Milton Berle's Private Joke File

I was wondering what to pick as a title for this review when I came across this absolute gem for anyone who likes to read or is a bibliophile. It appears on page 486 under putdowns. What a comeback to someone who suggests they are above wasteing their time reading.I have had this book "on the go" for months. I left it in a place where I could pick it up and read a few pages at a time;you can use your imagination to guess where. At 642 pages,it took months to finish,but I enjoyed every page of it. Does this book really contain 10,000 gags,ancedotes,and one-liners? At 600 pages that would require over 15 per page.A brief scan shows there are ,on an average that many. Not only that ,I notice there is another one of his joke books entitled "More of the best of Milton Berle's Private Joke File", also containing 10,000 others. Yes Virginia,there really is a Santa Claus ,and yes Virginia Berle has left us 20,000 jokes in these two books. The book is very well arranged, as other reviewers have mentioned,both alphabetically as well as over 500 categories.It is not an easy thing to assemble so many unrelated jokes in a manner that makes it easy to find them.For instance,take a joke anout two old soldiers,fishing in Lake Erie,a storm comes up ,one grabs the beer,the other the bucket of fish,...and that is only the start of the ancedote.Now,where to file it ;under old guys,soldiers,fishing,boat, beer,storm ,bucket,Lake Erie or what;see the problem. Even one as short as my title;it appears under "H" ,then under "heckle lines" on page 313. However; it also appears under "P" and "Putdowns" on page 486. However;if you look under Reading,you won't find it;nor will you find it under "Books" as that is not even listed as a category. I particularly like to use jokes about birds,books and puzzles ;so when I come across those type of jokes, I make columns on the blank pages at the back of the book, where I jot down the page number where I found one on those sumjects. Otherwise,you can drive yourself bonkers trying to relocate on when you want to find it. I'm not knocking how this book is referenced,but there is only so much a editor can do.That old adage sure applies; "God helps those who help themselves". The book also has some real good information in the last 20 pages called "Tricks of the Trade" where Berle gives us some of the things he has learned over a long career of being a successful,and one of the best, in the world of humor. A wonderful collection of humor for all ages and doesn't have to stoop to obsenity to get a laugh.Berle belongs with the giants in humor;Bob Hope,Myron Cohen,Red Skelton,Danny Kaye,Jackie Gleason,Jack Benny,Red Buttons,Rodney Dangerfield,Art Carney ,Danny Thomas ,Phil Silvers,Hal Roach,just to name a few;...and boy do we miss them.

IF you can find a better joke book, go out and buy it -- but I think you will be looking for a long, long time! ^o^

Uncle Milty, now gone. Ten- thousand jokes from his file in one volume. Uncle Milty reportedly would ask his audience to name a subject and he would immediately reply with a joke. Here some of them are, in five- hundred categories and over six- hundred pages. A lot of jokes. And a lot of them not very funny. And some of them sort of funny. And some very funny. Jokes, anecdotes, puns, little stories. The whole bag. But of course without the intonation, and the look, and all the million and one tricks that Milty made us laugh with. The king of the comedians. One little story tells here about Milty and his famous show- business mother who pushed him everywhere. He was what he had to be. If they needed an Italian kid he did an Italian accent. If they needed an Irish kid he did that . One time an agent came and said to the mother that they needed a dog in a certain show. She immediately turned to her son and said ' Bark'. And of course he did , the star of the Texaco Theatre who in television's first years on Tuesday nights made America look at the little box and laugh. This book should be in the library not only of those who love and practice humor, but in the library of those nostalgic for the America of another time. Uncle Milty lived to about ninety or so before he said good- bye. Of them all the only one who was still able to thank him for the memories was Bob Hope who made it I believe to one- hundred. What an America it was. And it's gone.

This has to be the most impressive joke book ever asssembled. I've seen others that have lots of very funny stuff. Others that are better organized. And others that better reflect a comedian or editor's particular humor page per page. This one is truly a joke file. It's a big, thick, fat book with highly readable type -- and jokes that "rock." These jokes range from old-style vaudeville, burlesque jokes to jokes more "modern," from puns to insults, to long anecdotes. I'm an entertainer and when I do a show and am looking for a joke I look to this; sometimes I use one of them to fill a gap but often it gives me an idea upon which I can expand. If you like to laugh or need laughs for your speaking programs, shows, etc. you MUST have this on your library shelf. I often enter jokes that I like in my database but there are just so many I have cirlced here that I love that I go to the original. Also, it is big and fat and hilarious but the subjects may not include every single subject you want. Some other "big" joke books have more subjects, but this covers most of the basics and the selection is so wonderful that it's worth it. Actually, if you get this you should have the second volume he did, too -- which I also have and enjoy. Joke per joke I think this is the best, most diverse joke book ever published. Well worth the price in the enjoyment you'll get and the laughs you'll generate!

This book is filled with many ideally sized jokes arranged by numerous topic. Although I do not appreciate off-color jokes, most of those are avoidable by avoiding the off-color topics.I have used many of these jokes in writing and speaking and highly recommend this as perhaps the funniest large-volume jokebook.