Do you agree with this? Bob Hope Wasn't Funny by Christopher Hitchens

[WI_DEM]

To be paralyzingly, painfully, hopelessly unfunny is not a particular defect or shortcoming in, say, a cable repair man or a Supreme Court justice or a Navy Seal. These jobs can be performed humorlessly with no loss of efficiency or impact. But to be paralyzingly, painfully, hopelessly unfunny is a serious drawback, even lapse, in a comedian. And the late Bob Hope devoted a fantastically successful and well-remunerated lifetime to showing that a truly unfunny man can make it as a comic. There is a laugh here, but it is on us.

It's true that Hope had a mobile face and could twist it to look suggestive or leering (though he wasn't in the same class as Benny Hill or John Cleese in this respect). The idea that all women are attractive, not especially thigh-slapping as a concept in itself, can often work with audiences who are very easily pleased and whose members don't want to be left out of the general mirth. The sexlessness of Hope's routines, however, was just another clue to their essential conformism and cowardice. Eye-rolling and wolf-whistling are among the weakest forms of crowd pleasing that we possess. And Hope never stretched or challenged an audience in his life. For him, the safe and antique moves were the best, if not the only. The smirk was principally one of risk-free self-congratulation.

I saw him twice, and both times he was playing, as he often did, to the soft-centered Brit or Anglophile culture. At an evening dedicated to Prince Philip at Merv Griffin's Beverly Hilton, Hope got up and told of how he left England at the age of 3. "It was either that," he said, "or marry the girl." The timing was OK, consisting as it did of a long pause. The next time I caught the act was at the British Embassy in Washington, where the ambassador did the intro and tried to wow the crowd by telling "Bob's" favorite reminiscence, which was that he left England at the age of 3, having discovered that he could never become king. These are the kinds of joke that keep things going at golf clubs or Rotary dinners: They are harmless and sentimental and have no intrinsic humor. A Bob Hope joke was no laughing matter: It was a bland attempt at what we would now yawningly call inclusiveness.

Even the most determinedly fawning obituarists had to concede that most of his movies and many of his "joke" anthologies were basically insulting in their unfunniness. Elvis Mitchell in the New York Times, stuck with writing an appreciation on the same day as Canby's labored obituary (and stuck by the newspaper with the exact same vaudeville photograph as illustration) fell back on the exhausted line that Hope always played the same character, which was Bob Hope. A fitting tautology. Hope was a fool, and nearly a clown, but he was never even remotely a comedian.

http://www.slate.com/id/2086499/

[joeybee12]

1. Why does anyone care what Hitchens thinks about anything...

...he's one of the worst people on the planet.

[eleny]

9. And why does Hitch care about Hope?

Hope made his career in earlier decades in the golden age of radio and played off that for the rest of his life. A big, fat "who cares".

I still watch his old movies now and then when I want a chuckle. Nothing deep because sometimes you're just in the mood for that. I mean there's only so much of your life that you can devote to films like Apocalypse Now before you need a Three Stooges marathon to set you right. Not that Hope is in the same class as the Stooges. But you get my drift.

[joeybee12]

29. Comedy evolves...you couldn't get people to laugh at something like

Your Show of Shows today...is Hitchens that stupid not to see this, or, like always, is the fetid alkie just trying to be an ass?

[Retrograde]

65. it's also very tied to a particular culture

in 20 years Jon Stewart and Stephan Colbert may not seem funny or witty to younger viewers. I doubt many people under the age of 30 would understand That Was the Week That Was, a brilliant satire from the 60s. There are references to contemporary stuff in Shakespeare that supposedly once had them rolling in the aisles but are now, at best, long and dull.

I personally never got the appeal of Bob Hope, but then I was a Marxist.

BTW, when did Benny Hill become even marginally funny? John Cleese he's not. (BTW, if you ever get a chance to see the management and sales training films Cleese did, do so. They're a hoot!)

[joeybee12]

74. The thing is, I just rewatched Monty Python...every single show..

..and I think they're funnier now!

