 | Price Comparisons: Rental | | Sorry, the textbook you were looking for is not available as Rental, at any of the stores we searched. | Summaries and Customer Reviews are supplied by Amazon.com | Letterman, Leno, Robin Williams, Andy Kaufman, Richard Lewis, Garry Shandling, and many other soon-to-be-stars were once young, broke, and funny in 1970s L.A. They were also friends...until one event changed everything. I'm Dying Up Here chronicles the collective coming of age of the standup comedians who defined American humor during the past three decades. Born early in the Baby Boom, they grew up watching The Tonight Show, went to school during Viet Nam and Watergate, migrated en masse to Los Angeles in the mid-1970s and created an artistic community unlike any before or since. They were arguably the funniest people of their generation, living in a late-night world of sex, drugs, dreams and laughter. For one brief shining moment, standup comics were as revered as rock stars. It was Comedy Camelot but, of course, it couldn't last. In the late 1970s William Knoedelseder was a cub reporter assigned to cover the burgeoning local comedy scene for the Los Angeles Times. He wrote the first major newspaper profiles of Leno, Letterman, Andy Kaufman, and others. He got to know many of them well. And so he covered the scene too when the comedians-who were not paid for performing at the career-making-or-breaking venue called The Comedy Store-tried to change an exploitative system and incidentally tore apart their own close-knit community. Now Knoedelseder has gone back to interview the major participants to tell the whole story of that golden age and of the strike that ended it. Full of revealing portraits of many of the best-known comedic talents of our age, I'm Dying Up Here is also a poignant tale of the price of success and the terrible cost of failure-professional and moral. |
Average Customer Rating:  When all your favorite comics were bums Want to read about where all your favorite comics got started? ...Back when they were broke losers in LA? People often know the short story of The Comedy Store, the strike, and Steve Lubetkin's suicide, but here's the long story.
Any fans of comedy and stand-up will love this. I read this from start to finish on a 11 hour flight from Frankfurt to Houston, loved every second of it. Great read; one more tiny error Others have expressed more adequately than I can how much this book has succeeded in making more human those who we see only on the stage. That alone is worth it.
In addition to the Crystal MHMH/Soap confusion, I found one other tiny factual error, and that's regarding David Letterman guest-hosting the Tonight Show, with his guest Tom Dreesen: In the unpaginated photo gallery is a shot of Dave behind Carson's desk with Tom at home base, with the caption, "Tom Dreesen with Letterman on April 9, 1979, the night Dave made his first guest-host appearance on The Tonight Show..."
This was actually Dave's second guest-host appearance; his first was two weeks earlier, on March 26. Great look at Stand Up Comedy in the 70's With everything that is going on with the whole late night thing these days, this book was especially entertaining as you get an insight into how Jay and Dave first started out with each other. The author really gets into how Jay and Dave along with Richard Lewis kind of led all the comics back then. There is also a lot about Mitzi Shore who started The Comedy Store. Before I read the book, I was a little hesitant because I had read a review that said it talked about her too much in the book but I disagree as it really gave a look into how things were shaped with the comedy world with her involved and showed the good and the bad. There are also some things in the book that make you say "wow, I had no idea..."
This book really gives you an idea about how some of the biggest comics today got started and also some who didnt quite make it. If you are at all interested in stand up comedy and the history of it, this is a must read. I'm Dying Up Here - William Knoedelseder (Public Affairs) When the Tonight Show moved its base of operations from New York to Los Angeles in 1972, the world of comedy was completely upended. Instead of working out their routines at NY nightclubs, any up-and-coming comedian worth his salt had to relocate to LA as well. Why? Because, in those days the Tonight Show was considered an unavoidable rite-of-passage for any comic who aspired to bigger things like Vegas, record albums or TV and movie stardom. The stars who received Johnny Carson's nod of approval, were often invited back and would eventually become household names in their own right. Jay Leno, David Letterman, Robin Williams and others would all be beneficiaries of the move in years to come.
In order to get `discovered', these comics needed a platform to woodshed their material and to get in the field-of-view of the show's cadre of talent scouts.
Enter the Comedy Store.
As a reporter for the Comedy Beat of the prodigious Los Angeles Times, Bill Knoedelseder had a ringside seat for the development of the LA comedy scene emerging at the Sunset Strip nightery as well as it's Melrose counterpart, Budd Friedman's Improv. Between the two clubs passed nearly all of the renowned comedians of the 70s thru 90s. Richard Pryor, Jimmie Walker, Leno, Williams, Andy Kaufman, Sam Kinison, Richard Lewis, Elayne Boosler and dozens more all worked out at the club in it's heyday.
Trouble was, the club's legendary owner, Mitzi Shore (yes, Pauly's mom) never believed in paying the talent. "It's a showcase room," Shore would insist, not a place for comedians to earn a living. Eventually, Shore's policy would blow up in her face as the comics formed their own `union' and tried to boycott the club in an effort to gain at least a meager stipend from the dictatorial Shore.
It is, in fact, the story of the Comedy Store and it's remuneration policy that takes up the bulk of Knoedelseder's book. Nearly every detail of the strike is outlined here including the suicidal death of despondent comedian Steve Lubetkin, who jumped off the roof of the Hyatt Hotel next door to the club in a fit of depression.
All in all, Knoedelseder's account of the LA comedy scene of the era is as complete as one could ever expect from a book on the subject. The fact that there is not much humor in a book about comedy is a bit lacking, but perhaps given the psychological profile often associated with comedians, not such a surprise. An iimportant book I just finished reading "I'm dying up here". I loved it so much that I felt compelled to immediately post my review. It's a fascinating account of the life and struggles of stand up comedians in the late 70's.
An important book everyone should read. |  |
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