How Paul Robeson Saved My Life and Other Mostly Happy Stories

October 4, 1999
Film comedy director Reiner (The Jerk, etc.) reveals his vaudevillian side in this collection of short humor pieces. Each plays like a skit, the characters established quickly through dialogue-driven vignettes. The stories often build to punch line climaxes, or they are left fractured, standing alone as parabolic slices of life. For Reiner, the human drama is mostly played out between the sexes. Men are smitten by women and will do anything to capture them, as in the tale where a philanthropist falls for a high-priced escort girl. In another, a man brings home a Miss America candidate to meet his scrutinizing family. Characters from history are called in freely as well, Casanova, naturally enough, for one. Even God makes an appearance, as a supreme jokester, in an absurd version of the creation. Reiner, who has worked as a comic actor (on TV's The Dick Van Dyke Show and elsewhere), is a wry and evocative reader. His terse writing style adapts well to audio form, effectively drawing the listener into each story as a mini-fantasy. He is funny, but not too funny; the tape has a relaxed, unforced air. Best, Reiner seems to get a genuine kick out of his own material. Based on the 1999 Cliff Street hardcover.

October 4, 1999
Veteran funnyman Reiner, best known for his role as Alan Brady on The Dick Van Dyke Show and for directing such classic comic films as The Jerk and Oh, God!, more recently scored (with Mel Brooks) a Grammy Award for his comedy album The 2000 Year Old Man in the Year 2000. In this collection of 25 humorous short stories, he aims for lighthearted social commentary, to mixed effect. These tales are often wry one-note sketches, like "Creation," in which God struggles with writing the Bible, changing the opener from "Nemesis" to "Genesis" and fostering hopes that "The Good Book" will be a top seller. Similarly jokey bits include "Caz," where Casanova dies because he can't stop his compulsive sexual activity, and "The Heidi and Albert Correspondence," which consists of a morning-after letter from a woman to the married but evidently randy Albert Einstein. The title story, the most introspective and complex in the collection, features a battle of wits in an army barracks bathroom between Corporal Carl Reiner and racist Staff Sergeant "Bull" Warrington. The corporal fights bigotry, and saves face, by reciting the formidable accomplishments of legendary black football hero and singer Paul Robeson. Other stories involve gorgeous but opportunistic women and a clever money-grubbing child, with appearances of a smattering of self-mocking or hapless Jewish characters. While many of these lightweight pieces are vaguely anticlimactic, the humor barely missing its mark, Reiner fans should detect the good-natured spirit behind the more robust sketches.