Comedy at the Edge How Stand-up in the 1970s Changed America

by Zoglin, Richard

• ISBN13: 9781582346243
• ISBN10: 1582346240
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-01-22
• Publisher: Bloomsbury USA

Summary

What Peter Biskind did for filmmaking,Timemagazine critic Richard Zoglin does for comedy in this meticulously researched and hilariously readable account of stand-up comedy in the 1970s.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 whenSaturday Night Livewas the apotheosis of cool and the Improv, Catch a Rising Star, and the Comedy Store were the hottest clubs around. InComedy 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 Edgeis a no-holdsbarred, behind-the-scenes look at one of the most influential and tumultuous decades in American popular culture.

Author Biography

Richard Zoglin is a senior editor and writer at Time, who has also served as its television and theater critic. In his twenty years covering entertainment for the magazine, he has written cover stories on Bill Cosby, David Letterman, Diane Sawyer, and Arsenio Hall, among others; and done major pieces on Jerry Seinfeld and Johnny Carson. He lives in New York City.

Table of Contents

Opening act	p. 1
After Lenny	p. 7
Rebellion	p. 17
Race	p. 41
Improv	p. 65
Clubbing	p. 87
Put-on	p. 109
Some fun	p. 125
Chasing Carson	p. 141
Extremists	p. 159
Women	p. 181
The boom	p. 195
Mainstream	p. 211
Acknowledgments	p. 225
A note on sources	p. 227
Index	p. 239
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.