes, Jimmy Carr (and his co-author Lucy Greeves) produced an extreme rarity: a very, very funny book with a lot of serious ideas on what humor is, why people laugh, what the heck is "wrong" with people who decide to become comedians...
Contains hundreds of sidebar jokes -- of his own; of other comics -- in addition to the well-written, sometimes hysterically amusing main text.
A MUST HAVE for the bookshelf of anyone even remotely employed in the Humor Business, or any lay person who's ever told a joke, laughed at a joke, not laughed at a joke...
Product Description
What s so Funny? provides the inspiration of many small long-term care victories - by real people: patients and care givers and medical staff. It is not about titanic struggles against death or disease. It s about real people adding humor to real long-term care situations. It inspires readers to say, Hey, I could do that -- NOW! Many of these ideas can be used to get more humor in your life whether or not you are in a long term-care setting. All of them are easy to do since easy is the operative word in long term care settings.
Customer Reviews:
Infectious humor for hearty recovery.......2007-02-23
Reviewed by Richard R. Blake for Reader Views (1/07)
Internationally known for her "FUNdamentally Speaking" seminars, Dr. Patt Schwab, CSP has a unique ability to motivate others to rise above their problems through humor. This book is written especially for long-term caregivers and their patients. It is full of ways to make you laugh, relieve stress, share love and enrich your life and the lives of others.
Inspirational stories from real life fill the pages of this book, demonstrating how patients struggling with crisis, death, and terminal diseases have added humor as a means of facing their personal trauma. Adapting ideas from these experiences Schwab provides the reader with step-by-step illustrations for sharing those sometimes slow-moving, extended, bedside visiting hours into fun projects, laughter and enjoyment.
The book is filled with tips for caregivers and patients alike to use humor in taking the stress of difficult situations, to build trust in relationships. Dr. Schwab shares how laughter became the catharsis in her own experience through a lengthy healing process.
I especially enjoyed the chapter "Act Eccentric!" The elderly are encouraged, through hilarious examples, to make age and infirmity, work to their advantage. The chapter "Fondle a Funny File" was packed full of easy-to-use suggestions, designed especially for long-term patients.
The numerous quotes related to life, love, laughter and loss, were heartwarming, motivational, and inspirational. Filled with delightful illustrations the book is a great gift idea for a hospital visit, the doctor's office, and should be on the coffee table in the reception area of every long term care facility.
"What's So Funny about Long-term Care?" is a book that will produce infectious laughter, friendships, and healing.
GET YOUR RUBBER CHICKENS HERE!.......2007-01-21
Not long ago I watched a movie where the female character
would always read the last page in a book before deciding
whether to buy it. If she had checked out this book she
would have learned where to buy a rubber chicken - a
superior rubber chicken....I think she would have bought
the book first and then gone to find her chicken.
Patt Schwab learned, as I did, after a back breaking
horse riding accident, that without humor by our side our
days were going to look pretty bleak. While I used silly
and uplifting movies to see me through, Patt worked on
letting her friends and caregivers know that despite having
little control over her bodily functions her funny bone was
still fully intact.
Using a variety of situations and delightfully corny pictures
Schwab puts us front center in the role of caregiver, friend or
patient. Regardless, bringing humor into the mix not only
can take our minds off the pain we're in or seeing, but gives
those around us the chance to join in. So whether your adding
to your "funny file" with cards, quips, or zany antidotes or
deciding on a silly song to share with your roommate, having
Schwab's book by your side will give you the added incentive
to find humor in the least likely times and places.
And if you really need to vent, heed her suggestion to set up
your own personal "worry time" schedule allotting 15 minutes
a day to moan, groan, whine and wheeze your way to freedom
from worry. And if that should fail, there's always that superior
rubber chicken. It'll keep you laughing regardless of how many
times you bounce it off your headboard or the side of the car
when your stuck in traffic on the way to the nursing home.
Book Description
Readers of all ages and abilities will quickly learn how to generate laughter, spread good feelings, and perhaps even make a fool of themselves! Written in easy to understand language, the author clearly explains the principles behind such comic tools as: exaggeration, understatement, punch lines, sight gags, logical delusions, creating surprises, the use of funny words, and many others. Examples are provided throughout, along with a list of exercises. Instructions in the arts of Double-Talk and Impersonations are also included, along with a list of the three hottest topics among humans.
Book Description
Critical studies attempting to define and dissect American humor have been published steadily for nearly one hundred years. However, until now, key documents from that history have never been brought together in a single volume for students and scholars.
