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Funny Business: The Legendary Life and Political Satire of Art Buchwald
“A delightful and entertaining book about one of America’s greatest humorists.”—Seth Meyers
This “absorbing, illuminating” (Jon Meacham) biography of the legendary political humorist reveals the life behind his must-read Washington Post columns, featuring never-before-published photos, documents, and interviews.
Before Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, Trevor Noah, and Doonesbury, there was Art Buchwald. For more than fifty years, from 1949 to 2006, Art Buchwald’s Pulitzer Prize–winning column of political satire and biting wit made him one of the most widely read American humorists and a popular player in the Washington world of Ethel and Ted Kennedy, Ben Bradlee, and Katharine Graham. Dean Acheson, former U.S. Secretary of State, called Buchwald the “greatest satirist in the English language since Pope and Swift.”
Drawing on Buchwald’s most memorable columns and unpublished correspondence with other famous people, Funny Business shows how Art Buchwald became an American original. Like Mark Twain, Dorothy Parker, and James Thurber, he satirized political scoundrels, lampooned the powerful, and “worshipped the quicksand” that ten presidents walked on, as Buchwald joked. “The key to Buchwald’s style of humor, he once stated, was to “treat light subjects seriously and serious subjects lightly.”
But there was a darker, more serious side to Art Buchwald. A childhood spent in foster homes taught him to see comedy as a refuge. Buchwald also struggled with depression, a secret he kept from the public for nearly thirty years.
This revealing book is studded with stories of Buchwald’s friendships with Humphrey Bogart, John Steinbeck, Irwin Shaw, William Styron, Erma Bombeck, Frank Sinatra, Adam West ("Batman"), Robert Frost, and others. Throughout his career, Buchwald wrote about such historical events as the Vietnam War, the assassinations of John and Robert Kennedy, Watergate, and the 9/11 terrorist attack. Featured here are stories of Buchwald’s nonstop one-liners, known in his day as “Buchshots.”
Entertaining and absorbing, Funny Business looks back on Buchwald’s brilliant gift for humor and satire, which will once again bring readers a comedic respite from troublesome times.
This “absorbing, illuminating” (Jon Meacham) biography of the legendary political humorist reveals the life behind his must-read Washington Post columns, featuring never-before-published photos, documents, and interviews.
Before Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, Trevor Noah, and Doonesbury, there was Art Buchwald. For more than fifty years, from 1949 to 2006, Art Buchwald’s Pulitzer Prize–winning column of political satire and biting wit made him one of the most widely read American humorists and a popular player in the Washington world of Ethel and Ted Kennedy, Ben Bradlee, and Katharine Graham. Dean Acheson, former U.S. Secretary of State, called Buchwald the “greatest satirist in the English language since Pope and Swift.”
Drawing on Buchwald’s most memorable columns and unpublished correspondence with other famous people, Funny Business shows how Art Buchwald became an American original. Like Mark Twain, Dorothy Parker, and James Thurber, he satirized political scoundrels, lampooned the powerful, and “worshipped the quicksand” that ten presidents walked on, as Buchwald joked. “The key to Buchwald’s style of humor, he once stated, was to “treat light subjects seriously and serious subjects lightly.”
But there was a darker, more serious side to Art Buchwald. A childhood spent in foster homes taught him to see comedy as a refuge. Buchwald also struggled with depression, a secret he kept from the public for nearly thirty years.
This revealing book is studded with stories of Buchwald’s friendships with Humphrey Bogart, John Steinbeck, Irwin Shaw, William Styron, Erma Bombeck, Frank Sinatra, Adam West ("Batman"), Robert Frost, and others. Throughout his career, Buchwald wrote about such historical events as the Vietnam War, the assassinations of John and Robert Kennedy, Watergate, and the 9/11 terrorist attack. Featured here are stories of Buchwald’s nonstop one-liners, known in his day as “Buchshots.”
Entertaining and absorbing, Funny Business looks back on Buchwald’s brilliant gift for humor and satire, which will once again bring readers a comedic respite from troublesome times.
336 pages, Hardcover
Published June 7, 2022
50 people are currently reading
1756 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
June 27, 2022
I was pretty excited about a biography of Art Buchwald, one of my favorite writers of my youth. I didn’t know his background and how rapidly he rose to fame; it is a well written account.
