So Far, So Funny

Hal Kanter continues to write, produce and direct in Encino, California. He has cowritten 28 Academy Awards shows.

Table of Contents

Preview ix

1. Hal Did a Lot for Our Family 1
2. The Advantage of Being on the Bottom 8
3. The Happy Hour of Eternity 12
4. Do Ducks Waddle? 16
5. I Do All of My Work Sitting Down 21
6. Romance Into Marriage 26
7. Spice to My Conversation 32
8. Whether It Happened or Not 39
9. Everybody Knows It’s Raining 44
10. Why Aren’t I Wet? 50
11. His Dentist Was a Proctologist 57
12. Only a Pig 65
13. An Honest Living 72
14. ’Til I Say It Is 77
15. A Virtue I Do Not Possess 83
16. An Apology 87
17. My One Goal 90
18. “Shit,” He Said Brie?y 96
19. Even Inanimate Objects 99
20. Hollywood’s Lesson 104
21. No Small Parts 108
22. Some People Are So Sensitive 115
23. I’m O.K. 119
24. No Good Can Come of It 126
25. What a Lamp Post Thinks of Dogs 131
26. By Words Alone 138
27. If Writers Were Good Businessmen 141
28. A Clean Sheet of Paper 146
29. If Lincoln Were Alive Today 150
30. But Why Should I Depress You? 156
31. Always a Beginner 163
32. Ten Percent of Everything 169
33. No Reason to Regret It 175
34. I’d Rather Have Cocoa 183
35. I Forgot to Write It Down 187
36. Three People Have a Baby 193
37. If You See My Producer 197
38. On Schedule 204
39. Without Music 209
40. The Show Goes On 216
41. Still Frisky 222
42. The Gift of Laughter 228
43. Expressing Ourselves 236
44. When My Comedy Succeeds 240
45. What Critics Say 247
46. Hamlet’s Experiences 254
47. Feed Gravel to His Oxen 264
48. The Big Show 271
49. You’re Going to Love Melbourne 277
50. If You Live Long Enough 285

Index 293