Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Usually when one writes a negative review, Amazon readers say the review was not helpful. Also, Amazon tends to make their "spotlight reviews" the good ones. This book is a decidedly mixed bag. On the positive side: the author clearly identifies the schtick of famous comedians; he has made up exercises to "practice" the steps one needs to take to be "funny;" he makes good comments about how to be a writer or comedian in the public spotlight. So this is a technically competent book. Yet little of the humor in the book is actually funny, or at least to my taste funny. I never thought Jack E. Leonard was funny, I detested Don Rickles' aggressive and demeaning "humor;" Rodney Dangerfield was significantly depressed so I always felt sick when I heard his jokes; Jackie Gleason was a self-involved fat turkey who did not like women, etc., etc. Yet we can see where Helitzer's favorite comics come from: his theory is that humor "is about superiority." So much for irony, understatement, significant pauses, or just treating people to something funny.