Customer Reviews

Laughing Gas

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This is one of P.G. Wodehouses's best books. Although he's never turned a tale anything but excellently, this is somehow more endearing than most. It starts out normal enough, with a man who just became an earl (Reginald, third Earl of Havershot) going off to Hollywood to save his alcoholic cousin from the deadly drink. He meets an actress by the name of April June, the very embodiment of virtue, on the way there-- or so he thinks. He also runs into his ex- finacee, whose engagement to him he bungled by way of a little accident with a cigar. After some very cold ice cream, he needs to have a tooth pulled. In the dentist's waiting room he meets little Joey Cooley, the child actor, Idol of American Motherhood, who will be undergoing the same torture as him. Well, both souls get administered some laughing gas, and this gives them the ability to be masters of the art of astral projection. But the thing is, little mischevious Joey puts his soul into Reggie's body, rather then his own. Reggie then has no choice but to inhabit the body of the child star with the golden curls. Now we've got a dilemma. See, Joey wants to poke everyone in the snout, and in Reggie's body, now has the strength to do so with optimum results. Uh-oh. And now Reggie is left with the mind of a grown man, but the mean Miss Brinkmeyer (the "tall, rangy, light-heavyweight, severe of aspect' woman with whom he shares a mutal hatred...animus is in the air) and all other of Cooley's keepers, who treat him like the eleven-year-old child they think he is. Double uh-oh.

This book is one of the funniest things I've ever read, not only because Wodehouse is a master of the English language and shows such a conatagious affection for it, but because it's a very zany tale that never fails to make you laugh and keep a smile on your face all day. There are so many more hilarious moments in this book, and not a page goes by without a good, hearty chuckle. I would highly recommend this book and all of Wodehouse's books, for that matter.

Wodehouse's usual skill with the turn of phrase and the unlikely situation makes this book a delight. It's atypical of his work in that it contains a fantastic element: a grown man and a bratty child, visiting a dentist at the same time, accidentally have their souls switched while under the ether.

Laughing Gas was the first Wodehouse I ever read. I knew his work through some Jeeves tales (and their TV adaptations), but I had never ventured outside of those characters. Seeing that the storyline was somewhat like the Freaky Friday genre of films, I wanted to see what Wodehouse would do with this already familiar plot. I was not disappointed and I have gone back to him whenever I wanted something to make me laugh--as long as it's not an audiobook read by Jonathan Cecil!

Reginald, Third Earl of Havershot (gotta love those Wodehouse puns) finds himself in the dentist's chair after an embarrassing incident seated next to child star Joey Cooley ("Idol of American Motherhood"), going through the same procedure. After the administration of some of the titular anesthetic, the two have an out-of-body experience. The mischievous Cooley, however, instead of returning to his own corporeal form, slips into Reggie's, leaving our hero left with the tot's as his only choice. Hilarity ensues, as they say, as little Joey likes to go around punching people in the nose and continues to do so under the guise of Reggie. Meanwhile Reggie is party to the stories going around about "his" behavior and is powerless to stop them while in his current pint-sized form.

Wodehouse takes this in all of the expected directions and invents a few new ones, to boot, making Laughing Gas one of his best novels. Well, one of the best I've read, anyway.

"Laughing Gas" is a rather appropriate title for a work by P.G. Wodehouse, since most, if not all, of his novels and short stories will have readers laughing out loud. This delightful romp set in 1930s Hollywood is no different, although not quite on par with some of his other works. Perhaps it is because the plot revolves around an entirely implausible event or perhaps it winds up being far more sentimental than comic - not necessarily a bad thing.

Reggie Havershot, just recently named the third Earl of Havershot, is dispatched to Hollywood to locate his lush of a cousin and to prevent him from a malignant marriage. On the train there, Reggie meets and falls in love with the beautiful actress, April June, who seems just as eager to return his attention - he is an earl after all, even if he has the face of a gorilla. Reggie cannot understand why others do not view April June with the same eyes that he does, but when a toothache stalls his romance, his real troubles begin. For while under the gas in the dentist's chair, Reggie's soul is swapped with that of Joey Cooley, the spoiled child star of the moment. Imagine Reggie's disbelief when he awakens in the young tyke's body and discovers the demands of a child actor's life. Imagine his further chagrin when Joey Cooley, now installed in his body, seems to have no desire to switch places and has taken it upon himself to carry out some wish fulfillment fantasies now that he is a grown up. How can this matter be righted without both characters ruining the life of the other? In Wodehouse there is a way.

