Seriously funny : the rebel comedians of the 1950s and 1960s / Gerald Nachman.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Nachman, Gerald.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Comedians--United States--Biography.

Comedians.

Stand-up comedy.

History.

United States.

Stand-up comedy--United States--History--20th century.

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

x, 659 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : Pantheon Books, [2003]

Summary:

The comedians of the 1950s and 1960s were a totally different breed of comic from any that came before: men and women whose humor was as socially aware, satiric, and timely as it was riotously funny. Gerald Nachrnan tells the stories and analyzes the comedy of the brightest stars of those years: Mort Sahl, Lenny Bruce, Dick Gregory, Bill Cosby, Godfrey Cambridge, Phyllis Diller, Mike Nichols and Elaine May, Woody Allen, Bob Newhart, Mel Brooks, and Joan Rivers among them -- every one a cultural harbinger. Nachman illuminates the chaotic and often troubled lives of these comedians, who were intriguingly all too human and whose genius was often counterbalanced by their demons, damaged souls, and desperate drive to succeed.

The result of meticulous research and intimate interviews, Seriously Funny is at once a revelatory cultural history and a joyful commemoration of an extraordinary era in comedy.

Contents:

The 1950s. A voice in the wilderness: Mort Sahl ; Rendering unto Caesar: Sid Caesar ; Sing a song of strychnine: Tom Lehrer ; The start of something big: Steve Allen ; And now, a laugh from our sponsor: Stan Freberg ; Televisionary: Ernie Kovacs ; Mom from Mars: Phyllis Diller ; The wild child: Jonathan Winters ; Out of thin air: Jean Shepherd, Bob Elliott and Ray Goulding ; Call interrupt: Shelley Berman ; Double jeopardy: Mike Nichols and Elaine May.

The 1960s. Charlie everybody: Bob Newhart ; The Elvis of stand-up: Lenny Bruce ; Color-coordinated: Godfrey Cambridge ; Sibling revelry: The Smothers brothers ; Bawdy and soul: Mel Brooks ; Curing the body politic: Dick Gregory ; Lasting impressions: David Frye, Vaughn Meader, Will Jordan ; Schnook's progress: Woody Allen ; Father Goose, Inc.: Bill Cosby ; Girl squawk: Joan Rivers.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 629-631) and index.

ISBN:

0375410309

OCLC:

50339527