Humour is, as the editors note, ‘in the eye of the beholder’. O’Keefe and Vizard have collected four dozen pieces of differing tone, style, form, subject matter, length and laughability. They divide them into broad categories such as ‘Everyday Life’, ‘Politics’, ‘Society’, ‘Sport’, ‘Lifestyle’ and muse in their introduction as to what ‘best’ actually means (‘totally elusive’ when applied to humorous writing is their conclusion). I would agree, as I found this an uneven collection, and rarely laughed out loud, more often thinking ‘so what?’. There are some brilliant pieces, such as Clive James on a bad sentence, Kaz Cooke on politics, Mark Dapin on celebrity and reality television in America, a whimsical poem about a randy pigeon by Suzanne Edgar, and longer essays by Gideon Haigh (on the fall of the Bulletin) and Malcolm Knox (on the corporatisation of culture). I particularly liked Olga Pavlinova Olenich’s ‘Teacherwoman’, a wry, perceptive and moving account of teaching boys. Probably worth it for these alone, but too many slight and dull pieces included.

Sue Bond is a writer, reviewer and former bookseller

Tags: andrew o'keefe & steve vizard