Getting Even

What Monty Python has done for Christian lore, Woody Allen does for 20th century culture and Rabbinic Judaism. Delivered in Allen's classic droll deadpan style, these short essays are premised on subjects ranging from psychology, philosophy, 20th century literature and American history to Latin American revolutionaries, film noir and Rabbinic literature (midrash).

As in any type of humor, the more you know about the subject of the humor, the more you appreciate it--and Allen's adroit handling of his rather weighty subject matter is nothing short of brilliant.

While not absolutely essential, an at least cursory knowledge of the topics will add tremendously to the listener's enjoyment of Allen's remarkable talent in finding humor in what might otherwise seem rather humorless material.

This is one of the few books I can see myself returning to again and again whenever my spirits need a lift!

Get ready for awkward stares on the subway, on the street, at a restaurant or wherever you listen to any one of the brilliant stories in the book.

Written in Mr. Allen's prime, the 70's, these stories would be hilarious if read by your tax accountant, much less by the witty neurotic performer that is Woody Allen.

Pretty Damn Funny

Mr. Schmeed

I have not listened to any other audio books performed by Woody Allen before, but I would have to say that he does a cracking job in this one.

Yes, I had an extreme reaction to this book: at one point I laughed so hard that I had tea spurting out of my nose and my monocle popped out. This was followed by a a brief exclamation of "damn" (as I had made a mess of my table cloth) and a rather violent throwing of a napkin to the floor. Fortunately I was able to regain my composure quickly and by the time my butler had arrived to investigate the commotion I was once again calm.

If you happen to have a time machine, please go back in time and convince Mr. Allen to produce more works of this kind.

The richness of Woody's descriptions.

None that I can think of.

The search for God.

I laughed a lot as I read it.

knowing that sooner or later, a belly laugh was coming!

Woody the nurd!

Timing!

I would not take any out character as I am happily married!

Get his other books while you are getting this one. That way you will have more laughs!

woody is nuts. he uses words to make your mind swirl.Thats the fun.

all characters read by woody are funny.

great for a good laugh.

Even though there are excellent paragraphs, overall it was hard to follow and enjoy. Not my type of audiobooks, as it seems.

I have no idea who could possibly enjoy this type of ramblings.

It was incoherent ramblings.

His performance was fine the quality and content were a major issue.

disappointed

Could anyone else like this type of nonsense?

Boring

NO, it is sooo boring

NO, he is making me fall asleep

NO, It was not funny, or interesting or clever

NO

Definitely. I have fond memories of Woody Allen from years ago. Unfortuntely, this book seemed uncontrolled, like the scrappy notebook of a man wresting with senility. There were very few moments where I laughed out loud, and only marginally more muted chuckles. There were some good bits though.

Not written it, and merge the few great bits into a different, better, book.

Count Dracula, followed closely by Ernest Hemmingway

Woody Allen is a tremendous narrator. Although I found the stories meandering at best - meaningless at worst - I still enjoyed listening to Allen speak, purely because he has a wonderful voice.
Another redeeming quality is the fact that this is a collection of short stories, often no more than 5 minutes long. Although some made very little sense to me, the brevity meant that any one story only babbled in my ears for a few minutes. That said, there are two or three stories that I wish had been longer.

I got a much better experience out of the book when I boosted the speaking speed to 1.5x.