The Bob Hope Backlash has begun.

The adoration of Bob Hope has puzzled me. At 36 I'm not a kid (I am, however, immature for my age) -- and Bob Hope, as far as I can tell, has neither been funny or relevant for my entire life. I was listening to an hour-long tribute on NPR earlier this week, and there wasn't one thing he said that made me smile. Not to mention the fact that he was a nasty SOB -- he would fold his writer's checks into paper airplanes, thus forcing the poor bastards to grovel at his feet for their money.

I thought I was alone, but evidently I'm not. Christopher Hitchens (I know, I know) asks the question Did Bob Hope ever say anything funny? And the Village Voice asks the same thing.