First published 2009
William Knoedelseder tells the story of the standup comedians who shaped American humor for three decades. These Baby Boomers grew up watching The Tonight Show and arrived in Los Angeles during the mid-1970s. They built an artistic community at venues like the Comedy Store, where future stars like Jay Leno, David Letterman, and Andy Kaufman honed their craft. For a brief period, these comics achieved rock star status in a world of late-night performances, sex, drugs, and dreams of fame. But the comedians performed without pay at the Comedy Store, the venue that could make or break careers. When they organized to change this exploitative system, they sparked a strike that destroyed their tight-knit community. Knoedelseder covered this scene as a Los Angeles Times reporter and wrote the first major profiles of these comedy legends. Decades later, he returned to interview the key players and reconstruct the complete story. The book reveals how success and failure extracted both professional and personal costs from the funniest people of their generation.
Genres: history, 20th-century, american, non-fiction, biography-memoir, comedy, 21st-century, journalism
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: rise-and-fall, true-story
Setting: Comedy Store, Los Angeles
Period: 1970s
360 pages · Audio CD · Tantor Media Inc