Mr. Blier is not without sardonic style even when his characters' longings are unamusingly trite.

The prickly, sardonic style, impatience and ability to press psychological buttons didn't abandon him when he left football for television.

Beginning in 1979 and continuing throughout the '80s, von Hoffman recorded more than 250 radio commentaries, audio op-eds in the sardonic style he used on 60 Minutes.

Crucial to this intention is the book's fussy, sardonic style and obsessive imagery, in which the ordinary world ceaselessly disintegrates into the grotesque, the morbid, the scatological.

He had a deadpan, sardonic style which many found refreshing, somewhat similar to that of Ed Sullivan.

Mr. Newell's ensemble timing and breezily sardonic style make it work better than might be expected.

He attracted other New York writers to Hollywood who contributed to a burst of creative, tough, and sardonic styles of writing for the fast-growing movie industry.

He was a star in Edwardian music halls, singing and clowning in a sardonic style that influenced the young Charlie Chaplin.

He continues to produce major work with his uniquely sardonic style.

Mr. Lehmann's spiky sensibility is evident in the film's jauntily sardonic style and in its cast of clever and attractive young actors.