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The Improv : An Oral History of the Comedy Club Revolutionized Stand-Up MP3 CD
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ApproximatelyRM 38.01
Condition:
Brand New
A new, unread, unused book in perfect condition with no missing or damaged pages.
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Located in: La Quinta, California, United States
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eBay item number:195680505641
Item specifics
- Condition
- Brand New: A new, unread, unused book in perfect condition with no missing or damaged pages. See all condition definitionsopens in a new window or tab
- ISBN
- 9781942952435
About this product
Product Identifiers
Publisher
BenBella Books
ISBN-10
1942952430
ISBN-13
9781942952435
eBay Product ID (ePID)
235469045
Product Key Features
Book Title
Improv : an Oral History of the Comedy Club That Revolutionized Stand-Up
Number of Pages
400 Pages
Language
English
Publication Year
2017
Topic
Rich & Famous, Entertainment & Performing Arts, Comedy, Essays, Business
Illustrator
Yes
Genre
Performing Arts, Biography & Autobiography, History
Format
Hardcover
Dimensions
Item Height
1.2 in
Item Weight
19.3 Oz
Item Length
9.3 in
Item Width
6.2 in
Additional Product Features
Intended Audience
Trade
LCCN
2017-012336
TitleLeading
The
Reviews
"The Improv was a cauldron of talent. Whetsell writes about it wonderfully and with respect for its importance to comedy." --Robert Klein "They used to say that if you made it New York you could make it anywhere. Maybe so, but if you didn't make it at the Improv, it was time to pack your bags and move to 'anywhere.'" --Richard Lewis "This book is a great walk down memory lane for me. All hail the Improv and all the laugh-filled times and wonderful nights that happened in front of those brick walls." --Bill Maher "The Improv played a vital part in my early stand-up days as it did in the careers of the dazzling array of stars, eccentrics, and colorful characters whose stories adorn this bright and greatly entertaining book. Get at least two copies, in case you lose one." --Dick Cavett "Here's a book I'll probably never finish, because for years to come I'll be picking it up again and again and rereading parts over and over, whenever I need perking up. It's the history of an art form, though that sounds way too stuffy, and of an institution--the great American comedy club, especially the Improvs of New York and LA." --Tom Shales, Pulitzer Prize-winning former television critic for The Washington Post and #1 bestselling coauthor of Live from New York and These Guys Have All the Fun " An entertaining ride through the glory years--the people, the stories, the feuds, the laughs--of the club that started the stand-up comedy boom in America." --Richard Zoglin, author of Hope: Entertainer of the Century and Comedy at the Edge: How Comedy in the 1970s Changed America "The Godfather of the comedy club is finally called to testify . . . and he sings like a canary." --Bill Knoedelsder, author of I'm Dying Up Here: Heartbreak and High-Times in Stand-Up Comedy's Golden Era
Table Of Content
Foreword by Jay Leno Prologue Introduction Part One Growing Up Fatherless and Struggling to Find My Way Broadway Bound and the Unexpected Detour Building the House That Hilarity Built Flying by the Seat of My Pants The Improv Gets Hot A Future Film Legend Wanders into West 44th Street and I Nearly Produce My First Show The Singing Waitresses Liza Minelli and Judy Garland . . . Onstage at the Improv Not So Blown Away by Bette Midler . . . at First Comedians Start Coming to the Improv The Anointment of King Richard Part Two Revelry and Rivalry Stiller and Meara More Momentum, My Monocle--and Lily Tomlin's Grand Entrance The One and Only Rodney Dangerfield Robert Klein Elevates Stand-Up--and the Improv--to a New Level Locking Horns with David Brenner Richard Lewis The Hippest Room in America The Improv's Gentle Giant The Improv and The Tonight Show A Tale of Two Comedy Clubs Meeting Jay Producing My First Show Part Three Expansion My Early California Adventures Andy Kaufman Turns Stand-Up Upside Down Dissing Larry David A Tsunami Named Robin Comedy's Tragic Prinze A Troubling Nemesis Named Mitzi Shore Going Up in Flames Old Enemies and New Beginnings Part Four An Evening at the Improv The Improv Explodes . . . and the Stakes Get Even Higher The Comedy Boom Busts and Finding Fallon Passing the Baton and Looking Ahead: The 2000s to the Present Acknowledgments About the Authors
Synopsis
