Robert Benchley: How to be a Detective

[buczia]

no one in the world left quite like robert benchley - love him

[jeprice08]

7:08 - 7:26 I can see Benchley quietly and nicely asking the wise guy a number of times to come here and when the wise guy's finally close enough, he yells in the wise guy's ear, "Don't tell me how to do my job! I am the griller, you are the grillee! I'm the one in the hot seat, not you! (thinks a moment) I mean, YOU'RE in the hot seat, not me! Understand?" I'm not really sure if this is funny, but hey, you think of something witty in five seconds or less!

[RazRulzDaWorld]

WTF???

[mgmoncef4]

cool



[blackmesalabs]

This is fantastic!

[response007]

Lame.

[akeybraky]

This was Pretty funny in my opinion. I'm only 12 but this was good!

[buczia]

@akeybraky oops - i think i clicked on your comment accidentally - and i can't seem to unvote it - sorry.

[ipmoic]

Not everyone likes Benchley's delivery. It was another time--slower--and very wry and dry. I'm not sure Hollywood knew what to do with him.

For those who don't like his pace--please READ the short humorous pieces that he wrote for The New Yorker and other publications. He was the Woody Allen of his day.

One of the great humorists of the 20th century. Laugh out loud funny!

[diddymuck]

this guy ain't funny, in spite of his reputation.

[himself801]

@diddymuck

Be mindful what people found humourous in 1936 does tend to age well.

They were quite well received when new.

Do you find the 1976 episodes of Saturday Night Live are still as funny as their reputation?

[diddymuck]

@himself801 It was also the time of the Marx Brothers, Lubitsch, Capra, Chaplin, and the Stooges. Well done 30's-40's funny is still hilarious today. This guy is just not hitting home. and Yeppers, 76 SNL still cracks me up, esp the Eric Idle ep with Joe Cocker doing a duet with Belushi.

[compactdisk2]

@diddymuck I get the distinct feeling that you probably don't understand exactly what he's mocking here. Benchley is great, he and a few others and responsible for changing popular comedy from schlocky lowest-common-denominator vaudeville routines to genuinely intelligent wit and satire.

[usernameindc]

1 star

[rustydog1236]

Does anyone know the name of the 'artist' in the beginning? I was wondering if that was Gluyas Williams... My favorite book of Benchleys is the 'The Worm Turns'. LMFAO reading it. Trivia: His Grandson wrote the book that the movie 'Jaws' was based on...

[compactdisk2]

@rustydog1236 Peter Benchley was Robert's grandson? I didn't know.... interesting.

[jodisweetie]

Robert Benchey's short story Nothing But the Tooth is one of the funniest things you'll ever read! :->