From Publishers Weekly
Veteran funnyman Reiner, best known for his role as Alan Brady on The Dick Van Dyke Show and for directing such classic comic films as The Jerk and Oh, God!, more recently scored (with Mel Brooks) a Grammy Award for his comedy album The 2000 Year Old Man in the Year 2000. In this collection of 25 humorous short stories, he aims for lighthearted social commentary, to mixed effect. These tales are often wry one-note sketches, like "Creation," in which God struggles with writing the Bible, changing the opener from "Nemesis" to "Genesis" and fostering hopes that "The Good Book" will be a top seller. Similarly jokey bits include "Caz," where Casanova dies because he can't stop his compulsive sexual activity, and "The Heidi and Albert Correspondence," which consists of a morning-after letter from a woman to the married but evidently randy Albert Einstein. The title story, the most introspective and complex in the collection, features a battle of wits in an army barracks bathroom between Corporal Carl Reiner and racist Staff Sergeant "Bull" Warrington. The corporal fights bigotry, and saves face, by reciting the formidable accomplishments of legendary black football hero and singer Paul Robeson. Other stories involve gorgeous but opportunistic women and a clever money-grubbing child, with appearances of a smattering of self-mocking or hapless Jewish characters. While many of these lightweight pieces are vaguely anticlimactic, the humor barely missing its mark, Reiner fans should detect the good-natured spirit behind the more robust sketches. (Oct.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Kirkus Reviews
Reiner (Continue Laughing, 1995) continues cheerful in this collection of two dozen stories, most of them fictional although the title tale and some others seemingly are taken from life. In the title story, Corporal Reiner is attending a noncom's school in the South, where his Army barracks is being integrated and Reiner is taken to task by a brutal, black-baiting tech sergeant whom he outwits by letting him win every point of disagreement. In ``G.G. Giggler,'' a wealthy young man is engaged to Miss Georgia, on her way to the Miss America contest. His jealous sister tries endlessly to undermine the ever-giggling Miss Georgia, but her attempt to make her the laughingstock of a fancy dinner backfires on the prissy perpetrator when Miss Georgia's various very real gifts and attainments become evident. In ``Hampa Han,'' a lad wins the favor of his multimillionaire grandfather and a ten-million inheritance by being frank about what a boring after-dinner speaker granddad is. In ``Lance and Gwendolyn,'' two knockoffs of Lancelot and Guinevere meet in an elevator and find themselves mutually attracted, although the woman's upcoming marriage stands in their way. Several pieces hinge on our being told how full of wild laughter some of the characters are. They must be looking at reruns of Reiner's glorious straight man to Sid Caesar on the old Your Show of Shows, since nothing here invites even the barest smile. --
Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