[eleny]

66. The Show of Shows!

When I was a very little girl, Sid's show was on tv, live. I'd sit in the barrel backed chair and try to stay still to make my then skinny frame disappear into it. I figured that way nobody would notice me and I could stay up for the whole show.

Now I have the shows on dvd.

Back in the 1970s a bunch of coworkers went to see the movie that was made from the shows. We all watched as kids and decided to forgo our usual card game to catch the movie. We all got to laughing so much that we were wiping tears away and sliding down off our seats. I think what happens is that when you watch one bit after another you can't help but get the humor. But then I love the Stooges, Laurel & Hardy, the Ritz & Marx Brothers and on and on as well as the early tv greats. Back then even the supporting actors and bit players were geniuses.

:hi:

[joeybee12]

73. Oh my!

That was befor my time, so I've only seen bits and pieces here and there...some are very funny, but you couldn't do those routines these days...in a way it's like a stage performance on television...people today wouldn't get that.

:hi:

[TicketyBoo]

67. I absolutely agree

with that assessment of Hitchens.

[joeybee12]

79. I thought i might have been too nice on him, though! n/t

[gratuitous]

2. Wow, Hitchens is so bold and contrarian

1975 called, Slate; they'd like this column back.

"Gin-soaked, former Trotskyist popinjay, badly in need of a drink."

[wtmusic]

3. Damn. Hitch is one bitter, pitiable POS. nt

[eShirl]

4. I have to say I agree with him.

I don't dislike Bob Hope, but as a comedian I have to rate his material as being on the level of Jay Leno (who I don't like).

I think more of Bob's appeal came from his personality.

[blondeatlast]

11. I never thought he was funny either. Tastes vary, of course,

but I always wondered if I was alone in my opinion of Hope.

[zipplewrath]

18. Steve Martin

Martin once said that the deal with humor was that more folks wouldn't find you funny than would. If 10% of the country thinks you're funny, you're gonna be huge. But that means 90% of the country still doesn't find you funny. The fundamental feature of comedy that a comic has to grasp is that most folks won't laugh at his jokes. Whether at the local club, on stage, or as a comedic actor, if you can't make a career out of making a few folks laugh, you won't have one at all.

[Political Heretic]

52. I didn't find him funny either. But the piece says far more about Hitchens' than Hope.

[Kahuna]

5. He's funny if you watch him while you're high off of weed. nt

:thumbsup:

[daleo]

97. Sure, but so's everything else

Mediocre music is also subtantially improved.

[truebrit71]

6. Not sure why Hitch has trained his inebriated eye on Bob Hope, but he is, for once, spot on...

...Bob Hope was dreadful...

[immoderate]

13. This was written in 2003, when Hope died.

--imm

[truebrit71]

30. Ahh..pissing on the newly dead..a favourite sport of Hitchens iirc...

...

[joeybee12]

32. So basically all he wanted to do was piss on the guy's grave...

...Hitch is scum.

[HipChick]

7. I like Hitchens..I agree with him..I lived close to Bob Hope's family in the UK..

They were well known in the town..

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

8. That was a brilliant piece, published right after Hope died

Rude but dead-on.

[joeybee12]

55. No...not at all...

I was never a fan of Bob Hope, but he wasn't my generation...very few people are "timelessly" funny...comdey changes...takes a tiny man like Hitchens not to understand that.

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

68. There were two Bob Hopes

One was the innovative comic of the Road movies... the guy Woody Allen grew up idolizing as the perfect comic.

Then there was the Bob Hope of 1960 to his death. Political, square, militaristic and desperately unfunny.

Hitchens is wrong that Hope never said anything funny. He did.

Just not during the decades he was on TV all the time.

[joeybee12]

70. My father loved his specials...I thought they were awfull...n/t

[Warpy]

10. Well, I never thought Hope was particularly funny, either

although his leer was classic. There are a lot of well loved comedians I find tedious.

