Robert Orben (born March 4, 1927) is an American magic and professional comedy writer. He is also an author of books for magicians. He wrote a book called "Speaker's Handbook of Humor".
Robert Orben published his first gag book at the age of 18 in 1946, when he was working in Stuart Robson Jr.'s (stage manager for Florenz Ziegfeld) conjuror's shop in New York. Professional magicians would use his gags to add humor to their acts; comedians also came into magic stores, for props and books, as there were no comedy stores or resources as such at that time.
When Robert Orben wrote his first gag book,
Encyclopedia of Patter, it proved very popular, and he started publishing more books of gags, complete with sketches, ad libs, bits of business and routines. Titles included
Patter Parade,
Laugh Package,
Sight Bits, and
Screamline Comedy.
By the 1950s, Orben gag books were ubiquitous in the comedy profession and were probably overused by stand-up comedians. Orben has said he nearly sued Lenny Bruce once, as Bruce advertised his show with the tag line, "No Joe Miller, no corn, no Orben". However, Orben never sued, and only saw Bruce perform once, shortly before Bruce's death.
In addition to his gag and humor books, he started publishing a regular newsletter of topical humor, which he wrote for nearly 30 years, stopping in 1989.
As Orben made a name for himself with his books, he attracted attention. He started writing custom-made gags for comedian Dick Gregory for six years. Gregory had contacted him in 1955, when Gregory was starting out in Chicago. Orben told him to get in touch when he'd found his own comedic voice. In 1962, Gregory telegrammed Orben, saying there would be a two page article in
Time about him. Orben bought the magazine, saw the article, and shortly after, the two signed a contract to work together. Orben also wrote for Jack Paar on The Tonight Show in New York (1962-63), and the Red Skelton Show in Hollywood (1964-70).
Later, Orben moved into politics, and in 1973 he became head speechwriter to Vice President Gerald R. Ford. When Ford succeeded to the Presidency in August, 1974, Orben became his speechwriter. In January 1976 he was appointed Special Assistant to President Ford and Director of the White House Speechwriting Department.
As of 2007, Orben works as a speaker for corporate events. His most recent book is
Speaker's Handbook of Humor.
Never raise your hand to your children; it leaves your midsection unprotected.
Quit worrying about your health. It'll go away.
Time flies. It is up to you to be the navigator.
"A graduation ceremony is an event where the commencement speaker tells thousands of students dressed in identical caps and gowns that 'individuality' is the key to success.""A vacation is having nothing to do and all day to do it in.""Do you ever get the feeling that the only reason we have elections is to find out if the polls were right?""Don't think of it as failure. Think of it as time-released success.""Every day I get up and look through the Forbes list of the richest people in America. If I'm not there, I go to work.""Every morning I get up and look through the Forbes list of the richest people in America. If I'm not there, I go to work.""Every speaker has a mouth; An arrangement rather neat. Sometimes it's filled with wisdom. Sometimes it's filled with feet.""I got a Valentine's Day card from my girl. It said, 'Take my heart! Take my arms! Take my lips!' Which is just like her. Keeping the best part for herself.""I take my children everywhere, but they always find their way back home.""If you can laugh together, you can work together.""Illegal aliens have always been a problem in the United States. Ask any Indian.""In prehistoric times, mankind often had only two choices in crisis situations: fight or flee. In modern times, humor offers us a third alternative; fight, flee - or laugh.""Inflation is bringing us true democracy. For the first time in history, luxuries and necessities are selling at the same price.""Inflation is the crabgrass in your savings.""Life was a lot simpler when what we honored was father and mother rather than all major credit cards.""Love is so confusing - you tell a girl she looks great and what's the first thing you do? Turn out the lights!""More than ever before, Americans are suffering from back problems: back taxes, back rent, back auto payments.""Most people would like to be delivered from temptation but would like it to keep in touch.""Never raise your hand to your children - it leaves your midsection unprotected.""Older people shouldn't eat health food, they need all the preservatives they can get.""Planned obsolescence is not really a new concept. God used it with people.""Quit worrying about your health. It will go away.""Sometimes I get the feeling the whole world is against me, but deep down I know that's not true. Some of the smaller countries are neutral.""Spring is God's way of saying, 'One more time!'""There are days when it takes all you've got just to keep up with the losers.""There's so much pollution in the air now that if it weren't for our lungs there'd be no place to put it all.""Time flies. It's up to you to be the navigator.""To err is human - and to blame it on a computer is even more so.""Washington is a place where politicians don't know which way is up and taxes don't know which way is down.""What bothers me about TV is that it tends to take our minds off our minds.""With my luck, if I ever invested in General Motors, they'd bust it to Corporal!"