Stepping Stones

About the Book

I submitted Personals to the New Yorker Shouts and Murmurs in 2007. I was happy rather than disappointed with the rejection letter because it said the piece was quite funny. When Shouts and Murmurs says you’re funny that’s an achievement. I’m still resting on those laurels. My first humor mentor was Jack Benny – on the radio in the 1940’s and on T.V. in the 1950’s. Years later someone commented that I told jokes with a Jack Benny dead-pan and placed my hand on my cheek in a Bennyesque contemplative style. I hadn’t been aware until then that he had had such an influence.

About the Author