However, I'd never be tacky enough to write an article disparaging a dead one.

[LibDemAlways]

12. My issue with Hope was never whether he was funny or not. When I

was growing up in the 60's he was considered a true patriot and humanitarian for putting on shows for the troops in Vietnam. However, he always brought along a camera crew and turned the visits into TV specials. I always thought the profit motive was a little too obvious and made him look like an opportunist. Just a personal observation. Not denying that the man did good things. He did.

[dgibby]

31. He was a nasty asshole when the cameras weren't on.

I was in my Navy uniform on a plane with him. Tried to thank him for what he was doing for the military. He took my head off, told me not to bother him. When I got back to base, EVERYONE who had ever had any dealings with him said the same thing. As soon as the cameras stopped rolling, he had no use for the troops. We were just props for him.

[LibDemAlways]

33. Interesting. Thanks for sharing. I know back then it was considered

very politically incorrect to criticize Hope, but I always had a feeling the reality differed from the public image.

[Love Bug]

41. That's disappointing to hear

Our local VA hospital has a statue of BH inside one of the entries. It's about 4 foot tall and always reminds me of Hank Hill's dad. lol

[Vinca]

14. Hope wasn't funny. Martin & Lewis weren't funny.

Jerry Seinfeld was never funny as a standup. Robin Williams isn't very funny in his latest HBO special. Who cares? Hitchens is more interesting when he's ranting against religion.

[jmowreader]

44. Jerry Seinfeld was never funny at all

Please explain to me the appeal of Jerry Seinfeld. Bear in mind I have never lived in New York City.

[dionysus]

64. the supporting cast carried the show. jerry wasn't funny to me at all but the others were.

[LisaM]

80. I don't think Jerry Lewis is funny

But I do think Dean Martin could be.

I do not get the appeal of Robin Williams.

[blogslut]

15. Not sure why a 7-yr old article has been brought up

But,

I think Hope was a better actor than he was a stand-up. Some of the stuff he did with Crosby was pretty genius. I always hoped he would have taken just one dramatic part because I think he would have blown people away.

[WI_DEM]

20. He did take a couple of semi-dramatic parts

in the films "The Seven Little Foys" and "Beau James" and "Facts of Life" in 1960 is a more adult comedy about infidility done with Lucille Ball.

[lame54]

21. Like Jerry Lewis in King of Comedy

[patrice]

16. One of my earliest realizations that there is something different between generations was that BH

was NOT funny.

Also, that the "Rat Pack" was NOT cool nor was it sophisticated.

[patrice]

25. P.S. Maybe it's just the '60s in me, but I had a lot of trouble with the fact that those guys were

admired by my parents' generation, especially the Rat Pack, who seemed to treat Sammy Davis, Jr., like some kind of pet and whose attitude toward Women was distinctly that of opportunistic users. While not directly part of that, BH appeared to be a wannabe.

[WI_DEM]

26. Dean Martin would pick Sammy up and say "I'd like to thank the NAACP for this trophy."

[patrice]

35. I was fascinated by Sammy Davis, Jr., because there always seemed to be something so sad about him

despite his success.

I thought he was way more talented than Dean Martin (whom I have heard was quite a nice guy, actually, though I still fault his persona).

I was impressed when SD married May Britt; that seemed very brave to me. I hope they were happy.

[patrice]

28. P.P.S. I think there is a great deal of latent hostility in the whole model and, yes, in Hitchens,

and, indirectly, in me too, for being so sensitive to it.

edited for missing ,

[JamesA1102]

17. But Bob Hope thought that Hitchens was hysterical unless

he was sober but that doesn't happen too often.

[TwilightGardener]

19. Bob Hope wasn't really all that funny. Not sure why it was worth an essay, though.

[tularetom]

22. My mom and dad thought Bob Hope was funny

Of course they would be in their 90's now if they were still alive. They also thought Lawrence Welk was entertaining.

My brother, sister and I just sat and rolled our eyes when they'd sit and watch such crap.:eyes: :eyes: :eyes:

[LibDemAlways]

23. There are still Lawrence Welk reruns on the air and my mom, age 87,

is a faithful viewer. It was definitely a generational thing.

[Retrograde]

60. There are people less than half my age who watch it

People in their 20s and 30s, or so they tell me. I can't stand the smarm, but for some incomprehensible reason the local PBS stations carry him. I've told them that I will not send them any money while they do, but apparently enough people like it to keep it - or it's really cheap. My late grandfather (b. 1901) was a fan; my octogenarian mother is not (but she does watch The Daily Show and The Colbert Report regularly).

[LibDemAlways]

62. I've watched a little with her and mostly laugh at the

powder blue leisure suits and beehive hair-dos on the women. I would imagine young people who watch it do so for a good chuckle.

[TwilightGardener]

24. My dad used to chuckle at "Hee Haw".

Sometimes you can only hope that certain genetic traits don't get passed on.

[MilesColtrane]

27. Hope wasn't a comedian, he was an entertainer in the true vaudeville tradition.

Hope dancing with Cagney:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOoNOs8Ql28

I think Hitchens is jealous because he'll never be knighted by the Queen like Hope.

Petty snark from a petty drunk.

[grasswire]

37. I was going to say that too

Hope was physical comic who had to turn to standup to stay in business. A dancer, a clown of sorts, and perfect for the vaudeville stage.

[verges]

34. Hope had an 80 year career.

During that time, styles and tastes changed. The Hope of the 30s was not the Hope of the 70s and 80s. Most septagenarian comics aren't funny anymore. Does that take away from their accomplishments of their younger years? Comedy is a young man's gig. In the 30's Hope had a top rated radio program. Even if it doesn't hold up now, it was funny then (comedy doesn't always age well.) And his stuff with Crosby was fun.

Hitchens is a jerk.

[FSogol]

36. Hope WAS very funny. Maybe not in his 60s-90s, but his early stuff was very good.

My favorite gag of his which was a recurring theme in the "On the Road" movies was that whenever he was sleeping, Bing would try to wake him up, and Hope would say, "I'll get a job tomorrow Mom" in his sleep.

[quiller4]

38. My parents thought he was hilarious. His humor never appealed to me.

I thought that might be a generational difference because my parents never really liked the comics of my generation either.

[Forkboy]

39. Looks like Hitchins is getting our one yearly agreement out of the way early this year.

[Generic Other]

40. I saw him in a USO show as a child

He was both funny and very supportive of military people. He at least put his time and energy into supporting his rightwing beliefs. And he really did bring a smile to soldiers' faces. So screw Hitchens. Let him try doing a USO tour in Afghanistan and see how funny he would be.

[Greybnk48]

42. "same class as Benny Hill or John Cleese" Seriously?

anyone who would put Benny Hill on a par with John Cleese as far as comedic wit goes is NOT to be taken seriously as a critic or commentator. Please.

[Demoiselle]

43. Hope and Crosby were very funny in the "Road" movies.

But I've never thought that I would have liked either of them very much as a person.
They both impressed me as tough men with mean streaks.
Christopher Hitchens is a weak s.o.b. with a mean streak, too.
But he ain't even funny.

[smalll]

63. Exactly - he WAS funny in his earlier career - the Road movies.

And why is Hitchens taking after Hope now, years after his death? I like Hitchens sometimes, but he does have a tendency to beat up on people who don't exactly deserve the beating -- remember when he went after Mother Teresa?

[Blue_In_AK]

45. I never thought he was funny at all.

I understand that he purportedly did good work with the USO and all of that, but something about him always bugged me.

[closeupready]

46. He was a Republican.

And I also never found him funny at all.

[tonysam]

50. He also liked Bill Clinton and supported him. Actually he voted for either party.

Not that the facts matter.

[closeupready]

56. I don't care. He was a puke.

As far as I'm concerned, that's all I need to know.