"Laughing Gas" is a delightful comic read that never stalls, but rushes headlong through various schemes and nefarious plots as Reggie comes to terms with his new life, learning just what a pill the true possessor of this young body is and just how much one can yearn for the simple things in life once they are denied him. This novel requires a great suspension of disbelief but it is freely given. Even with such a fanciful premise, readers will gladly accept a story that revolves around soul swaps. Anything is possible in Hollywood after all.

Several years ago, I asked the most well-read man I knew to recommend an author who was consistently funny and wrote light-hearted books. He recommended P.G. Wodehouse immediately, and I'm so glad he did.
In Laughing Gas, Reginald, third Earl of Havershot, and Hollywood's reigning child idol, Joey Cooley, switch bodies while under the influence of laughing gas during simultaneous dental procedures. Hilarity ensues, and I mean that quite literally. It really is a laugh-out-loud funny book.
The plot careens and swerves through lots of crazy coincidences, farcical situations, and unlikely encounters. But you don't keep reading to see what will happen next. The plot isn't the driving force with Wodehouse. Instead, what keeps the reader turning pages is the sheer joy of finding out what wonderful saying or hilarious conversation will come along next. The unexpected use of language is one of the charms of Laughing Gas. I opened the book at random just now and came across this little gem: "I didn't get his drift, and said so. He continued snowing." The book is full of little treasures like that.
Another thing I enjoyed about Laughing Gas is the lack of cynicism in the characters. A lot of comedy has a snarky side, which is fine with me for the most part, but the refreshing sincerity of Reggie Havershot and the rest of the fictional folk in Laughing Gas is a nice change of pace. Wodehouse really knows how to write a likeable everyman, even if that everyman might be a little slow on the uptake at times. Even the worst behaved characters probably won't get up to anything worse than "throwing soft-boiled eggs at the electric fan in the better class of restaurant." It's a fun story, and I'd recommend it to anyone who needs a good laugh.

What a treat Laughing Gas is to read! A great Wodehouse story and wonderful word play by the master. There is not a day that goes by that makes me wish I had met PG or Plum as he was known. I wonder if he was as masterful with language in person as he was with the written word? No matter, we have his over 100 books and Gas is one of those I like best. I love them all, but here is a few that you might also like to read:

Jill The Reckless: A British Humor Classic
Leave It To Psmith: A British Humor Classic
Love Among The Chickens: A British Humor Classic
Psmith In The City: A British Humor Classic
My Man Jeeves: A British Humor Classic

Keep reading - hope to see you at Blandings soon!

This small book, 286 pages, is very very funny. It comes to us from one of the greatest English Comic writers. P.G. Wodehouse is best known for the worlds he created for his characters in Blandings Castle and the Wooster--Jeeves duo. In this book, Laughing Gas, he took a simple story and used his characters to take it to level of comedy that is unusual. The approach and especially the language was funny, but it also crated a farce and in some ways could be seen to be offering some interesting social satire.

The two key characters were, Joey Cooley, a child actor, and Reginald Havershot and English Earl. All the characters in the book not only complimented the comedy portrayed by Joey and Reggie but seemed to add to the farce because of their own uniqueness and role in story. The idea of swapping souls has been a well tested plot over the years and at first you wonder how going back to this plot and story, told my an author born in the late 1800's, could bring anything original or interesting to this idea. Both Reggie and Joey were at the dentist and both went under laughing gas at the same time. We were told that they somehow slipped out of their bodies in the fourth dimension and swapped. At first just a dated approach to this idea soon proved that it didn't matter and indeed was different because it was dated. It was just funny page after page. The answer lies in the characters themselves. Reggie's English approach to life in Hollywood was one where he had to survive for a few days in Joey's little, and very different, body. It is from Reggie's perception from within his own body and also during the time he was in the child's body, that we mostly see this story

The story was told with an English accent, in a time and place that does not really exist anymore. Both Joey and Reggie by them selves were funny but it was the plot that unfolded after the body switch that left you laughing out loud.

I was not very familiar with P.G. Wpodehouse so for me the book was a fist close look. I was not disappointed and may be hooked.

This review is more for people who've already read a few of Wodehouse's stories, particularly the Bertie Wooster-Jeeves stories, than people who haven't. I'm a fan of PG Wodehouse (though I'm relatively new and no question I've read less of his than other reviewers here) and I liked this one all right and can recommend it if you haven't got much else at hand, but I must say I didn't think it was that great and didn't find myself laughing much. The switched identities plot element may seem promising in theory, but it wasn't all that amusing as it developed; it was mainly good for some slapstick-style humor, really, and in fact the plot on the macro level, so to speak, is fairly predictable in many ways, as you could say of the plot in many of his stories. On the other hand, one aspect where his stories excel, and this one produces some good moments, is in nicely set-up situation comedy-type scenes, where the civilities or complications or just plain screw-ups are pretty good fun. Here for example there's a first-rate scene where Reggie meets his ex-fiancee. Also, Reggie or Lord Havershot is an endearing character in the mold of Bertie Wooster--civil, courteous, basically good-hearted, rising to aristocratic disdain at times; with a tasteful eye; but hapless, quite fallible, and often dense. This all makes for what are, for me anyway, the real highlights of the novel: the sometimes hilarious commentary that Reggie as narrator makes on things as they happen. For example when he says, of a sarcastic remark by his ex-fiancee regarding his new flame, "I chose to disregard the vulgar comment", or when he touts his own "generalship" in dealing with an awkward situation, these are such finely comical comments (at the same time prideful, correct, yet feckless and somehow, in some elusive way, disproportionate), in the same way as Bertie Wooster's commentary along the lines of "I gave him an icy stare--and I meant it to sting." In that sense I find this novel engaging in the same way as the Bertie Wooster-Jeeves stories, where the Blandings or Psmith stories or other pieces that don't have 1st-person narration aren't quite as entertaining.

So, the book is good for some delightful moments, but I don't think I'd put it near the top of my Wodehouse reading list. Among the ones I've read, I liked the following in roughly this order: 1. Code of the Woosters (the 1st one I read--maybe I'm partial to it for this reason like other people may be partial to Laughing Gas). 2~4. Joy in the Morning; Right Ho Jeeves; and Very Good Jeeves (much of it is not that great but it contains one of the funniest stories I've ever read.) 5~8. Something New; Leave it to Psmith; Blandings Castle; Heart of a Goof. 9~10. Quick Service; Mulliner Nights. This novel falls somewhere in the middle of that range, though of course I've enjoyed more or less every one of these stories.

I'm a huge Wodehouse fan, grew up reading him, but I have to say that this particular book is more pedestrian than most of his work. The premise of two consciousness switching corporeal forms is a time-tested plot device, and here it's dressed up with the screwball antics and snappy language one expects from Wodehouse. The gist of it is that the newly minted Earl of Havershot heads off to America to rescue his alcoholic cousin Reggie from the perils of Hollywood dames and booze. Being a very traditional Wodehouse hero (average looking, kind hearted, more or less hapless, and somewhat dense), he manages to become besotted by a vapid movie starlet. Alas, soon after his arrival in Hollywood, he suffers a severe toothache and visits a dentist, resulting the application of the titular vapors.

Whilst under the influence, his consciousness gets swapped with that of Joey Cooley, a bratty little child movie star who is having a tooth pulled in the office next door. Wacky antics ensue, as the Earl must succumb to the strict regime of the movie star under contract, including a wholly unpleasant diet, and a packed schedule of publicity appearances. As it happens, his former fiancee is on the scene as a press agent, as is his bon vivant cousin. From then on, wacky antics ensue, as the Earl learns the true colors of his movie star love, realizes the fine qualities of his ex, and of course everything ties up rather neatly at the end. Along the way, Wodehouse is given licence to draw upon his own experiences to poke very mild fun at life in Hollywood. The book feels somewhat rote, probably because it's such a familiar premise, and it reads as if someone took it and applied a Wodehouse-wash to it, and then set it out to dry. My favorite part is actually the very beginning, where the Earl sits in the Drones Club attempting to start telling his wild story. All in all, it's Wodehouse, so of course it's worth reading, but most of his output is much better.

This was my introduction to Wodehouse, and I'm sure I'll come back for more. Clever and witty, the book about the soul switching between an English aristocrat, and a bratty Hollywood child star is something straight out of the movie world it pokes fun at.Wodehouse throws in plenty of funny and colorful characters while tying up plot points in neat little bows by the end.It should also be mentioned that the newly designed editions by Overlook Press are beautiful, compact, and a must have for collectors.