Bennett Cerf's the Sound of Laughter

by Bennett Cerf

A lifetime's harvest of rich, heartwarming humor from television personality Bennett Cerf.

Genres: Humor

463 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 1970

About the author

Bennett Alfred Cerf (May 25, 1898 – August 27, 1971) was an American writer, owner of The Modern Library publishing house, and co-founder of the American publishing firm Random House.

Cerf was also known for his compilations of jokes and stories, and for his regular appearances on the panel game show What's My Line?

Reviews

[KennyO · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bennett Cerf was "a thinking man's" speaker, writer and publisher (Cerf cofounded Random House). He was deft at making serious points while keeping it light. I'll read and read anything he wrote.

[Rick Bavera · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some of the jokes in this are really funny.

But some really fall flat, leaving me thinking "huh??"

I think a big part of it is that some humor just doesn't survive the passage of time. This book was published in 1970 (50 years ago), and I was alive at that time, and a teenager, and a lot of just doesn't make sense to me now. And might not have made much sense at that time, either, but at least much of the context would have been more "fresh" in my mind, if it was ever really there.

[Hannah Cochran · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's what you'd expect from Bennett Cerf. Some jokes are dated as all hell, some aged poorly, etc., but that's to be expected.
Worth a few laughs.

[Kirk · Rating 3 out of 5]

Collection of anecdotes published in 1970. Most of the best material is recycled from Cerf's earlier collections, especially "Try and Stop Me "