The Comedian’s Bible #931238

I met Dick on the Tour of the 5th Wallabies to Great Britain, France and Canada. Like the artist who did the front cover, ours was also a long tour of four and a half months. On a tour such as this much time is spent on buses. Sometimes these trips could be six or eight hours, and it is during this time the art of repartee, joke and storytelling come to the fore to become part of the glue that binds a team together.

His quick wit carried over to the rugby field, I recall in one game Dick complained to the referee about a decision, the referee replied, “Who do you think is refereeing this game?”, Dick with the last word said, “Neither of us”. As a result of his entertaining ability Dick has been the “Go to Man” as an MC or Guest Speaker for sporting or Rugby Clubs Australia-wide for decades. In fact, he was the resident MC at the monthly Ballymore sporting lunches in Brisbane for over twenty years. At these events Dick has frequently been asked, “Why don’t you write a book?”. He has finally done it to the amusement of us all.

With categories in the book like “Blue Humour” and “Smut” a small amount of material is crass but the best way to describe the content generally is “clever.”. Educationally, it includes varieties of verbal comedy across the times which means that some of the examples would not currently be used to amuse “politically correct” audiences. If you ignore that small part, you will find this publication a valuable tool in both enriching your conversational appeal and certainly in making speech making more entertaining. 

There is more than enough material in each volume, however if you want a huge choice, you won’t regret acquiring the complete set.

Russ Tulloch