Joey Adams writes about how to test a good comedian…

He writes: Any comic worth his weight in laughs must have a joke file that he carries with him in the back of his funny bone at all times, ready for an emergency. Like in case he shoud bump into an audience… or a table full of laughers … or a solitary listener. If you want to test a good comedian, do the alphabet bit. Mention any letter from A to Z and see if he can come up with a good joke or gag for every subject.

He said that his favorite comedians were Morey Amsterdam, Milton Berle and Henny Youngman. He writes: One night we were sitting around the famous eatery of the stars, Danny’s Hideaway in New York, with our backs toward the check. We were playing our favorite game trying to tell a joke that the other three couldn’t finish. Loser to pay the check. The least funny joke to pay the tip. Danny was the judge. We started with the alphabet, A to Z.

They went through the alphabet cracking jokes for each letter. Here are some jokes they came up with.

Adams: A is for arrest. The judge was trying a case concerning some dice players. “Will all the crapshooters step to the bar?” he said. Six men stepped forward when only five were involved. “What are you doing here?” the judge asked the sixth man. “What’s the matter?” said the man. “Ain’t my money good?”

Amsterdam: P is for pants. Some tailor is making suits out of awning material. There’s only one thing wrong with it. When the sun goes down the pants roll up…

Youngman: D is for Drunk. The judge was reprimanding the souse. “You’ve bben brought here for drinking.” “Okay,” said the sot, “lesh get started!”

Berle: P is for Pigeon. I had a carrier pigeon who showed up five hours late. I asked him, “What happened? He said, “Nothing – it was so nice out, I decided to walk.”

-readersvoice.com

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