The problem is the author becomes enthralled with Buchwald’s celebrity, not his amazing body of work. For every great writing quote(My favorite: Rockefeller did a favor for Nixon by running against him in the primary because if he hadn’t, Nixon would have been forced to run against himself, and that would have been the dirtiest campaign on record) there are ten letters from celebrities that drag the book to a screeching halt.
The problem with being great is knowing when to leave the stage, and Buchwald holds on beyond his time. It’s sad but there is no insight or perspective from the author.
I wish someone who loved his writing had written this book. I kept thinking about great columns that should have made the book (when Nixon resigned, Buchwald wrote a poignant column about visiting Checker’s grave and trying to understand why Nixon did what he did)
I wish it was a better book but I’m still glad I read it.
The problem is the author becomes enthralled with Buchwald’s celebrity, not his amazing body of work. For every great writing quote(My favorite: Rockefeller did a favor for Nixon by running against him in the primary because if he hadn’t, Nixon would have been forced to run against himself, and that would have been the dirtiest campaign on record) there are ten letters from celebrities that drag the book to a screeching halt.
The problem with being great is knowing when to leave the stage, and Buchwald holds on beyond his time. It’s sad but there is no insight or perspective from the author.
I wish someone who loved his writing had written this book. I kept thinking about great columns that should have made the book (when Nixon resigned, Buchwald wrote a poignant column about visiting Checker’s grave and trying to understand why Nixon did what he did)
I wish it was a better book but I’m still glad I read it.
December 19, 2022
Did not finish.
I've read All of his books and there really wasn't anything new here.
I've read All of his books and there really wasn't anything new here.
June 14, 2022
Buchwald was the most well-known political humorist when I was growing up. I used to read him in the Boston Globe. I seldom thought he was very funny. He was too genial for my taste. You didn't shake your heard and think, "I can't believe he said that!". Instead, you got a wry smile and thought, at best, "That's kind of clever."
Michael Hill makes it clear that Buchwald was an insider. He was a very close family friend of the Kennedys. He hob-knobbed with Bill Buckley, John Steinbeck, Mike Wallace, Ben Bradlee and many more. You could write a big life and times biography of Buchwald which would be a good picture of how Washington power worked in the 60s and 70s. That is not the book that Hill choose to write.
This book is more of a scrapbook than a biography. Hill has mined the Buchwald papers at the Library of Congress. He gives us jokey letters to and from Buchwald to his celebrity friends. We get excerpts from his after-dinner speeches. He includes snippets and one liners from the columns. There is a full selection of Buchwald anecdotes, practical jokes and quips. The stories are patched together with basic background explaining subjects like Watergate or Jimmy Carter.
The acknowledgments mention six people that he interviewed for the book but most of the footnotes reference either the Buchwald papers or newspapers. Hill does discuss the depression which Buchwald discussed publicly late in his life and gives a good description of Buchwald's battle with Paramount pictures for credits for the script to the Eddie Murphy movie, "Coming To America".
I still don't find Buchwald to be that funny, so I am probably not the target audience for this book. I did have one good belly laugh. In describing the 1968 presidential candidates, Buchwald wrote;
"Nixon looks like someone you wouldn't buy a used car from and Humphrey like a guy who had bought one, and Wallace, like a guy who would steal one."
Michael Hill makes it clear that Buchwald was an insider. He was a very close family friend of the Kennedys. He hob-knobbed with Bill Buckley, John Steinbeck, Mike Wallace, Ben Bradlee and many more. You could write a big life and times biography of Buchwald which would be a good picture of how Washington power worked in the 60s and 70s. That is not the book that Hill choose to write.
This book is more of a scrapbook than a biography. Hill has mined the Buchwald papers at the Library of Congress. He gives us jokey letters to and from Buchwald to his celebrity friends. We get excerpts from his after-dinner speeches. He includes snippets and one liners from the columns. There is a full selection of Buchwald anecdotes, practical jokes and quips. The stories are patched together with basic background explaining subjects like Watergate or Jimmy Carter.