[rcrush]

47. Article posted in 2003?

Okay then...

[tonysam]

48. People will remember Bob Hope LONG after Hitchens

is dead, buried, and decaying someplace.

[anAustralianobserver]

85. Hitchens is already dead, buried, and decaying someplace *ba boom tish* nt

[senseandsensibility]

87. LOL

Thanks for lightening the mood.:rofl:

[Political Heretic]

49. It's suprising to me that more people can't see through Hitchens' shtick

and see the deeply flawed, arrested development person behind the pointless contrarianism and shock-jock editorializing that characterizes his drunken life.

[tonysam]

53. He also had a sick obsession with Bill Clinton

which stemmed from Clinton's days as a Rhodes Scholar. I think Hitchens was jealous of Bill Clinton because Clinton could get the girls.

[spoony]

69. That's the word that sprung to mind when I opened the thread

He's just a contrarian. It sums his career up perfectly. In essence, he's a real world version of a troll.

And, hell, that "it was either that or marry the girl" line was funny I don't care what anyone says, lol.

[JVS]

51. I agree Hope isn't funny, but I don't need an article to tell me that.

[JVS]

54. I liked the DU version better.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x1097258

[Libertas1776]

57. I never really found Hope that funny

and I don't think it is a generational think. I just think he pretty much blew as a comedian. Of course, I pretty much lost any remaining respect for the guy when I happened upon this OP right here on DU: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=221x144998

Hey, who thinks an AIDS joke is funny, especially when it was a very new thing, sweeping across the nation like a plague? Well, evidently Raygun and Bob Dope do. Click the link if you want your blood to boil.

[Gold Metal Flake]

58. This thread is not funny.

[pipi_k]

59. It was PRECISELY his facial expressions that were so funny

to me, anyway.

But, as they say, it's all in the eye of the beholder.


Many of today's "comedy" shows on TV are, IMO, trash. And some of the movies as well. A few days ago someone (for some reason) mentioned the movie "The 40-year old Virgin". hahahahahah....they thought it was a hoot.

I saw it and thought it was detestable garbage. Just vile.

I'm no prude when it comes to language, but geez...does every other word have to be filthy?

I guess that was one of my favorite things about comedy "in the old days". Comedians could be funny without being filthy. One of my very favorite TV shows of all time was "I Love Lucy". I've seen every episode multiple times and never get sick of them.

[freddie mertz]

61. I like his earlier movies, the ones with Crosby, "The Ghost Breakers," etc.

Those are very funny.

The later stuff is erratic, but he was a pro and developed his own style.

Hitchens, on the other hand, is a humorless jackass.

[fascisthunter]

71. I and Millions of Others Disagree

[LanternWaste]

72. I've never based my enjoyment quotient of an artist's work

I've never based my enjoyment quotient of an artist's work on that artist's political or philosophical or religious leanings, though I can readily understand why many people do so. But as for me, I'd miss too many good works/performances if I applied all my political dogma's to the non-political arena.

I certainly thought Hope was funny-- as an actor, as an entertainer, and as a comedian (especially his pre-war radio shows). Granted, my favorite comedian's avoid vulgar language, using wit and word-play instead (Bob Newhart, Bill Cosby, etc), so again I can understand why many people may not consider Bob Hope trendy, or angsty, or cool enough to laugh at.

But to base my enjoyment of a painting or a piece of music or a comedy routine on the performer's politics would speak much more about my own stubborn truculence than it would of nyone else's talent...

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

75. Pretty much. Kind of like Johnny Carson.

It wasn't Hope or Carson's fault, it was the material.

At one point they were funny, and then they got successful, and then they kept working despite having good material.

[ShortnFiery]

76. Yes, I agree with ole Christopher Hitchen. Hope provided a service but he was not funny. eom.

[era veteran]

77. Hitchens is a prick

Living the alcoholic lifestyle can do that to you. Hope was a man of his times.

