Customer Reviews

2,000 Sure-Fire Jokes for Speakers

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I cannot believe how awful this book is. I've searched and searched for ANY jokes that make me laugh, to no avail. The best joke is the fact that I actually purchased the book to begin with. Don't be fooled by the title!

This reprint of a 1971 book is showing its age. A lot of jokes have context that the current reader can not know or relate to. I wonder if a lot of them were that good at the time. As a reference it may have current value when looking for a joke in a specific context. All the jokes are by subject. The only Sure Fire is to burn this book. It is fascinating to see what you can sell once you get a name. I have belatedly discovered that jokes books are not of much value in public speaking. At two jokes per penny it is more that twice as expensive than "3500 Good Jokes for Speakers by Gerald F Lieberman" See my review of that book.

This book was originally in my college library, but the last check-out was in 2003, so it wound up in the latest book sale, where I bought it for a quarter.

I don't plan on making lots of speeches, and just got it as a joke book. And as a joke book, it's so-so. They're all very short jokes, as per the title, with the longest one being a few lines. But with references to Twiggy, The Pill, and many, many jokes about hippies, it's a very mixed bag book now. About one in ten of the jokes are funny. It has some perennial jokes that work even today, like about the government, taxes, holidays, etc. but the majority of them are 70s jokes and as such, the book works better as a study of 70s culture than inspiration for public speaking. In fact, the reason I looked up Robert Orben was to see if he made similar books after this that would be more relevant to today.

I'd suggest buying the book, which can be bought extremely cheaply today, giving it a quick read over the course of a few days, then storing it, throwing it out, or giving it away to a friend who could use a few laughs. But with only about one in ten jokes as funny, and "heh" funny instead of "HA HA HA" funny, don't expect more of this book than it can deliver.

These "sure-fire" racist, misogynistic jokes are not worth your pennies. They're not funny and can only do you harm.

I give it three stars since I've only read half the book. I've been puuting Orben's secrets to work already.