Customer Reviews
A delightful trip into the absurd - By: Mr. O. Buxton, 08 Jun 2008 
Another reviewer of this product complained that the interview section with Charles Richardson isn't very funny - a reaction I simply can't understand, as these twelve interviews are simply the funniest exchanges I have ever heard. Gerard Hoffnung was just 35 when he died, but he sounds like a portly (and utterly mad) sixty-year-old, & his timing & instinct for the absurd are just exquisite.
A special mention to Charles Richardson, a totally straight American reporter, assigned to extract a meaningful interviews from this eminent musician & cartoonist but finding each attempt he makes to start a conversation quickly unravelling & thus being driven ever so gently to utter exasperation. Richardson surely *must* have beenin on the joke, but you wouldn't know it - he plays the straight role exquisitely, & as a result Hoffnung leads him a merry dance. The final instalment, which apparently takes place inside Hoffnung's house (with no doors, which one enters & exits through the windows), & at which Mr Hoffnung's deaf grandfather makes an appearance, is a perfectly absurd conclusion to the series.
The Oxford Union debate is also reproducedin its entirety, as is some other monologues about music & the cinema. For me, though, the Richardson Interviews are the reason to buy this set.
Olly Buxton
A neglected gem - By: David Sanderson, 18 Nov 2006 
This is great comedy. At turns surreal, observational & improvisational with superb timing & delivery.
Any fan of anything funny at all should give this a whirl.
Soon you'll also wonder why Hoffnung is not a household name along with others of his time.
Ignore the absence of hype. Get it & chuckle.
A mixture of the dire and the inspired - By: Gavin Wilson, 07 Nov 2003 
Gerard Hoffnung diedin the year I was born -- 1959 -- at the absurdly young age of 34. Today he is best known for his cartoons & THAT speech to the Oxford Union, recorded a year earlier, where he tells the story of the bricklayer & the pulley & reads out some alleged replies from Tyrolean hoteliers to his wife's request for a room.
If you didn't know his age, you'd assume from his manner that he was a rather portly fifty or sixty-year-old. In his eccentric interviews with the North American Charles Richardson on CD1 of this collection, Richardson remarks more than once on Hoffnung's weight & diet. It is regrettable that Hoffnung, who died of a stroke, didn't take more notice of this warning.
The Oxford Union speech has long assumed classic status. I can rememberin the 1970s my Dad playing me a recording of the speech on his reel-to-reel tape machine. His material wasn't entirely original -- versions of the bricklayer's tale have been known since the 1920s. But Hoffnung clearly had a fantastic, endearing rapport with his audience, who didn't seem to care that the stories he includedin that speech had nothing to do with the motion that was being debated. The full speech is includedin CD2, &in the last two minutes, Hoffnung brings his talk back to the matter that he was supposed to be debating -- giving a very earnest, personal view.
I have to say that, on the evidence of the rest of these two CDs, Hoffnung was overrated as a radio humorist. CD1 consists of 12 interviews with Charles Richardson which were broadcast by the BBC. The BBC must have been desperate for fillersin the 1950s! The sleeve-notes proudly declare that the only preparation for each interview was a quick chatin a nearby coffee shop, & my goodness, it sounds like it. Much of the time, Richardson is funnier than the bombastic Hoffnung. Now I understand why none of today's comics cites Hoffnung as a major influence. Roll on 'The Goons', 'Beyond the Fringe', & even the 'Carry On' series!
Classic Hoffnung - By: , 06 Jun 2003 This audio gem is an absolute must for Hoffnung fans. Containing the famous Charles Richardson interviews & the Oxford Union "bricklayer" speech, it will have you laughing until you cry. As a Hoffnung fan since I was at school, it was a delight to listen to him again after so many years. Immaculate.
English humour at its best - By: , 21 Jul 2002 You need to know nothing of Hoffnungs work to appreciate his surreal & humanistic sense of humour. These tapes never fail to help lighten me up when I need a good laugh. The interviews with Charles are the highlight for me. Worth six stars!
