SELF-AMUSED

A memoir by a TV legend’s son that includes analysis of the changing media landscape as well as a great many jokes.

The most intriguing stories in this book are, perhaps unsurprisingly, about Candid Camera—the show that Funt’s late father, Allen, started and which the author co-hosted starting in 1987. However, Funt also details an imaginative childhood, with his dad remodeling a spare room to resemble “whatever interested the kids at the moment—a ‘general store,’ the ‘deck of a boat,’ a ‘spaceship.’ ” When the author describes a particularly hilarious time when he pretended to be a statue on Candid Camera, the reader may think that having fun was his job description. Funt admits that it was fun, “but when people are depending on you, and a lot of money is at stake, and deadlines are creating enormous stress, then even the most pleasant job becomes hard work.” Less engaging are seemingly random anecdotes from the author’s life as a high school football player, a movie extra, and a barbecuer. The author did have an unusually varied professional life outside of Candid Camera, however, including stints as a radio editor, freelancer for the New York Times and a brief interlude as a pine cone and cattail wholesaler. When his magazine On Cable began to succeed, he took meetings with publishing legends Jann Wenner and Katharine Graham. There are also several touching anecdotes about Funt rescuing cats; about how Fred Rogers, of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood fame, turned a Candid Camera appearance into a public appeal to help the homeless; and about Phil Donahue’s approach with his fans. Funt also mentions that his father’s foundation, Laughter Therapy, provides Candid Camera videos to the critically ill. However, although the author recounts meeting his wife, there’s little detail in these pages about their relationship and children. Overall, the memoir might have worked better with more of a Candid Camera focus and a more straightforward chronological structure.

A fun read for Candid Camera fans but not so relevant for others.