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Bob Hope, going at that time by the name Lester Hope, entered vaudeville as part of a comedy dancing act before going solo as an emcee and comedian upon discovering he had a knack for telling jokes to audiences. “I would develop a routine and keep the same jokes for at least a season,” he later wrote, “not daring to change a line for fear all the magic would be lost and I’d have to go back to plucking chickens in my brother Fred’s meat market.”