Discover the gift behind the guffaws inside the minds of our greatest comedians. Through their words, as they discuss their profession, we learn how they feel about comedy, and about each other.
The great comics of Vaudeville, silent movies, talkies and sound films, radio, TV, and stand-up deliver comments on various topics such as Comedy as Art, The Vaudevillians, The Silent Films Comedians, The Golden Age of Talkies, The Radio Specialists, The War Years and Beyond, The Television Legends, Stand-up Comedians, and Comedians as Actors.
Contributors include Abbott & Costello, Fred Allen, George Burns, Gracie Allen, Woody Allen, Morey Amsterday, Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle, Lucille Ball, Jack Benny, Fanny Brice, Mel Brooks, Jim Carrey, Charlie Chaplin, Ellen DeGeneres, W. C. Fields, Whoopi Goldberg, Oliver Hardy, Buster Keaton, Stan Laurel, Jerry Lewis, The Marx Brothers, Joan Rivers, Hal Roach, Jerry Seinfeld, and Dick Van Dyke, among others.
They have all had much to say through the decades about the art of making people laugh. As they attest, their job is not all fun and games. Here is an entertaining, educational, and thought-provoking collection of observations and opinions by legendary comedians and current favorites. When the spotlight is off, they take their comedy seriously, and they share their knowledge, jealousies, failures, and triumphs when speaking between the laughs.
130 pages, a Bibliography, and an Index. Illustrated.
About the Editor
Garry Berman is a pop culture historian, whose previous books include Best of the Britcoms, We’re Going To See The Beatles!, and Perfect Fool: The Life and Career of Ed Wynn. He lives in New Jersey with his wife Karen and their two spoiled dogs.
