The Benchley Roundup - by Robert C Benchley (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

A hilarious collection by the inimitable writer whom Dave Barry calls his idol, "the funniest writer who ever lived"!
American humor wouldn't be the same if it weren't for Robert C. Benchley. His sketches and articles, published in periodicals like Life, Vanity Fair, and The New Yorker, earned him a reputation as one of the sharpest humorists of his time; his influence--on contemporaries such as E. B. White, James Thurber, and S. J. Perelman, or followers like Woody Allen, Steve Martin, and Richard Pryor--has left an indelible mark on the American comic tradition. The Benchley Roundup collects those pieces, selected by Benchley's son Nathaniel, "which seem to stand up best over the years," a compendium of the most endearing and enduring work from one of America's funniest and most penetrating wits.

"It took me fifteen years to discover that I had no talent for writing, but I couldn't give it up because by then I was too famous."
--Robert Benchley

From the Back Cover

The Benchley Roundup is made up of selections his son, Nathaniel, regards as those 'which seem to stand up best over the years, ' a smorgasbord of the most endearing and enduring pieces from the pen of one of America's funniest--and most penetrating--wits.

Review Quotes

"Benchley seems the perfect wit, moving with ease from parody to whimsy to satire to the brand of quizzical good humor that was uniquely his."
--Martin Levin "Saturday Review"

"He was humor, whit its instinctive humanity, toleration, wisdom, non-competitiveness, non-aggressiveness, democracy. . . . I warmed myself at that fire and what I wrote always was, unconsciously, for his approval. It still is."--Donald Ogden Stewart

"I was always looking for Benchley's stuff, and thought he was wonderful, and still think he was wonderful."--E. B. White

"In all Benchley, a fresh wind stirs in every page. In all his books, you find him ducking swiftly, looking closely, writing sharply. . . . To most of us, he stands alone, in a great, good place of his own."--James Thurber

"More than anyone else, Robert Benchley influenced my early writing style."--Horace Digby

"Robert Benchley is the funniest writer who ever lived. . . . My idol. . . . A brilliant humorist."--Dave Barry

"The work of Robert Benchley is as funny as it was 80 years ago."-- "National Review"

About the Author

Robert C. Benchley (1889-1945), a premier humorist of his time and member of the Algonquin Round Table, wrote for the New York World and New York Tribune Graphic as well as many other periodicals; his work was widely syndicated and anthologized.