A cursory search on the Internet reveals no available who’s who of comedians. Odd, isn’t it, given the prominence of humor and comedy in most every culture? If there were a biographic collection of comedic geniuses, then Bob Hope would be, in many minds, the luminary amongst all comedic stars.

So, even though there isn’t a who’s who about those who make us laugh, my search did uncover an extensive review of Bob Hope’s life, made available online, by the Library of Congress.

The image of Bob Hope above shows him in his joke vault. That vast repertoire of jokes are now memorialized in a vast collection – some 85,00 jokes – all digitally scanned and indexed. It’s a pleasant glimpse into America’s past and an excellent tribute to an amazing and endearing American.

“Over the course of his career Bob Hope employed over one hundred writers to create material, including jokes, for his famous topical monologs. For example, for radio programs Hope engaged a number of writers, divided the writers into teams, and required each team to complete an entire script. He then selected the best jokes from each script and pieced them together to create the final script. The jokes included in the final script, as well as jokes not used, were categorized by subject matter and filed in cabinets in a fire- and theft-proof walk-in vault in an office next to his residence in North Hollywood, California. Bob Hope could then consult this “Joke File,” his personal cache of comedy, to create monologs for live appearances or television and radio programs.”