Milton Berle (1908–2002)

Back around 1992-93, I acquired the paperback edition of this book. I was looking forward to reading through "Uncle Miltie's" jokes. Oh boy. 10,000 jokes. I couldn't wait. After going through it, I was underwhelmed. This was an example where size did not matter. In the past, I had heard that Berle had a file cabinet or several cabinets with almost 7 million jokes, carefully catalogued. However, it appeared that this collection consisted of material from the bottom shelf. Hardly his best material. Despite being about 83 years old then, he was still performing at the time this book came out. So, he probably didn't want to give away his better material.
Most of the material were play on words, mild puns and obvious, stale punch lines. At the time, I placed a dash in red ink to indicate entries that appealed to me. I flagged less than a couple hundred out of the 10,000 jokes as mildly worthwhile to me. Hardly a smashing success. Perhaps I was too young to appreciate the humor. Or perhaps, they were more effective spoken, rather than as they appeared in print. Humor is subjective and our tastes in what is funny can change over time.
So, I recently began to go over the material again. While my reactions haven't changed much, I was able to enjoy the book a little more. It was okay, nothing more.
On the plus side, there are two considerations. First, with most books, readers feel a subtle pressure to read a large portion of a book in one sitting. This book is essentially a "list." Thus, you may read it in small chunks, at your leisure.
Second, possibly the most valuable part of the book is the twenty-page concluding section "Tricks of the Trade," where Berle gives tips on how to deliver a joke and construct a monologue, among other thoughts. It's a subjective matter whether this justifies a purchase.… (more)