START FROM SOMEWHERE ELSE

An informal, ambient excursion- among wits and wags and ""worthies"", defines wit (largely by exclusion) and laughter and then revives some famous quips, puns, bons mots or conversations which crossed a tavern table. Some are literary, some legendary, many of them are Gaelic in word and spirit (which may well limit this for an American audience) and famous humorists assemble- Mahaffy and Tyrrell and Oscar Wilde; the carefree Tom Kettle and the grave James Joyce; Augustus John and Yeats. Gogarty goes beyond Dublin to identify and illustrate humor in England and Scotland and America, and he's a convivial commentator and raconteur.