Robert C. Benchley's sketches and articles, published in periodicals like Life, Vanity Fair, and The New Yorker, earned him a reputation as one of the sharpest humorists of his time; his influence--on contemporaries such as E. B. White, James Thurber, and S. J. Perelman, or followers like Woody Allen, Steve Martin, and Richard Pryor--has left an indelible mark on the American comic tradition. The Benchley Roundup collects those pieces, selected by Benchley's son Nathaniel, which seem to stand up best over the years-a compendium of the most endearing and enduring work from one of America's funniest and most penetrating wits.

It took me fifteen years to discover that I had no talent for writing, but I couldn't give it up because by then I was too famous.
--Robert Benchley