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Inside comedy : the soul, wit, and bite of comedy and comedians of the last five decades / David Steinberg.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 2021Copyright date: ©2021Edition: First editionDescription: 338 pages : illustrations ; 25 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9780525520573
  • 0525520570
Subject(s):
Contents:
Disguised as a normal person -- The apprenticeship of Duddy Steinberg: The most irresponsible student at the University of Chicago sees the best comedian of all time-- Lenny Bruce-- and finds his life's work -- God, whom I'm sure you remember from last week's sermon: My first years at Second City and the other icons who joined -- From Second City to Broadway: Little Murders, Elliott Gould, Lily Tomlin, and other memories from delight to disaster -- The Comedians' comedians: Sid Caesar, Don Rickles, Mel Brooks, Jackie Mason, Carl Reiner, Jack Carter, Shecky Greene, Flip Wilson, Carol Burnett, Tim Conway, Harvey Korman, Jonathan Winters, Robin Williams -- The Hillcrest Country Club: It's Not the Golf, It's the Comedy: Groucho Marx, The Marx Brothers, George Burns, Jack Benny, Danny Kaye, and Danny Thomas, who at least looked Jewish -- Comedy in the age of Nixon . . . What comedy? -- The brave humor of the Smothers Brothers -- The Tonight Shows: Johnny Carson, and hosts before and after -- Behind Some of the Best Comedy on Television: The Danny Thomas Show, Newhart, Designing Women, Golden Girls, Friends, Mad About You, Garry Shandling, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Seinfeld, and those in between -- Actors as Comedians, Comedians as Actors: Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Steve Martin, Chris Rock, Will Ferrell, Whoopi Goldberg, Lucille Ball, Bette Midler, Mike Myers, Ben Stiller, Albert Brooks, Bob Einstein, Redd Foxx, Wanda Sykes, Tina Fey, Sarah Silverman, Richard Lewis, Bob Saget, Steve Carrell, Jim Carrey, Ellen DeGeneres, John Stewart, Jimmy Fallon, Kevin Nealon, Robert Klein, John Candy, Stephen Colbert, Martin Mull, Eric Idle, Richard Belzer, Drew Carey, Billy Crystal, Marty Short.
Summary: "A personal history of comedy from the 1950s to the present, with interviews conducted by the author." --publisher.Summary: Steinberg, a comic instation himself, provide a personal history of comedy from the 1950s to the present. From the historic greats to the greats of right now, Steinberg makes clear why he loves comedy and the comedians who have been by his side in his work, and in his life, for more than sixty years. -- adapted from jacket
Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Adult Book Main Library NonFiction 792.2309 S819 Available 33111010540637
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

The world of comedy and comedians of the last five decades. By the man the New York Times calls "a comic institution himself," the only comedian (twenty-six years in stand-up) to have made Elie Wiesel laugh, as well as having appeared on The Tonight Show (140 times, second only to Bob Hope, but who's counting). From the director of TV comedy series Mad About You, Seinfeld, Friends, Weeds and Curb Your Enthusiasm .

Larry David- "I'm lucky. I know and love David Steinberg. You don't. Now's your chance. Don't blow it!"

"David has always been a comedy hero to me. One of his many gifts is the ability to inspire funny people to be even funnier, as you will discover in this truly hilarious, insightful book." --Martin Short


From David Steinberg, a rabbi's son from Winnipeg, Canada, who at age fifteen enrolled at Hebrew Theological College in Chicago (the rabbinate wasn't for him) and four years later, entered the master's program in English literature at the University of Chicago, until he saw Lenny Bruce, the "Blue Boy" of Comedy, the coolest guy Steinberg had ever seen, and joined Chicago's Second City improvisational group, becoming, instead, the comedian's comedian, director, actor, working with, inspired by, teaching, and learning from the most celebrated, admired, complicated comedians, then and now--a funny, moving, provocative, insightful look into the soul, wit, and bite of comedy and comedians--a universe unto itself--of the last half-century.

From the greats- George Burns, Lenny Bruce, Sid Caesar, Lucille Ball, Mel Brooks, and Carl Reiner, et al., to the newer greats- Carol Burnett, Steve Martin, Lily Tomlin, Billy Crystal, Bob Newhart, and the man for all comedy, Martin (Marty) Short; to the greats of right now- Chris Rock, Dave Chappelle, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Wanda Sykes; and more . . .

Steinberg, through stories, reminiscences, tales of directing, touring, performing, and, through the comedians themselves talking (from more than 75 interviews), makes clear why he loves comedy and comedians who have been by his side in his work, and in his life, for more than sixty years.

Here are- Will Ferrell, Eric Idle, Whoopi Goldberg, Mike Myers, Groucho himself and the greatest of them all (at least of the last half century), Jonathan Winters . . .

"This is a Borzoi book published by Alfred A. Knopf"

Includes index.

Disguised as a normal person -- The apprenticeship of Duddy Steinberg: The most irresponsible student at the University of Chicago sees the best comedian of all time-- Lenny Bruce-- and finds his life's work -- God, whom I'm sure you remember from last week's sermon: My first years at Second City and the other icons who joined -- From Second City to Broadway: Little Murders, Elliott Gould, Lily Tomlin, and other memories from delight to disaster -- The Comedians' comedians: Sid Caesar, Don Rickles, Mel Brooks, Jackie Mason, Carl Reiner, Jack Carter, Shecky Greene, Flip Wilson, Carol Burnett, Tim Conway, Harvey Korman, Jonathan Winters, Robin Williams -- The Hillcrest Country Club: It's Not the Golf, It's the Comedy: Groucho Marx, The Marx Brothers, George Burns, Jack Benny, Danny Kaye, and Danny Thomas, who at least looked Jewish -- Comedy in the age of Nixon . . . What comedy? -- The brave humor of the Smothers Brothers -- The Tonight Shows: Johnny Carson, and hosts before and after -- Behind Some of the Best Comedy on Television: The Danny Thomas Show, Newhart, Designing Women, Golden Girls, Friends, Mad About You, Garry Shandling, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Seinfeld, and those in between -- Actors as Comedians, Comedians as Actors: Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Steve Martin, Chris Rock, Will Ferrell, Whoopi Goldberg, Lucille Ball, Bette Midler, Mike Myers, Ben Stiller, Albert Brooks, Bob Einstein, Redd Foxx, Wanda Sykes, Tina Fey, Sarah Silverman, Richard Lewis, Bob Saget, Steve Carrell, Jim Carrey, Ellen DeGeneres, John Stewart, Jimmy Fallon, Kevin Nealon, Robert Klein, John Candy, Stephen Colbert, Martin Mull, Eric Idle, Richard Belzer, Drew Carey, Billy Crystal, Marty Short.

"A personal history of comedy from the 1950s to the present, with interviews conducted by the author." --publisher.

Steinberg, a comic instation himself, provide a personal history of comedy from the 1950s to the present. From the historic greats to the greats of right now, Steinberg makes clear why he loves comedy and the comedians who have been by his side in his work, and in his life, for more than sixty years. -- adapted from jacket

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