# Biographies of Comedians **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** comedian-jokes\ **Created:** [September 12, 2021, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biographies-of-comedians/950542 "2021-09-12T12:28:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2021, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biographies-of-comedians/950542/21 "2021-09-18T02:48:18Z")
If you consider Dean Martin a comedian as well as a singer, I thoroughly enjoyed Nick Tosches’ biography _ **Dino: Living High in the Dirty Business of Dreams.** _ ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2021, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biographies-of-comedians/950542/22 "2021-09-18T19:30:20Z")
I think they’re memoirs rather than autobiographical, and it’s been 40 years since I read them so they might have aged poorly (I have no idea), but David Niven’s **The Moon’s A Balloon** and **Bring On The Empty Horses** were delightful. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2021, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biographies-of-comedians/950542/23 "2021-09-18T21:45:43Z")
I go through a ton of audiobooks, and I’ve listened to a number of autobiographies. The best ones are, not surprisingly, by comedians. My favorites: _Bossypants,_ by Tina Fay _My Lucky Life In and Out of Show Business_ by Dick Van Dyke (not for the content, but for the sheer optimism of his world view) _Almost Interesting,_ by David Spade (Not wild about any of his movies, but he can tell a story!) My least favorites: Martin Short’s (innumerable not-all-that-interesting stories that’d start with whose yacht he was on for what party and which B-List Glitterati of the 80s were there… got a bit dreary) _My Squirrel Days,_ by Ellie Kemper (Sorry, Ell, loved you in The Office and the first few episodes of Kimmy Schmidt, but this book jumped around like an ADHD dog going “Squirrel!”) ---
**Author:** ![Wallaby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/dc4da7/32.png) [@Wallaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallaby)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2021, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biographies-of-comedians/950542/24 "2021-09-18T22:21:56Z")
I quite enjoyed Bob Hope’s _Don’t Shoot, It’s Only Me!_ - it starts off as an fairly standard (albeit very jokey) autobiography. but mostly focusses on his WW2 USO travels, which I found much more interesting than the usual ‘Hollywood Party’ reminisces. - Obvious warning\* Some of the attitudes expressed in the book (particularly in relation to women) date back to the 1940s. ---
**Author:** ![MortSahlFan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@MortSahlFan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MortSahlFan)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2021, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biographies-of-comedians/950542/25 "2021-09-18T23:32:52Z")
Never heard of that one. I’ll definitely look for this. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2021, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biographies-of-comedians/950542/26 "2021-09-19T02:33:45Z")
> [@Wallaby](#): > > Bob Hope’s _Don’t Shoot, It’s Only Me!_… Some of the attitudes expressed in the book (particularly in relation to women) date back to the 1940s. If it was the '40s, don’t you mean “in relation to dames”? Dolls? Chicks? Gals? ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2021, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biographies-of-comedians/950542/27 "2021-09-19T15:19:47Z")
> [@digs](#): > > (Not wild about any of his movies, but he can tell a story!) This reminds me that, quite a while back, I listened to the (probably abridged) audio version of Jay Leno’s _Leading With My Chin_ and was surprised at how good it was. Jay’s a good raconteur, a side of him that didn’t really come out in his _Tonight Show_ hosting gig. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2021, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biographies-of-comedians/950542/28 "2021-09-19T16:36:09Z")
> [@digs](#): > > If it was the '40s, don’t you mean “in relation to dames”? The book was published in 1990. But like many others of his generation, Hope always lived in the 40s, when he was at his peak. And the book was written by Mel Shavelson, who started working for Hope in 1938. (Technically, all of Hope’s books were written by his writers, who even got credit about half the time. The rear flap of this book reads, “This is his eighth book. He plans to read the other seven when he gets time.” It might be that this is one time the old joke is actually true.) ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2021, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biographies-of-comedians/950542/29 "2021-09-19T18:37:00Z")
Lots and lots of dames, and one transvestite, prompting his listeners to go “jeez Bob, maybe that’s one story you’d want to keep to yourself!” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biographies-of-comedians/950542.md?page=1)