NONFICTION - Oct. 6, 1991

TAKE MY LIFE, PLEASE! by Henny Youngman with Neal Karlen (William Morrow: $16; 192 pp.) Posterity demands that we all learn where the line “Take my wife--please” comes from, and now, thanks to this slim reminiscence, we know. In deference to the author, I will not give it away. If you expect revelations of any deeper sort, you will be disappointed. Youngman and his ghostwriter have managed to produce a hybrid that will delight Youngman fans but frustrate anyone who expected something resembling an autobiography: This book is life as shtick, every piece of information delivered as though it were part of an extended stand-up routine. Everything is grist for the comic mill, from Youngman’s father’s attempts to stay out of the czar’s way to the rationale behind the fashion of wearing diamond pinky rings--in case a stranded, broke comic needs something to pawn to buy a ticket back home. Youngman seems to be having a terrific time; writing a book must seem like a guaranteed contract for weeks of stand-up without having to worry about the size of the house. If only he’d gone a bit deeper. What’s it like to be an octogenarian comic? We still don’t quite know.