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Comedy at the edge : how stand-up in the 1970s changed America / Richard Zoglin.

By: Material type: TextTextPublication details: New York, NY : Bloomsbury USA, c2008.Description: 247 p. : ill. ; 25 cmISBN:
  • 9781582346243
  • 1582346240
Subject(s): LOC classification:
  • PN1969.C65 Z64 2008
Online resources:
Contents:
After Lenny -- Rebellion -- Race -- Improv -- Clubbing -- Put-on -- Some fun -- Chasing Carson -- Extremists -- Women -- The boom -- Mainstream.
Summary: In the rock-and-roll 1970s, a new breed of comic, inspired by the fearless Lenny Bruce, made telling jokes an art form. Innovative comedians like George Carlin, Richard Pryor, and Robert Klein, and, later, Steve Martin, Albert Brooks, Robin Williams, and Andy Kaufman, tore through the country and became as big as rock stars in an era when Saturday Night Live was the apotheosis of cool and the Improv, Catch a Rising Star, and the Comedy Store were the hottest clubs around. In Comedy at the Edge, Richard Zoglin gives a backstage view of the time, when a group of brilliant, iconoclastic comedians ruled the world--and quite possibly changed it, too. Based on extensive interviews with club owners, agents, producers--and with unprecedented and unlimited access to the players themselves--Comedy at the Edge is a no-holdsbarred, behind-the-scenes look at one of the most influential and tumultuous decades in American popular culture.--From source other than Library of Congress.
Holdings
Item type Current library Call number Copy number Status Date due Barcode
Books (30-Day Checkout) Books (30-Day Checkout) Nash Library General Stacks PN1969.C65Z64 2008 1 Available 33710001131577

Includes bibliographical references and index.

After Lenny -- Rebellion -- Race -- Improv -- Clubbing -- Put-on -- Some fun -- Chasing Carson -- Extremists -- Women -- The boom -- Mainstream.

In the rock-and-roll 1970s, a new breed of comic, inspired by the fearless Lenny Bruce, made telling jokes an art form. Innovative comedians like George Carlin, Richard Pryor, and Robert Klein, and, later, Steve Martin, Albert Brooks, Robin Williams, and Andy Kaufman, tore through the country and became as big as rock stars in an era when Saturday Night Live was the apotheosis of cool and the Improv, Catch a Rising Star, and the Comedy Store were the hottest clubs around. In Comedy at the Edge, Richard Zoglin gives a backstage view of the time, when a group of brilliant, iconoclastic comedians ruled the world--and quite possibly changed it, too. Based on extensive interviews with club owners, agents, producers--and with unprecedented and unlimited access to the players themselves--Comedy at the Edge is a no-holdsbarred, behind-the-scenes look at one of the most influential and tumultuous decades in American popular culture.--From source other than Library of Congress.