The acknowledgments mention six people that he interviewed for the book but most of the footnotes reference either the Buchwald papers or newspapers. Hill does discuss the depression which Buchwald discussed publicly late in his life and gives a good description of Buchwald's battle with Paramount pictures for credits for the script to the Eddie Murphy movie, "Coming To America".
I still don't find Buchwald to be that funny, so I am probably not the target audience for this book. I did have one good belly laugh. In describing the 1968 presidential candidates, Buchwald wrote;
"Nixon looks like someone you wouldn't buy a used car from and Humphrey like a guy who had bought one, and Wallace, like a guy who would steal one."
December 2, 2022
This is an enjoyable book. I never read Buchwald's columns, but I was aware of him. My husband read this book and recommended it.
Buchwald is a bright, gifted writer. The author skims over Art's childhood and starts focusing on Art's life after his service in the military. He was an extraordinarily lucky man when it came to his career--luck plus a gift for satire led to a successful career and the building of strong friendships. He was not a snarky or mean writer. He was clever and knew just how much he could tweak a topic or a person. Times are not as kind now.
I enjoyed reading the excerpts from his columns and some letters exchanged between him and friends. Based on his correspondence with Erma Bombeck, I want to read one of her books.
Times are so different now. He started his career right after WWII and continued through 911, but he managed to avoid spewing hatred and attacking people.
I plan to read his autobiography.
Buchwald is a bright, gifted writer. The author skims over Art's childhood and starts focusing on Art's life after his service in the military. He was an extraordinarily lucky man when it came to his career--luck plus a gift for satire led to a successful career and the building of strong friendships. He was not a snarky or mean writer. He was clever and knew just how much he could tweak a topic or a person. Times are not as kind now.
I enjoyed reading the excerpts from his columns and some letters exchanged between him and friends. Based on his correspondence with Erma Bombeck, I want to read one of her books.
Times are so different now. He started his career right after WWII and continued through 911, but he managed to avoid spewing hatred and attacking people.
I plan to read his autobiography.
August 7, 2022
I really miss Art Buchwald whose humorous takes on the world were a feature of the newspaper era. His is an amazing story, from foster child and high school dropout to one of the leading lights and companion to the great and the good. This book relies heavily on correspondence between Buchwald and his friends who appear to have included most of the Kennedy family, William Styron, Ben Bradlee, Russell Baker, Joseph Califano, Katherine Graham, Lauren Bacall, and Carly Simon. His was a life of jokes, running jokes and humorous asides. He struggled for his lifetime with depression and with a childhood such as his, one cannot blame him. This is a marvelous and affectionate tribute to the man who made America laugh for nearly 60 years as a reporter and columnist.
April 25, 2022
This is a well done biography on Art Buchwald. I grew up reading his articles and his sense of humor on the various issues of the day that would make me chuckle and laugh out loud at times. Hill covers all of the major events in Buchwald’s life from his time in Paris and then in Washington, DC. This is a must read for any fans of Art Buchwald or those with an interest in political satire.
I received a free Kindle copy of this book courtesy of Net Galley and the publisher with the understanding that I would post a review on Net Galley, Goodreads, Amazon, Facebook and my nonfiction book review blog.
I received a free Kindle copy of this book courtesy of Net Galley and the publisher with the understanding that I would post a review on Net Galley, Goodreads, Amazon, Facebook and my nonfiction book review blog.
September 17, 2022
my father handed this to me, from his bed - the last book he will ever read, and told me he thought i would enjoy it. i was never a huge fan of buchwald's, but the book was good, and funny in parts. but for me, just sad. hopefully, i will be able to discuss it with him a little bit.
September 30, 2022
Gotta love Art Buchwald
I read his column for years. The guy made lemonade out of lemons every time. We need more Arts and Mike Rookie right now
I read his column for years. The guy made lemonade out of lemons every time. We need more Arts and Mike Rookie right now
October 2, 2022
A well written biography of the writer and humorist Art Buchwald. There was a lot of history and research during the last 60 years and was presented well.
May 21, 2023
This amusing biography of the famous humorist is filled with his very funny writings and anecdotes of his life in Paris, New York and Martha's Vineyard.
January 19, 2024
Obsessed with J. Edgar Hoover not being real.
December 1, 2025
Entertaining fella to read about!
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews