Apparently Christopher Hitchens, ever the iconoclast, doesn't buy that old bit about "de mortuis nil nisi bonum" (don't speak ill of the dead). He decided that this was a good week to write a column in Salon about how unfunny Bob Hope was.

Boy, first Mother Theresa and now this. Apparently Christopher never learned that other old bit--friends come and go, but enemies are forever.

Speaking of speaking ill of the (near) dead....

That piece ran in Slate - the one running a profit...

One mans humor is another mans yawn.

Two points about Bob Hopes humor: (1) He had millions of jokes, had a stable of comedy writers, and unlike other comedians rarely reused material. He also prefered simple setups and one-liners to longer rants and monologues. This leads to a lack of 'best bit' memories Something Hitchens blasts Hope for which I think is unfair since its a style issue, not a lack of humor. (2) The humor of vaudville is pretty simplistic by today's standards just as music from the era was less complicated. Doesn't make it unfunny, just different and perhaps an acquired taste these days.

Hitchens is just trying to be contrarian. He should stick to politics.