About the book: 2010 / Many years ago I asked Yuri Vladimirovich Nikulin to read my story about a zoo circus. His review was published in the first edition of this story. And we became friends; somehow it started that when I came to visit him, I always brought a selection of fresh jokes to his collection. So, to some extent, Yuri Vladimirovich gave me approval on the path to writing. Every time I came to Moscow, I brought Nikulin fresh jokes and toasts. I really wanted to catch him not knowing some of them. But most of them were already in his collection. I brought several hundred jokes that sad autumn. He no longer needed these anecdotes...And I decided to publish this collection of unclaimed toasts and anecdotes, as a memory of the great man. Not now, someday later, when time will smooth out the bitterness of the loss a little! I think that if Yuri Vladimirovich were alive, he would approve of this publication. V. Krukover, writer September 1997