Even conservatives like Robert Benchley—very sensible of them, too. Case in point: S.T. Karnick (why do so many right-wingers use their initials?) in National Review Online, a hearty appreciation:

Benchley was in many ways the dean of American humorists until his death in 1945 at the height of his fame. Perelman was often funnier, Parker was sharper, White more respected as a thinker, and Thurber more widely loved, but Benchley was the most consistently delightful. Where Benchley was perhaps most notable was in the unfailingly cheerful nature of his writing. As confusing and silly as modern American life could be, Benchley never became bitter or despaired—at least not in his writing.
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In his frequently assumed persona of scientific investigator, Benchley was the clear model for later humorist Dave Barry's style of writing, in which the author comically tries (and fails) to explain how various things work in the baffling contemporary world. Christopher Buckley's puckish view of the absurdities of America's elites is another clear descendant of Benchley's work. To this day, Benchley remains a model of concise, literate, intelligent, humor writing.

Good links, too. And hold onto your bowler hats: As Karnick reports, Love Conquers All, Benchley's 1922 collection of humor pieces, is online. Read it all, from "The Benchley-Whittier Correspondence" to "Do Insects Think?" to "Polyp With a Past" to "Those Dangerously Dynamic British Girls." Then rent A Night at the Opera. If you're still in the dark, read more about Benchley on Nat Benchley's homepage. Your day will then have been exceedingly well spent.

Categories: Benchley