And I've given him every chance in the world. SOME of it's funny, to be sure, but most of it isn't. And I wish he was b
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dragster-2 — 18 years ago(February 01, 2008 01:19 AM)
No hate mail from me, but to say that Bob wasn't funny is diabolical. If we measure his humour and jokes with today's funnies, Bob's repertoire seems dated, but that makes it even more wonderful.
"I have seen and heard things in my life that are best left UNTOLD!" -
classicmoviecomedy — 18 years ago(February 06, 2008 08:16 AM)
Interesting. The original OP, may I ask what specifically of Hope's work you've seen? You did mention his Road Pictures, which are among his best work. If you've mainly seen his post-1950s TV work, he certainly wasn't at his peak throughout most of that period.
What's interesting to me about Bob Hope is that, because of his age, he could have had a career in silent comedy as well, but didn't come to films until relatively late in the 30s. Some find him to be a little too old to play the types of roles he was doing in the 40s-50s (you'll notice in "Road to Morocco" when he asked his birth year, it is given as 1913, instead of Hope's actual birthdate of 1903, showing that even in 1942 Hope was a little "old" for some of these roles. That said, he does a magnificent job.)
Of course, Hope had a career for years on stage before coming to film and later TV, and as a result, we have no recordings to show us his work in the 1920s. By the time he really perfected his "vain coward" character with "Road to Morocco", he was certainly in the prime of his film work. If you can find "The Princess and the Pirate", "My Favorite Brunette", "Monsieur Beaucaire" and "The Paleface" films, those are probably his best work. Unfortunately, his post-1950s film work is quite weak in comparison. I would definitely not judge him on the basis of his "Tonight Show" appearances, where his heavily-scripted material just feels out of place in the conversational tone of that show. I would agree that much of his writing in these types of performances feels a little too forced. On the other hand, a natural wit like Groucho or Jack Benny can seem both completely natural and side-splittingly funny at the same time. Watch Groucho's guest spot on The Dick Cavett Show, and see how natural he makes the humor feel.
As far as America changing, that's certainly true. Try watching some of the comedies of the late 70s and early 80s and see how silly some of it seems. After the political and shock humor of the Vietnam era, there was a return to that kind of goofy, fun comedy personified by Steve Martin, John Candy, Chevy Chase, etc., much of which seems too silly now.
Hope stretched across so many decades (nearly the entire century, if we count his early stage work through his final public appearances), that's impossible to "peg" him in any one era. As a result, we as an audience don't know quite what to make of his humor, especially as it "snowballed" from decade to decade. It feels odd, in a sense, watching the same comedian who performed soft-shoe numbers with Bing Crosby in the Road Pictures and traded innuendo with Jane Russell in "The Paleface" making jokes about "Deep Throat" and Vietnam in the 70s, and Macauley Culkin and Iraq War in the 90s.
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Colton_Productions — 17 years ago(May 29, 2008 02:37 PM)
I think the humor of yesterday is different from today Thats why you don't like him The people in the 30's to 50's humor was very different then now I'm not saying I like todays humor The weak sarcastic cheap jokes that people go for now in movies. Its all just crude sh**. And to me Bob Hope is pretty funny but I agree. Not all of his jokes are screamers.
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mlmerit — 17 years ago(September 02, 2008 08:46 PM)
I know why some people say he wasn't that funny. Its true that comedy is much different today than it was in Bob's time, but he was more of a national treasure than any other actor I can think of. Besides after years of hosting the Oscars and not winning one himself he opened the show with, "Welcome to the Acadamy Awards, or as it's known at my house- Passover". I'm sorry but it doesn't matter what era you come from that is funny.
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shydmplez — 17 years ago(February 19, 2009 08:47 AM)
I love Bob Hopehe's hilarious. The legends are gone. It's just like it used to be. I guess you have to curse to get a laugh these days.don't get me wrong; I like some of the comics of todayRichard Pryor was Kingbut still.there's nothing like the legends of yesteryear.
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JoeErnie — 17 years ago(November 20, 2008 06:56 PM)
I'm not going to give you any hate email, because I'll be honest, I don't laugh at everything Bob Hope does either. I en2000joyed his radio shows, and The Paleface was great, but I never really got into the Road pictures (except The Road to Bali). Hope never charmed me, and don't get me wrong. I love Laurel & Hardy, Abbott & Costello, 3 Stooges (Shemp is my favorite), and Jack Benny is one of my favorite comediansand I'm a 23 year old kid!
All this to say, Bob Hope isn't for everyone. While I respect him for what he did, I have never been a huge fan of his either. Hey, some people can't laugh at Bob Hope. Which is fine. No one should be called immature for that. Now, if you laugh at sexual innuendos all the time or can't laugh without hearing the f word ten times, that's immaturity. Not laughing at Bob Hope is what's called a comedic preference. Not everyone likes everything old or new. -
SimplemindedSociety — 14 years ago(May 29, 2011 11:02 PM)
I agree with the OP, never got him either.
I didn't find him inherently funny like Jackie Gleason,Lucille Ball, or Jerry Lewis,who could read the phone book and make it funny. I realize Hope's writing was funny,but that's only part of it. He was amusing now and then, but I don't' appreciate his legendary lable as a funnyman.