Don't Shoot, It's Only Me
Bob Hope with Melville Shavelson
This rambling memoir is Bob Hope's personal military history of America from the late 1930s through 1991--World War II; the Korean War; the Cold War; Vietnam; Kuwait; the Persian Gulf. In all of these conflicts--and many other world events--Bob Hope was there. Entertaining the troops, dodging bullets, writing skits on an aircraft carrier, and making bad jokes at the expense of every major world leader.
The best parts of this book are the the short recitations of the jokes he told,
Discipline in very strict in the Marine Corps. They're not allowed to turn their elelectric blankets above "just friendly."
Plus the way he has of slipping in a funny or two in every paragraph. In some ways the whole book reads like a standup comedy act.
And the worst part is when he does a show in Lai Khe, Vietnam, near the end of a police action that has dragged on too long for everyone. His joke leads off with the phrase, "be home before you know it." But they don't know it. They don't think they will ever make it home...he is just another liar in a nation of lies.
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