Steve Allen is a comedian that a lot of people today have likely never heard.  He was even a bit before my time (and I’m old!) That said, his book Funny People seemed worth checking out because I have long been a fan of comedy, jokes and the psychology of the same.

The book gives some insight into the classic comedians Jimmy Durante, Jack Benny, George Burns and Milton Berle. Yes, it is a who’s who of classic comedians and a who’s who of comedians that would make the youth of today say, “Who?”

As a collection of historical anecdotes, it was extremely interesting. As a look at comedy itself, it is too somewhat interesting albeit dated. This is a short book and the audio version is read by Allen himself. In addition to his voice, this version ads the voices of they comedians he covers. Listening to the likes of Jimmy Durante and George Burns had me wanting to find some of their classic videos so that I can spend a bit more time appreciating their addition to the world of comedy.

by Chris Doelle

[amazon_link asins=’B002I00S70′ template=’ProductAd’ store=’internatio05d-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’a515b855-cd93-11e7-94e7-b98ede90c858′]