In his previous study of comedians, Funny People, Steve Allen stated

that he does all his writing by dictation. This book, being his twenty-

sixth to date, proves he s a great dictator. The jacket further informed us

that he has also composed 4,000 songs. Actually, we re a lot alike, Allen

and I. To date, i ve heard 4,000 songs and read 25 books.

In Funny People, which like most of his work appears effortless, Allen

gave us an in-depth look at eighteen American comedians, some living,

some dead, some a little bit of each, and comments on a score of others.

In the fifties, he wrote a book called The Funny Men, about a number of

then-popular comics. He intended to use the title "More Funny Men,"

but that wasno longer appropriate once he decided to include a chapter

on Lily Tomlin, proving that it is only when a woman is added that men

become people.

To read both Funny People and More Funny People is to rediscover

that Steve Alien is a one-man meeting of the minds. Who else can quote

with sueh ease such disparate wits and sages as Woody, Groucho, Plato,

Da Vinci, and Dr. Johnson? And all in the service of profiling not

necessarily those funny people Allen finds the funniest, but those people

people think are funny. In the earlier study they ranged from Andy

Kaufman and Robin Williams, back to W. C. Fields and Jimmy

Durante, with side trips for comments on the work of the Rickleses and

Buttonses, the Murrays and the Youngmans--or is it the Youngmen?

Allen writes about each with care, with insight and with a perception

honed by his own experiences--personal as well as professional--with

the people who populate these pages.

Allen writes, "Actors are not particularly generous." (Sorry about

that, Mr. President.) Either Allen is mistaken or else he s not really an

actor because I find him very generous. This book is filled with his

appreciation of the work of his subjects. Allen is a wonderful audience.

He is in very good company. So is Milton Berle. So was Jack Benny.