As you read this you will be laughing out loud and you will be unable to keep yourself from sharing passages with those around you. Absolutely hilarious. ( )

I loved this. ( )

I 'discovered' the Marx Brothers at age 12 and tried to see as many of their movies as I could after that. My fondness for their humor hasn't faded, and now that I've read this insightful book, I feel a need to see their work for the first time in ages. Groucho's knack for wordplay always appealed to me most of all, and this book highlights his wit--and the wit of his fellow correspondents, often other writers of the day. There's something especially joyful about seeing Groucho go into fanboy mode as he writes to E.B. White, and reading how he became such a fan of these new guys Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner that he sends their comedy album out to a few of his other writer-friends abroad.

I do wish this book was annotated. A few of the people had asterisks by their names accompanied by brief explanations about who the person is, but since it was originally published in the late 1960s, there is an assumption that the reader will know recognize other names or get other cultural references. I picked up a lot, sure, but wanted to know more. More context around Groucho's life would have helped, too. The letters are not in chronological order, but grouped by theme and correspondent, and sometimes the back and forth flow in time is confusing--he's married to one woman then another, then single, then married to the first woman again.

That said, much of the humor is still gold. I laughed out loud throughout and smiled much of the time I read. Sure, a few jokes went a bit far, but even Groucho at his raciest is downright mild compared to modern comedians. ( )

A lot of these letters were entertaining, but they were not written for anyone but the recipient. They also lose something with age, the lingo and cadence of these missives are from another time. ( )

Groucho Marx is an amazing letter writer. This collection of his letters is wonderfully entertaining. I have now read it three times.

My favorites are his letters about his dinner with TS Elliott and his exchange of letters with the Warner Brothers legal department who challenge his use of "Casablanca" in "A Night in Casablanca. This is a set of letters that should be read by every lawyer. ( )