Stock Lines Stock lines, or "hack" lines are the old saws that every seasoned entertainer knows and puts to use in emergencies.  Many of them go back to Vaudeville and some probably go back a heck of a lot farther than that. Think back to the days when Shakespeare's plays were being performed at the Globe Theater.  What are the odds that every audience behaved itself, every night of the week? We'd all prefer to deliver our performances without resorting to stock lines.  But there will be occasions when an old stock line can solve a problem and let you get back to your real act.  With any luck you won't need them very often -- but they're useful tools to have in your back pocket. In the book, Paul Frisbie presents a collection of standard stock lines, along with an explanation of their proper uses.  On the CD, you can hear him put those some of those lines to work in real-life situations.