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Louder and Funnier
P. G. Wodehouse is recognized as the greatest English comic writers of the twentieth century, rightly admired throughout the world and translated into more than thirty languages. Launched on the twenty-fifth anniversary of his death, this series presents each Overlook Wodehouse as the finest edition of the master’s work ever published―beautifully designed and faithful to the original. This season, Overlook is pleased to offer the latest two hilarious volumes. Louder and Funnier is a collection of articles written for Vanity Fair, with subjects ranging from Shakespeare and divorce to income tax and ocean liners. The Prince and Betty is an engrossing, hilarious story of an unscrupulous millionaire and his plans to build a casino in the Mediterranean. Revised by Wodehouse after the initial publication, it features the master’s signature reflections on the rich in one of his classic novels.
160 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1932
2 people are currently reading
175 people want to read
About the author
P.G. Wodehouse
1,707 books6,953 followersSir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, KBE, was a comic writer who enjoyed enormous popular success during a career of more than seventy years and continues to be widely read over 40 years after his death. Despite the political and social upheavals that occurred during his life, much of which was spent in France and the United States, Wodehouse's main canvas remained that of prewar English upper-class society, reflecting his birth, education, and youthful writing career.
An acknowledged master of English prose, Wodehouse has been admired both by contemporaries such as Hilaire Belloc, Evelyn Waugh and Rudyard Kipling and by more recent writers such as Douglas Adams, Salman Rushdie and Terry Pratchett. Sean O'Casey famously called him "English literature's performing flea", a description that Wodehouse used as the title of a collection of his letters to a friend, Bill Townend.
Best known today for the Jeeves and Blandings Castle novels and short stories, Wodehouse was also a talented playwright and lyricist who was part author and writer of fifteen plays and of 250 lyrics for some thirty musical comedies. He worked with Cole Porter on the musical Anything Goes (1934) and frequently collaborated with Jerome Kern and Guy Bolton. He wrote the lyrics for the hit song Bill in Kern's Show Boat (1927), wrote the lyrics for the Gershwin/Romberg musical Rosalie (1928), and collaborated with Rudolf Friml on a musical version of The Three Musketeers (1928).
An acknowledged master of English prose, Wodehouse has been admired both by contemporaries such as Hilaire Belloc, Evelyn Waugh and Rudyard Kipling and by more recent writers such as Douglas Adams, Salman Rushdie and Terry Pratchett. Sean O'Casey famously called him "English literature's performing flea", a description that Wodehouse used as the title of a collection of his letters to a friend, Bill Townend.
Best known today for the Jeeves and Blandings Castle novels and short stories, Wodehouse was also a talented playwright and lyricist who was part author and writer of fifteen plays and of 250 lyrics for some thirty musical comedies. He worked with Cole Porter on the musical Anything Goes (1934) and frequently collaborated with Jerome Kern and Guy Bolton. He wrote the lyrics for the hit song Bill in Kern's Show Boat (1927), wrote the lyrics for the Gershwin/Romberg musical Rosalie (1928), and collaborated with Rudolf Friml on a musical version of The Three Musketeers (1928).
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews
December 18, 2015
If you're looking to feed your Wodehouse addiction, this book is for you. If, on the other hand, you're looking to develop a Wodehouse addiction, you may be better off starting with one of the Jeeves and Wooster books or something. Louder and Funnier is a collection of essays on various topics. It's amusing enough, but very slight and trifling, even by Wodehousian standards. The humorous tone is there, but not much else. Don't get me wrong: these are highly entertaining, charming, and funny, just not particularly memorable. Substandard Wodehouse is still Wodehouse, after all ... This book worked best for me by imagining that Stephen Fry was reading it aloud. I tried imagining it with Malcolm McDowall as well, but the tone wasn't quite right ...
November 5, 2016
Something different from Wodehouse - early humorous essays written for Vanity Fair. Collected in book form in 1932, Wodehouse revised and edited them for "a cultivated British public," so that "as much as you may dislike this book, it could have been considerably worse."
As other reviewers have said, this collection is not for Wodehouse novices. Reading these essays requires sympathy and some cultural knowledge about the period in which they were written. The greater your familiarity with Wodehouse's fiction, the more you will be able to appreciate these amusing (but not hilarious) pieces. For instance, I thoroughly enjoyed Wodehouse's essay on the question of the authenticity of Shakespeare's plays - he calls on his Broadway experience to cast Shakespeare in the role of "fixer" of Francis Bacon's defective play, Hamlet. Hamlet's interaction with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern is described in the story conference thusly:
"But coming back to this comedy angle, I'll write a scene where Hamlet kids the two 'Varsity Boys."
