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Try and Stop Me: A Collection of Anecdotes and Stories, Mostly Humorous
Bennett Cerf's collection of humorous (and occasionally scary) ancedotes and stories drawn from Hollywood, the literary world, sports, etc.
- GenresHumorBiographyNonfiction
342 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1944
3 people are currently reading
132 people want to read
About the author
Bennett Cerf
137 books27 followersBennett Cerf was one of the founders of the publishing firm Random House. Cerf was known for his compilations of jokes and stories, and for his regular appearances on the panel game show What's My Line?
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
August 12, 2014
This is one of those books that I keep around to remind me of what humor writing used to be in this country.
Bennett Cerf was a creature of his times, a celebrity editor of a publishing house is hard to imagine now, but from this book forward and long into the 1960s he was a cultural force who simply knew everyone, was everywhere and still managed to toss out a couple of books of humor almost entirely taken from other people. This is fitting since Cerf's lasting mark in the publishing world is as a master of the anthology, and his approach to humor books is entirely in that same vein. It is never Cerf who is the funny man, he merely collects the humorous anecdotes and attributes them to the actual humorist.
In this post-war volume, which was his own first book, he occasionally dips into racist wartime references to the Japanese, and some of his name drops are meaningless now, but most of all this early book shows us a less political Cerf, one who is willing to speak ill of the dead (the extended section riffing on about Alexander Woolcott for example), and one not quite as sure of his charm as in later books.
But even with its misfires and lost names, this is still a consistently amusing book.
Bennett Cerf was a creature of his times, a celebrity editor of a publishing house is hard to imagine now, but from this book forward and long into the 1960s he was a cultural force who simply knew everyone, was everywhere and still managed to toss out a couple of books of humor almost entirely taken from other people. This is fitting since Cerf's lasting mark in the publishing world is as a master of the anthology, and his approach to humor books is entirely in that same vein. It is never Cerf who is the funny man, he merely collects the humorous anecdotes and attributes them to the actual humorist.
In this post-war volume, which was his own first book, he occasionally dips into racist wartime references to the Japanese, and some of his name drops are meaningless now, but most of all this early book shows us a less political Cerf, one who is willing to speak ill of the dead (the extended section riffing on about Alexander Woolcott for example), and one not quite as sure of his charm as in later books.
But even with its misfires and lost names, this is still a consistently amusing book.
August 18, 2017
Bennett Cerf takes the toilet read to new heights; making one feel smarter and wittier after one has descended the throne...
I'm taking the liberty of reviewing this while in progress, since I estimate it will take at least 30 trips to the loo to finish it, yet see no reason to delay a final judgment, as it's quite clear this book is what it is from the get-go, and not likely to change....
Cerf's compendium of groaners and genuine laugh-out-loud anecdotes culled from the possibly aprocyphal annals of show-business lore proves at least one thing: that the entertainers of 80 years ago had more wit on an off-night than a gaggle of today's celebs could muster in their lifetimes.
This book is from 1944, which already makes it interesting... and he has the good sense to kick things off with bon mots, puns and priceless comebacks from the likes of the Marx Bros. and the most beautiful man who ever lived, Jimmy Durante.
Wine and a cigar are recommended accompaniments. Just make sure to be careful where that ash goes, if you're reading it on the loo...
KR@KY 2017
I'm taking the liberty of reviewing this while in progress, since I estimate it will take at least 30 trips to the loo to finish it, yet see no reason to delay a final judgment, as it's quite clear this book is what it is from the get-go, and not likely to change....
Cerf's compendium of groaners and genuine laugh-out-loud anecdotes culled from the possibly aprocyphal annals of show-business lore proves at least one thing: that the entertainers of 80 years ago had more wit on an off-night than a gaggle of today's celebs could muster in their lifetimes.
This book is from 1944, which already makes it interesting... and he has the good sense to kick things off with bon mots, puns and priceless comebacks from the likes of the Marx Bros. and the most beautiful man who ever lived, Jimmy Durante.
Wine and a cigar are recommended accompaniments. Just make sure to be careful where that ash goes, if you're reading it on the loo...
KR@KY 2017
July 22, 2019
3 3/4 stars
January 14, 2010
This book is so obviously dated before my time of recognizing some of the "famous names" recorded in it.
That said, it is still a very funny book on human nature in the entertainment fields.
This author was on TV in the early years, I remember, and I had pleasant memories of his stories.
I have difficulty remembering jokes, but some of these will stay with me.
Val, want to try it? Mrs. Henderson gave it to us from her husband's stash...
June 30, 2018
The copy of the book I read is the 1944 edition, and what makes it so impressive is that so much of it could have been written today. Everything changes and nothing changes. There is a lot of the immediacy of World War II, but so much of economics and government and humor never seems to change. Puns and wordplay never gets old, does it?
Want to read
February 19, 2015Read this book for free through the Internet Archive:
https://archive.org/details/trystopme...
https://archive.org/details/trystopme...
December 10, 2024
My parents had several of Cerf's joke collections around the house when I was a kid. This was one of them; they were all pretty much alike. Being an indiscriminate reader, I was exposed to the compiler's relentless geniality, tried to figure out who the long-gone celebrities in the anecdotes might have been -- mysterious names like Joe Frisco, Bernard Baruch and Dorothy Kilgallen -- and mostly enjoyed their bon mots (in most cases, I realized much later, almost certainly invented by their PR people).
There were some non-celebrity jokes I didn't get, like one about an elderly Jewish New Yorker whose family, worried she's losing her marbles, sends her to a specialist for tests. The doctor holds up various household items and asks what they are, and she gives the right answer every time until he holds up a knife and says, "What's this?" The woman stares at it, then says, "A phallic symbol?" [Very optional rimshot here.]
Not knowing what a phallic symbol might be, I naturally asked my mother, who gave me the correct definition but, over the next few days, seemed to rediscover her own interest in Cerf, as I saw her going through the book on several occasions, apparently searchimg for something. She was a tolerant woman but may have known that Cerf was the editor who got "Ulysses" legalized in the United States, and perhaps wondered if he was a threat to American youth after all.
Years later, I read the great H. Allen Smith's joke anthology "Buskin' With H. Allen Smith," which was unlike any of Cerf's books in that it was both hilarious and filthy, and never looked back.
Bonus story: There's a very funny account of how Cerf persuaded the Customs Service to confiscate an imported copy of "Ulysses," thus launching the famous court case, at https://www.irishcentral.com/roots/hi....
There were some non-celebrity jokes I didn't get, like one about an elderly Jewish New Yorker whose family, worried she's losing her marbles, sends her to a specialist for tests. The doctor holds up various household items and asks what they are, and she gives the right answer every time until he holds up a knife and says, "What's this?" The woman stares at it, then says, "A phallic symbol?" [Very optional rimshot here.]
Not knowing what a phallic symbol might be, I naturally asked my mother, who gave me the correct definition but, over the next few days, seemed to rediscover her own interest in Cerf, as I saw her going through the book on several occasions, apparently searchimg for something. She was a tolerant woman but may have known that Cerf was the editor who got "Ulysses" legalized in the United States, and perhaps wondered if he was a threat to American youth after all.
Years later, I read the great H. Allen Smith's joke anthology "Buskin' With H. Allen Smith," which was unlike any of Cerf's books in that it was both hilarious and filthy, and never looked back.
Bonus story: There's a very funny account of how Cerf persuaded the Customs Service to confiscate an imported copy of "Ulysses," thus launching the famous court case, at https://www.irishcentral.com/roots/hi....
August 27, 2021
A collection of stories and jokes that give a picture of America from soldiers to sports figures to entertainers at the end of WWII. Some of them are dated and some of them are still hilarious. Quite the grab bag.
October 17, 2015
It's really dated but if you get the 40's and 50's references you'll have a brighter day for reading bits of it from time to time. Bennett Cerf was a wonderful wordsmith and grandmaster of the pun.
April 11, 2017
My parents had this when I was young, and I remember perusing it and re-reading it throughout my life. I loaned it out in my 20's and I never got it back.
This is a hodgepodge of little bits of stories, humor, cultural writing and is a must for anyone who loves humor. Trigger warnings on some of the less sensitive material.
This is a hodgepodge of little bits of stories, humor, cultural writing and is a must for anyone who loves humor. Trigger warnings on some of the less sensitive material.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews