The Benchley Roundup One of 50 Great Books That Will Change Your Life

"Benchley taught me how to create and then mine a comedic worldview with details gleaned from everything all around me," writes humorist Merrill Markoe in the June issue of Real Simple magazine. Her comments on Benchley's influence on her career in humor are also available online at http://www.realsimple.com/work-life/entertainment/great-books-00100000101474/page8.html

Robert Benchley-W.C. Fields Connection

Photos of Benchley and Fields, flanking a letter from Fields to Benchley

Brian A. Thomas has done some research on the connection between Robert Benchley and W.C. Fields, which is available for reading on the Robert Benchley Society website at www.robertbenchley.org/sob/benchley-fields.htm.

More information about Mr. Benchley, including his connection to other funnymen of the time and his continuing influence, is available at www.robertbenchley.org.

The Treasurer's Report Ruined My Family

"To know my father is to know 'The Treasurer’s Report,' a monologue written by Robert Benchley of the Algonquin Round Table." is a line from Fiction Ruined My Family By JEANNE DARST, an excerpt from which is available on the website of the New York Times.

Robert Benchley’s Influence on Pop Culture Noted in New Book

A new book – In the Peanut Gallery with Mystery Science Theater 3000 – about the cult TV, pop culture phenomenon, acknowledges the influence of great American humorist Robert Benchley. For a review by Robert Benchley Society member E. Mitchell, go to http://blog.seattlepi.com/filmhound/2011/05/19/robert-benchleys-influence-on-pop-culture-noted-in-new-book/

Art Buchwald and Robert Benchley

Five years ago this week, in a 2006 deathbed interview with NPR's with Diane Rehm, political humorist Art Buchwald talked about his life and his decision not to seek treatment for his kidney disease. At about 29 minutes into the nearly hour-long interview he sites Robert Benchley and James Thurber as his role models.