Word: humorous
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...first Carter took the newsmen's repeated references to fellow Democrat Ted Kennedy with good humor. When a reporter made the increasingly common slip of referring to "President Kennedy," Carter responded with a grin: "I think it is Senator Kennedy." But when one young TV newswoman paraphrased a Kennedy criticism at considerable length, the President turned understandably testy. "Is this a campaign speech for him?" asked Carter. He then proceeded to give a pretty good campaign speech...
...director schooled in the stylistic demands of black humor might have coaxed a few laughs from the material. Director Norman Jewison (Rollerball, F.I.S.T.) is not that man. His movie's helter-skelter tone swivels irrationally and usually heads straight for a dead end. Mad scenes, broad comic bits and mournful monologues are so indiscriminately mixed that the audience often does not know how to respond. At one point the movie comes to a halt so that we can go on a supposedly comic helicopter ride. There are also pointless interludes in which the hero visits his humorless grandfather...
...such past camp masters as the '50s Hollywood director Douglas Sirk (Magnificent Obsession) and the '60s Warhol disciple Paul Morrissey (Flesh). But unlike his predecessors, Fassbinder does not recognize the limits of the form. Camp is fine for movies that want to trade exclusively in offbeat humor and florid emotions. In Maria Braun, Fassbinder makes the serious mistake of try ing to convey ideas...
...unless a lot is lost in translation, Abe's new novel is closer to outright farce: the crudeness and grotesqueness of its images entirely alienate the reader. Apart from the initial shock of meeting Abe's characters, there is little else besides some black humor; the reader is left stunned, unable to identify with the narrator or to place the story in a familiar or meaningful perspective. Secret Rendezvous leaves the reader provoked, but unmoved, and while he must respect the profundity of Abe's vision, the novel does not convince him to share...
...clear that there, but for the obvious absurdity of the storyline, go we. In Jailbird, Vonnegut's tenth novel, Kilgore Trout a.k.a. Starbuck goes beyond and back-he visits the depths of Harvardiana and survives. The story is inspirational, the Vonnegutisms ("Small world") are typically comforting, and his black humor is as sordid as ever. Jailbird will make you eager for more Vonnegut, and with any luck, Kilgore Trout will be back again