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Customer Reviews:
Always Leave 'em Laughing.......2007-04-19
In "What's So Funny?" author Cherie Kerr demonstrates how to turn a humdrum speech, presentation or sales pitch into something memorable. The secret, says Kerr, is humor. Using the techniques of professional comics Kerr, CEO and founder of Execupov Inc., has long been a leader in the field of corporate communcation techniques. She draws upon her career as actress, improvisational comedy director and business executive to provide the reader with specific tools to communicate more effectively. The writing is lively, as you would expect, and the anecdotal material nicely illustrates the points and drives them home. Whether you're a seasoned communicator, a novice, or someone in-between you'll find this little book a gold mine of useful information.
Average customer rating:
- Constitutes an ideal set of humor examples and analysis
|
What's so Funny?: The Comic Conception of Culture and Society
Murray S. Davis
Manufacturer: University Of Chicago Press
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Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0226138100 |
Book Description
Jokes, puns, stories, tales, sketches, and shticks saturate our culture. And today the stuff of comedy is almost inescapable, with all-comedy cable channels and stand-up comics acting as a kind of electronic oracle. We're laughing more often, but what are we laughing at? Murray Davis knows. In this inventive book, he uses jokes (good, bad, offensive, and classic) to reveal the truths that comedians deliver. What's So Funny? is not about the psychology of humor but about the objects of our laughter—the world that comics turn upside down and inside out. It also explores the logic of comedy as a serious, critical assault on just about everything we take for granted.
Drawing on a vast array of jokes and the work of dozens of comedians from Jay Leno and Lenny Bruce to Steve Allen and Billy Crystal, Davis reminds us of the extraordinarily subversive power of comedy. When we laugh, we accept the truth of the comic moment: that this is the way life really is. The book is in two parts. In the first, Davis explores the cultural conventions that even simple jokes take apart—the rules of logic, language, rationality, and meaning. In the second, he looks at the social systems that have been at the root of jokes for centuries: authority figures, power relations, and institutions. Whatever their style, comedians use the tools of the trade—ambiguous meanings, missed signals, incongruous characters, unlikely events—to violate our expectations about the world.
Setting comedy within a rich intellectual tradition—from Plato to Freud, Hobbes to Kant, in philosophy as well as sociology—Davis makes a convincing case for comedy as a subtle, complex, and articulated theory of culture and society. He reveals the unsuspected ways in which comedy, with its spotlight on the gap between appearance and reality, the ideal and the actual, can be a powerful mode for understanding the world we have made.
Customer Reviews:
Constitutes an ideal set of humor examples and analysis.......1999-11-10
I was seeking a book that presented all the various types of humor, categorized nicely, with clear analysis of what made each category of humor work, that is, affect people. I needed to look no further than this book. It is a vast compendium of different types of humor --jokes--and an integrated analysis of what in the human psyche and social situation makes them all work. I used this framework to see humor, its punchline effect, as a non-linear systems dynamic avalanche event, an explosive re-interpretation as contexts clash and are switched among. This book has become a text for me in seminars to managers teaching them how to use humor as a tool to defuse bad situations, exert power without offending self efficacy and images of other people and the like. There is no comparable book in scope, trueness to the data, sensitivity of analysis, and as a basis for serious understanding, research, or training.
Book Description
One bonus of getting older is that it gives us a great perspective on life ...and that includes plenty of humor!
This collection of cartoons, quips, quotes, and insights introduces a new comedy genre: elderhumor. It captures the wry hilarity of our real-life sitcoms. Generational vocabulary gaps, miscommunications, preoccupation with health and comforts, foibles, disguises (for aging), even physical limitations -- all can have their funny sides when we're laughing at ourselves.
This book, a light-hearted gift for anyone who's 50-plus, is a memoryjogger too. Remember the Katzenjammer Kids? Jack Armstrong? Apple Mary? Check out your friends' ages by their responses to a "Vanishing Words" test (examples: "spider," "broomstick skirt," "running board," "the shag"). If you're still calling the refrigerator an "icebox," it's a giveaway -- you're probably over 60.
What's So Funny about Getting Old? is brought to you by a comedy team of two. Ed Fischer is an award-winning cartoonist. Jane Thomas Noland, author of Laugh It Off (what's so funny about trying to lose weight?) is a books editor and a former Minneapolis Star Tribune feature writer. Both have delicious ways of looking at life. Both, like all the rest of us, are getting older.
Laughter heals. Laughter helps. Laughter keeps us in shape emotionally and physically. Read this book and try it. You'll be convinced, as these authors are, that there's only one way to grow older -- with a healthy sense of humor!
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- Whoopi's Big Book of Manners
- You Will Make Money in Your Sleep: The Story of Dana Giacchetto, Financial Adviser to the Stars
- 1,000 Unforgettable Senior Moments: Of Which We Could Remember Only 246
- 10 Neat Things About Being a Flower Girl
- 21 Things I Wish My Broker Had Told Me: Practical Advice for New Real Estate Professionals.
- A Gentleman's Honor
- A Northern Light
- All About Me
- Arthritis Relief at Your Fingertips: The Complete Self-Care Guide for Easing Aches and Pains Without Drugs
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