Bennett Cerf's Treasury of Atrocious Puns

by Bennett Cerf

A collection of all of the puns Mr. Cerf has hoarded over the years. Some were written for the Saturday Review, This Week, King Features, Reader's Digest, and Playboy. Some have never appeared in print before.

Genres: Humor

124 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1968

About the author

Bennett Alfred Cerf (May 25, 1898 – August 27, 1971) was an American writer, owner of The Modern Library publishing house, and co-founder of the American publishing firm Random House.

Cerf was also known for his compilations of jokes and stories, and for his regular appearances on the panel game show What's My Line?

Reviews

[ALLEN · Rating 4 out of 5]

Is there any 20th-Century business leader better known to 21st-Century Americans than Bennett Cerf (d. 1971)? He made his mark as founder and editor of powerful Random House publishers; but he's better known to most Americans for his brilliant insights and groaner puns from his appearance on TV's "What's My Line," which ran for years and is now frequently re-run on cable. This little volume is all about Cerfian puns, and at fifty years' distance some are funny, some are shopworn, and a few tread dicey gender and ethnic stereotypes according to modern thinking. Still, it is one-of-a-kind, hardbound, and can be found cheaply. It was Cerf's last book, and I'm glad I bought and read it.

[Danni Green · Rating 3 out of 5]

90% clever puns, 10% atrocious bigotry! A fascinating historical reference point.

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Passed along from my dad. Most of them were only okay but there were a few good laughs. It's also full of the casual (fairly mild) racism and misogyny I sort of expect from a book from 1968.

[Leo Stoat · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bennett Cerf is funnier in What's My Line than in this book. A lot of these seem unoriginal since they are so familiar now. A bunch also went over my head. Atrocious is accurate!

[Wilbur · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dated.

[Alex · Rating 2 out of 5]

“Atrocious” is right.

I bet this killed in 1968, though.

[Michelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'd imagine it was more enjoyable to read this when it was originally published since a great many of the puns were related to pop culture.....of 45 years ago. I can't complain since I got it on $4 a bag day at the library used book sale.

[Steven · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love puns, but this book was only tolerable. There are a few gems, but several are stretches, have unnecessary lead up, or--because it was published forty-seven years ago--require specific knowledge (Russian composers, OLD sayings, and the like).

[KennyO · Rating 4 out of 5]

Here's the embodiment of the lowest form of humor engaged in by the highest form of intellect. In the current parlance, Bennett Cerf was da man!

[Paul Black · Rating 3 out of 5]

The puns were all ingenious. Very few were at all objectionable. I'm afraid, as Cerf says in the introduction, that some require knowledge of culture from 50 years ago or more. Example: "An up-and-coming young psychiatrist has this slogan adorning his letterhead: 'Remember the Mania!' " Did you get that? In 1898, amid Spanish-American tensions, the U.S. battleship Maine was rocked by an explosion in Havana harbor and sank. Thanks to yellow journalism, the public demand for war with Spain had "Remember the Maine!" as a rallying cry.

I give it three stars because few were the kind that I wanted to tell others about. As Cerf also said, the book is best taken in small doses.