[TicketyBoo]

78. I don't agree, no.

Some of Bob Hope's political monologs on TV (late 60s, early 70s) were sharp as a tack, and it didn't matter which party it was — he zinged them all.

I don't think I'd have cared about socializing with either him or Crosby, but I enjoyed their public personas immensely. I mean, it's called "show business," and they did know how to put on a show.

I started to watch "The 40-Year-Old Virgin," expecting it to be a hoot, but I found it simply disgusting. I quit watching ten minutes in. I'm REALLY glad I didn't pay to go to that movie!

I like the old screwball comedies and musicals best, as far as movies go. Thank goodness for DVDs.

[spanone]

81. mr hitchens is an irrelevant fool

[LisaM]

82. I didn't care for Bob Hope's style of humor and didn't think he was all that funny

However, compared to Benny Hill, Bob Hope was excrutiatingly, knee-slappingly, hysterically funny!

Benny Hill was a waste of space. I resent every second I ever spent watching him. He may have been a lovely person, but he was a terrible entertainer.

[dysfunctional press]

83. in his later years, it seemed like bob hope didn't know if he said something funny either...

he'd deliver a line by reading directly off a cue card, and then look at the audience to see if they were going to laugh or not.

he had his day(s)...but it/they were way before my time...i never found him to be particularly amusing myself. i preferred the like of jonathan winters, george carlin, and flip wilson, back when i started paying attention to such things.

[blueworld]

84. More Hitchens bitchins...what a pompous bore

Obviously, in the real world, different comedians & humorists appeal to different people at different times in different places.

I think I'll write a column about people who make lotsa money writing absurd columns about dead folks. Particularly those "writers" who sonorously pronounce their own opinions as "the truth".

No wonder Hitchens doesn't believe in God, he thinks he's the only one worthy of the job.

[anAustralianobserver]

86. dupe

[goldcanyonaz]

88. I refuse to read anything by this pathetic moron of a man.

[anAustralianobserver]

89. For some reason I find the image of CH wailing with laughter at Benny Hill chasing buxom English

lasses around trees compelling.

[GreenArrow]

90. I never thought he was funny.

Funnier than Jerry Lewis, Martin Short or David Spade, maybe, but not funny.

[SoCalDem]

91. Bob Hope was not funny.. I agree 100%.. His movies were embarrassingly unfunny

but he "knew people", and the elderly people in his era were used to vaudeville, so his brand of humor was familiar to them.

he became a "brand", and of course his USO tours extended his career by decades longer than it should have been..after that, he was a national icon..like a frail old uncle we love, and even though his jokes are stale, we laughed ...out of courtesy..

Richard Pryor was funny
(Early) Bill Cosby was funny
(Early) Robin Willliams was funny (he's verging on embarrassing now)
Sam Kinison was funny
Chris Rock is funny
George Carlin was funny
Rita Rudner is funny

[Rowdyboy]

92. Perhaps Hope was boring but he was a helluva lot more interesting than Christopher Hitchens....

Hitchens is the embodiment of sneering pomposity. I cannot conceive of anyone caring what he thinks on any subject.

[iris27]

93. meh, Hitchens doesn't think anyone is funny.

"Why Women Aren't Funny" - http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2007/01/hitchens200701

He's a tool.

[HipChick]

94. Ironically enough,Bob Hope's family came from a town called Hitchin..

:rofl:

[JI7]

95. was Bob Hope supposed to be funny ?

[leeroysphitz]

96. Hitchens nails it yet again.

Cable repairmen really don't need a sense of humor.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

98. I never thought Bob Hope was funny.

Hitchens is right.

And Hitchens was right when he exposed the fraud of Mother Teresa's operation, taking in millions of dollars and not spending a bit of it on medical care to relieve the suffering of the patients at her alleged "hospital".

Somebody needed to expose the scam that Mother Teresa had going.

I find Hitchens' arguments about atheism to be cogent and rational. I think he and Richard Dawkins are doing a public service by pointing out that people who do bad things in the name of religion should not get a free pass.