Robert Benchley

Definition

(Noun) American (1889-1945) humorist, apparently hilarious during his heyday (the 1920s-early 1930s); certainly enormously popular then - though today seen as dated, dreary, unfunny and mock-pedantic. Persona: the common man confronted by everyday problems - e.g., falling asleep, doing an income-tax return, etc. But some of his one-liners and some parts from his newspaper columns are still pretty good.