"That'll be fine," said the manager. "It'll go well on Boat Race night."
If I hadn't read enough Wodehouse to know about Boat Race night, that wouldn't make any sense to me. But I thought that bit was pretty funny, as were the following paragraphs, in which Shakespeare and Bacon argue about Eugene O'Neill several hundred years too early.
So recommended for Wodehouse fans only - but that group will find much to enjoy here.
As other reviewers have said, this collection is not for Wodehouse novices. Reading these essays requires sympathy and some cultural knowledge about the period in which they were written. The greater your familiarity with Wodehouse's fiction, the more you will be able to appreciate these amusing (but not hilarious) pieces. For instance, I thoroughly enjoyed Wodehouse's essay on the question of the authenticity of Shakespeare's plays - he calls on his Broadway experience to cast Shakespeare in the role of "fixer" of Francis Bacon's defective play, Hamlet. Hamlet's interaction with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern is described in the story conference thusly:
"But coming back to this comedy angle, I'll write a scene where Hamlet kids the two 'Varsity Boys."
"That'll be fine," said the manager. "It'll go well on Boat Race night."
If I hadn't read enough Wodehouse to know about Boat Race night, that wouldn't make any sense to me. But I thought that bit was pretty funny, as were the following paragraphs, in which Shakespeare and Bacon argue about Eugene O'Neill several hundred years too early.
So recommended for Wodehouse fans only - but that group will find much to enjoy here.
December 18, 2019
Sparkling prose. Light essays. Some have aged.
September 25, 2023
Rather disappointing.
Dnf!!
Dnf!!
October 8, 2015
Essays! No earth shattering revelations here, but still told in that wonderful voice. Point off for being more snarky than I wanted the master to be.
March 10, 2019
This collection of informal essays is not for the Wodehouse novice, but I'd certainly recommend it to any devoted fan of his writing. The subject matter, and some of his observations, are definitely dated. But every page or two is a gem that you wouldn't want to have missed.
For example, "At the back of Monte Carlo tower the eternal hills. Now, whatever you may say about the eternal hills, however you may extol their grandeur and their impressiveness, the basic fact remains that they are hilly; and one of the most deeply rooted instincts of man, if we may except a handful of freaks who annually boost themselves over the Alps with sharpened hockey-sticks, is a dislike for walking uphill."
Or, in describing the impact of extended companionship on dinner partners during cross-Atlantic cruises, Plum reflects on how his fellow passengers view him: "On the first day of the voyage I imagine that they look me over in a not unkindly spirit and say to themselves, 'Ah! Jolly old Wodehouse, eh? Capital!' The second day, they begin to feel that they have seen me before somewhere and that I am not nearly such an eyeful as they had imagined at first glance. The third day, a sort of nervous irritation floods over them as I sink into my seat and reach for the menu. By dinner-time on the fourth day they feel that this has been going on forever, that there never was a time when they were not sitting at a table looking at my beastly face. My bald head gleams in the light of the electric bulbs, and they wish they could hurl something at it. More and more do they resent the vacant stare of my infernal eyes behind their spectacles. The way I eat seems to them proof of a diseased soul."
Who'd want to miss such treats?
For example, "At the back of Monte Carlo tower the eternal hills. Now, whatever you may say about the eternal hills, however you may extol their grandeur and their impressiveness, the basic fact remains that they are hilly; and one of the most deeply rooted instincts of man, if we may except a handful of freaks who annually boost themselves over the Alps with sharpened hockey-sticks, is a dislike for walking uphill."
Or, in describing the impact of extended companionship on dinner partners during cross-Atlantic cruises, Plum reflects on how his fellow passengers view him: "On the first day of the voyage I imagine that they look me over in a not unkindly spirit and say to themselves, 'Ah! Jolly old Wodehouse, eh? Capital!' The second day, they begin to feel that they have seen me before somewhere and that I am not nearly such an eyeful as they had imagined at first glance. The third day, a sort of nervous irritation floods over them as I sink into my seat and reach for the menu. By dinner-time on the fourth day they feel that this has been going on forever, that there never was a time when they were not sitting at a table looking at my beastly face. My bald head gleams in the light of the electric bulbs, and they wish they could hurl something at it. More and more do they resent the vacant stare of my infernal eyes behind their spectacles. The way I eat seems to them proof of a diseased soul."
Who'd want to miss such treats?
November 6, 2017
Wodehouse is one of my all-time favourite writers, and a Jeeves and Wooster novel never fails to bring a smile to my face, regardless of the circumstances. However, as Wodehouse himself insinuates in the introduction to this collection, these are perhaps not his finest pieces, and the title is an imploration for you to imagine they are louder (perhaps more vivid in their prose) and funnier than what they really are.
That being said, there are some great bits - I really like the taxation piece, and there are some other funny observations, such as about author photographs etc.
I agree with others who have commented that this is a good read for a Wodehouse fan, but not a great example to begin with for anyone who is yet to discover his brilliance.
That being said, there are some great bits - I really like the taxation piece, and there are some other funny observations, such as about author photographs etc.
I agree with others who have commented that this is a good read for a Wodehouse fan, but not a great example to begin with for anyone who is yet to discover his brilliance.
November 27, 2024
Definitely one for the Wodehouse completist rather than the new reader, Louder and Funnier is a 1932 collection of humorous essays ‘written originally more than a dozen years ago for the American magazine Vanity Fair’. They are, of course, funny, witty and inventive (see particularly A Day with the Swattesmore and Prospects for Wambledon’), but they are early Wodehouse, written for a magazine audience and not up to the superlative quality of his best work, and there’s plenty of that to enjoy.
October 14, 2025
An entertaining collection of published articles by P.G. Wodehouse. One of my favorites was when an editor asked him to write a piece advertizing the upcoming Wimbledon. He went on to write about the upcoming seaside tennis tournament of Wambledon and his predictions for success of the ramshackle group of competitors.
On the downside, a couple of the articles reminded me that this is definitely written by an old white guy in the early 1900s. You can't win em all.
On the downside, a couple of the articles reminded me that this is definitely written by an old white guy in the early 1900s. You can't win em all.
April 29, 2018
Everything about P.G. Wodehouse is superb. If you enjoy humorous essays and the clever use of language, this book is the perfect fit. It was exactly what I needed as a palate-cleanser before starting another novel.
November 5, 2019
No louder or funnier than any of Wodehouse's other works, but that's only because every sentence the master writes is comic gold. I've yet to encounter a Wodehouse book that hasn't had me in stitches.
September 12, 2020
Funny in a Wodehousian sort of way. This is a collection of essays he wrote for papers and magazines so there is no real plot. I love his humor - dry, British, irreverent...but he is not for everyone. No Jeeves in this one, but still good.
August 7, 2022
A very witty collection of essays why not the most insightful about the subjects they do give a view into the interwar years. Essay on Shakespeare is perhaps one of the best and funniest written on the immortal bard
January 9, 2018
A rather hit-and-miss collection of essays from the 1920s and 30s. Some great observations on gambling and income tax.
Read
April 2, 2020Amusing little “essays”, some better than others.
May 2, 2020
Some amusing essays and some good jokes. Dated in some ways and surprisingly not in others but not essential Wodehouse I don’t think
April 23, 2022
This was amusing and enjoyable, although inevitably outdated. A collection of essays, theoretically on ordinary subjects but with a sense of ridiculousness about them, they were an easy read.
October 27, 2022
Humourous. Must read.
March 12, 2023
This is a collection of essays written by Wodehouse over the years. His humour and wit sparkle from every page. A gem of a book.
October 14, 2024
Here we have a series of humorous articles Wodehouse wrote for the papers and got published. Many of the articles are rather funny, but it seemed to drag on just a bit too long for my liking.
May 16, 2015
As well as a prolific novelist, Wodehouse was a great writer of articles. Some, like this selection from his writings
for Vanity Fair, were anthologised for posterity. Wodehouse being a perfectionist, of course, these are not the articles exactly as first published; instead, they have been reworked to be, as the title suggests, Louder and Funnier.
Obviously, as a reader of a later vintage, it is unlikely you will have read the originals. It is, therefore, hard to know whether they surpass their progenitors in volume and humour; should the man from trade descriptions be called in? Who can say? Instead, you have to judge whether they are sufficiently loud and funny to pass muster. On loudness, again, the jury is out. Surely, you might say, it depends on the volume of the individual speaker. Some may find the book best read at a mumble, others will insist it can only be enjoyed whist projecting it through a bullhorn. Personally, I read it silently to myself, though some sound escaped in the form of laughter.
Because funny it certainly is. Wodehouse had a wonderfully skewed way of observing the world and whether it is in agitating for a union for theatre watchers or observing the way that Monte Carlo is designed to funnel you into the casino and empty your pockets, you can't help but feel he hits the nail on the h. Witty, erudite, and frequently very silly, he takes you out of your world and plants you firmly in one which probably never really existed in quite the way he describes, but that you wish did. All too soon, however, the slender volume is spent and you can't help that wish there was another volume - Longer and Funnier - to follow.
for Vanity Fair, were anthologised for posterity. Wodehouse being a perfectionist, of course, these are not the articles exactly as first published; instead, they have been reworked to be, as the title suggests, Louder and Funnier.
Obviously, as a reader of a later vintage, it is unlikely you will have read the originals. It is, therefore, hard to know whether they surpass their progenitors in volume and humour; should the man from trade descriptions be called in? Who can say? Instead, you have to judge whether they are sufficiently loud and funny to pass muster. On loudness, again, the jury is out. Surely, you might say, it depends on the volume of the individual speaker. Some may find the book best read at a mumble, others will insist it can only be enjoyed whist projecting it through a bullhorn. Personally, I read it silently to myself, though some sound escaped in the form of laughter.
Because funny it certainly is. Wodehouse had a wonderfully skewed way of observing the world and whether it is in agitating for a union for theatre watchers or observing the way that Monte Carlo is designed to funnel you into the casino and empty your pockets, you can't help but feel he hits the nail on the h. Witty, erudite, and frequently very silly, he takes you out of your world and plants you firmly in one which probably never really existed in quite the way he describes, but that you wish did. All too soon, however, the slender volume is spent and you can't help that wish there was another volume - Longer and Funnier - to follow.
March 16, 2010
I believe, strange as it may seem, that I have never read any P.G. Wodehouse at all. There is probably a more characteristic work I could have chosen to start with than this set of lightly comedic essays, written for Vanity Fair in the 1920s but I finished the Dave Eggers faster than expected and faced with a possible book-less 30 minutes on the subway, I walked rapidly to the nearest bookstore (Babbo's in south Park Slope) and bought something quick and cheap.
So, for no more than the price of a celebrity gossip mag, I read a set of very twee magazine pieces on things like the decline of falconry, foxhunting, butlers and ocean liner travel. None of it seemed incomprehensible or alien except the segment on playing roulette at casinos, the only entertainment described that hasn't changed in 80 years, but I find the mechanics of it just as opaque here as in all those Ian Fleming books.
So, for no more than the price of a celebrity gossip mag, I read a set of very twee magazine pieces on things like the decline of falconry, foxhunting, butlers and ocean liner travel. None of it seemed incomprehensible or alien except the segment on playing roulette at casinos, the only entertainment described that hasn't changed in 80 years, but I find the mechanics of it just as opaque here as in all those Ian Fleming books.
November 6, 2015
I do feel that something in these essays is lost in the great expanse of time between the original writing and the present. The jokes on the theatrical tropes and tennis players of the day are not quite as funny to someone who has never witnessed the farce first hand. Still, Wodehouse is always funny, and plenty of this does stand the test of time, particularly the essays about mystery writing, which has apparently not changed in the last century or so.
January 4, 2026
Interesting for addicts like myself, and in parts very funny indeed; but in some parts really not. This is a reminder that Wodehouse was a jobbing writer: these are articles written for magazines, some of which are more finished than others. Not in the Jeeves or Blandings league, but then what is?...
May 30, 2012
Flimsy articles written for magazines - not Wodehouse at his best. Occasional amusing moments
July 8, 2015
Great fun - a collection of some of the articles he wrote for various publications, all packed full of Wodehousian wit. A giggle on every page - in every paragraph.
June 16, 2016
A collection of droll Wodehouse essays. Hard to go wrong with Wodehouse.
April 16, 2016
A collection of articles by Wodehouse. Fun and funny as usual.
January 28, 2015
A few mundane chapters in between lead me to believe that Wodehouse should stick to fiction.
March 31, 2016
absolutely hilarious - especially the Shakespeare and ocean travel pieces.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews