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The Humorist
Survivor, genius, critic.
Murderer.
Meet Benjamin Davids White, blessed since his infancy with an extraordinary to understand humour at its deepest level. Yet Benjamin is cursed, in all his life, he has never laughed or smiled. At the height of his profession as a comedy critic, yet lacking any kind of human empathy, Benjamin discovers a formula that will allow him to construct the most powerful joke the world has ever known. A joke that has the power to kill...
Murderer.
Meet Benjamin Davids White, blessed since his infancy with an extraordinary to understand humour at its deepest level. Yet Benjamin is cursed, in all his life, he has never laughed or smiled. At the height of his profession as a comedy critic, yet lacking any kind of human empathy, Benjamin discovers a formula that will allow him to construct the most powerful joke the world has ever known. A joke that has the power to kill...
- GenresFiction
321 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2012
8 people are currently reading
109 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
May 23, 2012
Oh my Lord .... this was the second worst book that i've ever read , narrowly beaten to the top spot by Robbie Williams autobiography ( don't ask ..a present from a now ex-friend !! ) I barely made it past the first two chapters before giving up the will to live .... Russell Kane's on-stage flourishes may suit his live act but they do not translate well onto the page .. every single action is over embellished & sometimes i had to re-read a passage just to understand what on earth he was on about .... I don't mind Russell Kane's stand up comedy but he really should stick to the day job ... i can only imagine that Zadie Smith was heavily sedated when she wrote the plug line for this pile of tripe .. or as Russell would say .. eye-wateringly enormous lump of soft, warm & slightly pungent cows underbelly ......
July 30, 2012
I struggled with this. I love Russell Kane as a stand up, but found this book to be hugely pretentious, like he wanted us to know that he knows big words and philosophy. Shame, because I really wanted to like it.
November 25, 2023
2023 52 Book Challenge - 40) Written By A Comedian
Well, this was certainly... something. I wouldn't recommend this to anybody who likes Russell Kane as his humour did not translate well into book format, in fact, there wasn't really much funny about this book at all.
The characters weren't fleshed out well, and really, the only things you learn about the main character is that he loves his cousin, he doesn't feel humour and he's jealous of everybody around him. There didn't really seem to be an actual plot aside from the main character trying to kill everybody, not that I cared about any of them because they all felt two-dimensional.
In general, it just wasn't a great book.
Well, this was certainly... something. I wouldn't recommend this to anybody who likes Russell Kane as his humour did not translate well into book format, in fact, there wasn't really much funny about this book at all.
The characters weren't fleshed out well, and really, the only things you learn about the main character is that he loves his cousin, he doesn't feel humour and he's jealous of everybody around him. There didn't really seem to be an actual plot aside from the main character trying to kill everybody, not that I cared about any of them because they all felt two-dimensional.
In general, it just wasn't a great book.
June 9, 2015
As the 2-star mouseover states, 'it was OK.' Faint praise is damning? I expected more humor (and less uses of the word 'foetid' than the 3 or 4 instances I recall). Easy-enough of a read, but nothing super-memorable (except for the joke about the 'Bush administration,' that was pretty funny). I think what was most lacking was the development of the secondary characters. Parents - check. Brother? Meh. Cousin - yes, their weird love-affair was pretty well fleshed-out, but we didn't really see any reasons why she felt so close to the protagonist. Maybe something more was in order there. The back-and-forth in the office between the protagonist's boss and her boss was ... alright. I wasn't looking for 'deep' character development per se, but I was looking for something more incisively witty than was provided.
I'm not trying to take this book very literally, as it's obviously meant as a farcical romp, but I think some of the interactions would've been more humorous if they were presented in a more-realistic way is all. In short, a bit too over-wrought/written to really hit the mark for me.
I'm not trying to take this book very literally, as it's obviously meant as a farcical romp, but I think some of the interactions would've been more humorous if they were presented in a more-realistic way is all. In short, a bit too over-wrought/written to really hit the mark for me.
January 19, 2015
I didn't finish this. Didn't even get to the end of chapter 3.
What a pile of rubbish. I have no idea what was going on, or cared to find out.
It was very waffly, unnecessarily.
Noone should ever try to read this book!!
What a pile of rubbish. I have no idea what was going on, or cared to find out.
It was very waffly, unnecessarily.
Noone should ever try to read this book!!
February 10, 2018
Considering the title, where is the humor in this book?
July 11, 2017
The premise of The Humorist grabbed my attention - a comedy critic, gifted with savant-like understanding of humour, discovers a joke so powerful that anyone who hears it laughs themselves to death.
Sadly the rest of the story isn't as interesting, the book begins at the end of the story - when the protagonist, Benjamin White, has used his discovery to literally slay the audience at The London Comedy Store. From the second chapter on, the rest of the book details how he got to that point, which is largely academic: (spoiler: He found it in a library). Plot-wise, not a whole lot happens, but we get a detailed portrait of our character, and the psyche of a man gifted with a deep understanding of humour, but cursed with an inability to laugh. Interesting idea, but again I'd like to see more happen.
There's a fun conspiracy theory thrown in that connects some legendary comedians and their deaths to the killer routine. But it wasn't enough to make up for the rest of the book. For a story about the world's funniest joke, set in the world of Stand-up Comedy, I don't remember one actual laugh in the book. I found it tough to get through.
Russell Kane is a talented comedian, it's just a shame it didn't show through with this book.
Sadly the rest of the story isn't as interesting, the book begins at the end of the story - when the protagonist, Benjamin White, has used his discovery to literally slay the audience at The London Comedy Store. From the second chapter on, the rest of the book details how he got to that point, which is largely academic: (spoiler: He found it in a library). Plot-wise, not a whole lot happens, but we get a detailed portrait of our character, and the psyche of a man gifted with a deep understanding of humour, but cursed with an inability to laugh. Interesting idea, but again I'd like to see more happen.
There's a fun conspiracy theory thrown in that connects some legendary comedians and their deaths to the killer routine. But it wasn't enough to make up for the rest of the book. For a story about the world's funniest joke, set in the world of Stand-up Comedy, I don't remember one actual laugh in the book. I found it tough to get through.
Russell Kane is a talented comedian, it's just a shame it didn't show through with this book.
March 21, 2022
You know when someone tells you a joke, but you don’t really get it, but the person who’s told you the joke is laughing at themselves, so you do the polite thing and laugh along with them. But they don’t think think you’re laughing enough, and work out you didn’t get the joke, so they explain the joke to you. But it turns out you did get it - it was just a rubbish joke. And now you feel compelled to fake laugh again now that you ‘get it.’
This book is just like that.
This book is just like that.
August 8, 2018
I reached 70 pages and put this book down to read other things. I didn't want to pick it up again.
May 7, 2020
I don't even know why I did this to myself. is this really Scottish humour?
November 8, 2020
Fun to read, very "out there" and niche. but it wasn't a bad book. Wouldn't impact your life if you read it or missed it, so if you are in between books I say give it a go.
December 25, 2024
First half was really good seeing how this humour savant roams the world, then in the last half it was rlly anticlimactic.
May 27, 2013
Clearly this is not everyone's cup of tea. I liked it. From the characterisation (always an interesting read when a book which has no loveable characters but this doesn't eliminate interest), to the plot (original and engaging drawing me through the narrative) and to the style and structure. It is dark and vicious, full of bullies and victims clamouring to exact some level of retribution on each other. The main theme is simple, yet is expanded in a story which is both interesting and grimy. I won't recommend it as it is obviously 'strong meat' not suited to all palettes. You do recognise Russell from the subject, his stand up has a dark side when discussing relationships and writing for reading lets him take this much further. I hope to see more from
him.
him.
March 5, 2013
Hmmm...this book is incredibly dark and freaky. I really enjoyed parts of it but found the writing style a bit pompous and overly (not attractively) complicated.
I was interested in the analysis of comedy and enjoyed reading someone picking apart what they do for a living. However i felt at times there were too many references to comedy and comedians I am not familiar with for me to really get into it.
Not terrible but not great either.
I was interested in the analysis of comedy and enjoyed reading someone picking apart what they do for a living. However i felt at times there were too many references to comedy and comedians I am not familiar with for me to really get into it.
Not terrible but not great either.
January 27, 2020
I don't think that I'm the right sort of audience for this book. I found myself re-reading paragraphs just so I could understand what was going on. I love Russell Kane's stand-up act: he's crude but he has the charm to get away with it. Some people will love it. It has quite an original story. The main character has the secret to kill people with laughter and does this in a comedy club. I did enjoy it to some extent but couldn't wait until it was finished.
January 11, 2014
Pretty dark, sometimes funny and quite disgusting and violent. I read this for a review, probably wouldn't have continued with it if I hadn't been reviewing it but I did find myself caught up in the story, wanting to know how it would play out.
June 12, 2014
Surprised at the low reviews on here! As a lover of Russell Kane's comedy, this felt like a natural read and it was. Thoroughly entertaining and suitably gruesome, I'd recommend it to anyone. Also, Kane's command of the language is mind-blowing
June 17, 2012
Just couldn't get into it.
June 18, 2012
I found it compelling to start with but once I put it down and picked it up again I found it dull, unsympathetic and unengaging. I didn't finish it.
August 14, 2012
Hmmmm...very clever. Not sure what Benjamins motivation was though ?
February 20, 2014
I found it quite confusing to begin with then when I ventured through the book it got clearer and it has an amazing end!
March 3, 2014
Very weird but I wasn't expecting any different from Mr. Kane. Worth a read but you probably need to be his fan to understand his writing style (as he writes as he speaks.)
May 10, 2016
A comedy critic, who is unable to laugh, discovers a formula to create jokes powerful enough to kill.
January 26, 2015
Only got four chapters into this and had to give up. Not for me......and I like Russell's stand up.
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews