The Funny Men

by Steve Allen

It has somewhere been pointed out that the number of people in the United States who have a sense of humor is roughly the same as the number who play the piano. Now, no one who can’t play the piano ever steps up to one at a party and tries to ripple off a sonata. But people utterly without a sense of humor seem to have no hesitation about trying to be funny. This is a rather roundabout way of saying that most books about humor have been written by people who don't have it. This one is a noble exception. It is one comedian's-eye view of comedy. Here for the first time is a survey of the field from someone who truly knows television comedy from the inside. There are probably sixty million people who will testify that Steve Allen has a pretty good idea of what is funny and what isn’t. (Leo Guild, TV-radio critic for ‘The Hollywood Reporter’, calls Mr. Allen “the funniest man in TV for 1955.”) That Allen happens as well to be something of a philosopher of humor may not come as too much of a surprise to that portion of his audience interested in such technical points 1) What is the relation of a particular comedian to his audience? 2) What is he best at? 3) Where does he fall flat on his face? 4) Why do people laugh at him? Mr. Allen, a connoisseur of laughter, answers these questions and a lot more about the sixteen famous comedians he analyzes in ‘The Funny Men’.

Genres: Humor

276 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1956

About the author

Stephen Valentine Patrick William "Steve" Allen was an American television personality, musician, actor, comedian, and writer. Though he got his start in radio, Allen is best-known for his television career. He first gained national attention as a guest host on Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts. He graduated to become the first host of The Tonight Show, where he was instrumental in innovating the concept of the television talk show. Thereafter, he hosted numerous game and variety shows, including The Steve Allen Show, I've Got a Secret, The New Steve Allen Show, and was a regular panel member on CBS' What's My Line?

Allen was a "creditable" pianist, and a prolific composer, having penned over 14,000 songs, one of which was recorded by Perry Como and Margaret Whiting, others by Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme, Les Brown, and Gloria Lynne. Allen won a Grammy award in 1963 for best jazz composition, with his song The Gravy Waltz. Allen wrote more than 50 books and has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Reviews

[Patty · Rating 3 out of 5]

Written in the mid-1950's this is Steve Allen's look at his contemporaries. He doesn't do much for biography, this is more a look at comedic style and what has worked and what hasn't over the years. Allen covered sixteen comics who all tried to break into that new medium of television. From Milton Berle to Red Buttons he talked about different styles, why Bob Hope is so funny even though he doesn't do ad libs (al la Groucho) and why some didn't translate well to television.

There was one name that I didn't recognize, Sam Levinson. He must not have been a favorite of my fathers. I saw very few of these comedians actually perform but my Dad did his best to educate me, as well as ensure if they were on anything (talk shows, re-runs, etc.) we watched them. So I learned to like Jack Benny and Bob Hope (well, okay, Hope was still working a lot when I was a kid and I remember many of his shows).

There were some funny moments in the book, things that we know today that Steve Allen couldn't know then because they hadn't happened yet. My favorite was the comment about Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin, basically he said that they wouldn't break up now, they had too much invested in each other as a team. As we all know, they were no longer a team not that many years after this book was written. Sometimes trying to guess ahead results in funny results.

I can't say this was a page turner but it was pleasant to see someone "in the business" explain why humor works for the various comedians and why them trying to be like someone else is almost always doomed to fail.

[Evan]

Irresistible Half Price Books clearance item, 1956 hardcover with dustjacket procured for $1. An uncommon item, to be sure. Profiles of various comedians of the day by the original host of "The Tonight Show." Hope to read this someday.