Featured in the New York Times 2017 "Holiday Gift Guide for Hardcover Fans" Get an insider's oral history of the World's most iconic comedy club, featuring exclusive interviews with today's most hilarious stars recalling their time on stage (and off) at the Improv. In 1963, 30-year-old Budd Friedman--who had recently quit his job as a Boston advertising executive and returned to New York to become a theatrical producer--opened a coffee house for Broadway performers called the Improvisation. Later shortened to the Improv, its first seedy West 44th Street location initially attracted the likes of Judy Garland, Liza Minnelli, Albert Finney, and Jason Robards, as well as a couple of then-unknowns named Dustin Hoffman and Bette Midler. While it drew near-capacity crowds almost from day one, it wasn't until comedians began dropping by to try out new material that the Improv truly hit its stride. The club became the first venue to present live stand-up in a continuous format, and in the process reinvented the art form and created the template for all other comedy clubs that followed. From the microphone to the iconic brick wall, the Improv has been the launching pad for practically every major name in American comedy over the last five-plus decades. Now, in The Improv, Friedman, along with a Who's Who of his most famous alumni--including Jay Leno, Jerry Seinfeld, Jimmy Fallon, Larry David, Billy Crystal, Lily Tomlin, Judd Apatow, Al Franken, Paul Reiser, Howie Mandel, Bob Saget, Drew Carey, and many more--tell it like it was in the first-ever oral history of how this game-changing comedy club came to be. The Improv gives readers an exclusive look at what really happened onstage and off-mic at one of America's most venerable institutions., Have you heard the one about the aspiring Broadway producer who bought a closed restaurant and changed the course of American comedy? It's no joke--his name is Budd Friedman, and his legendary club helped shape the stand-up comedy that is still a staple of entertainment today. From the microphone to the iconic brick wall, the Improv has been the launching pad of the nation's most talented comedians. By providing a stage for them to riff on everything from race and religion to politics and sex, the Improv not only generated legions of comedy fans, it reinvented the art form by overturning the comedy traditions of the Borscht Belt. Budd Friedman's legendary comedy club wasn't the first to feature comedians, but it was the first of its kind to present comedians in a continuous format, and the first one to give unknown performers the opportunity to try out new material in front of a live audience--with the opportunity to be discovered by talent agents and late-night TV bookers. The Improv is an oral history of the most important comedy club in America, emceed by Budd Friedman himself, and featuring in-depth interviews with some of the most important names in comedy --including Jay Leno, Michael Keaton, Bill Maher, Larry David, Larry Miller, Jeff Garland, Jerry Stiller, Kevin Nealon, Gilbert Gottfried, Joe Piscopo, Tim Reid, Will Shriner, Roseanne Barr, Judd Apatow, Robert Klein, Richard Lewis, Leslie Moonves, Howie Mandel, Bill Engvall, Lily Tomlin, Rick Newman, Norman Lear, Billy Crystal, Alan Zweibel, Dick Cavett, Fred Willard, Jimmie Walker, David Steinberg, and many more! The Improv gives readers an exclusive, insider look at what really happened on stage and off-mike. From the revelry and the rivalry to the smash hits, near misses, love affairs, show biz politics, chemical experimentation, exhilarating rises, tragic downfalls and just plain fun, The Improv features true insiders' accounts of a unique institution in America's cultural history and the man who unofficially provided the laugh track for an entire nation., Featured in the New York Times 2017 "Holiday Gift Guide for Hardcover Fans" Get an insider's oral history of the World's most iconic comedy club, featuring exclusive interviews with today's most hilarious stars recalling their time on stage (and off) at the Improv. In 1963, 30-year-old Budd Friedman--who had recently quit his job as a Boston advertising executive and returned to New York to become a theatrical producer--opened a coffee house for Broadway performers called the Improvisation. Later shortened to the Improv, its first seedy West 44th Street location initially attracted the likes of Judy Garland, Liza Minnelli, Albert Finney, and Jason Robards, as well as a couple of then-unknowns named Dustin Hoffman and Bette Midler. While it drew near-capacity crowds almost from day one, it wasn't until comedians began dropping by to try out new material that the Improv truly hit its stride. The club became the first venue to present live stand-up in a continuous format, and in the process reinvented the art form and created the template for all other comedy clubs that followed. From the microphone to the iconic brick wall, the Improv has been the launching pad for practically every major name in American comedy over the last five-plus decades. Now, in The Improv , Friedman, along with a Who's Who of his most famous alumni--including Jay Leno, Jerry Seinfeld, Jimmy Fallon, Larry David, Billy Crystal, Lily Tomlin, Judd Apatow, Al Franken, Paul Reiser, Howie Mandel, Bob Saget, Drew Carey, and many more--tell it like it was in the first-ever oral history of how this game-changing comedy club came to be. The Improv gives readers an exclusive look at what really happened onstage and off-mic at one of America's most venerable institutions.
LC Classification Number
PN3166.N4I47 2017
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