[.ca] Seriously Funny: The Rebel Comedians of the 1950s and 1960s (ISBN 0823047865)

From Amazon.com:
It's been said that analyzing comedy is a bit like dissecting a frog: you arrive at a greater understanding of the frog but the frog does tend to die in the process. The purpose of Gerald Nachman's Seriously Funny: The Rebel Comedians of the 1950s and 1960s is not to provide a laugh riot of his subjects' best punch lines, but rather to explore their lives, careers, and influence. Nachman's scope is impressive. He provides detailed biographies not only of household names Sid Caesar, Lenny Bruce, Bob Newhart, and Woody Allen but also comics like Jean Shepherd, Shelley Berman, and Will Jordan whose legacies have far outpaced their name recognition. Nachman has done his research; the book profiles 26 comedians, each in exhaustive detail, and no fan of this era will feel cheated at the end of its 768 pages. There are plenty of entertaining show biz anecdotes (Sid Caesar throwing a lit cigar at young writer Mel Brooks, Bill Cosby punching out Tommy Smothers) along with tales of the darker sides of Mort Sahl, Jonathan Winters, and others whose private lives were far less amusing than their stage acts. But what makes Seriously Funny so compelling, and its dopey title at least partially forgivable, is the author's meticulous attention to each comedian's imprint on the landscape of comedy itself. And while the jokes cited often seem a bit stale and obvious, it bears noting that they were revolutionary when these comedians first made them. --John Moe

Seriously Enjoyable:
This book brings together more information about more comedians than any other book I've ever read. It is a collection of biographies, not a comprehensive history of the 50s and 60s. Even so, the 50s and 60s came alive for me as I encountered in quick succession Mort Sahl, Lenny Bruce, Steve Allen, Bob Newhart, Woody Allen, Elaine May, Mike Nichols, and a score of other comedians who hit it big during that time. Thank you, Gerald Nachman, for several evenings of great reading.

Pop-Culture Chronicle of an Era:
In an age when \ocurse words\c are a standard part of American entertainment, it may be hard to understand why this book is so important. It's less about comedy than it is about the era in which comedy in America changed. When we understand this we then are able to see, over the shoulder of each comedian, the beginnings of the social and political movements that, ironically, would lead to the leaden, anti-intellectual climate we have in our country today. If, as I do, you can remember the 50s and the 60s, you may also remember just how shocking much of the material spoken by these comedians was. Forget about the sour-grapes review posted above by an (obviously failed) comedian. Consider instead these tidbits in the book and see if they do not convince you of the power of the mike before the age of the Internet. Mort Sahl, who used as the basis of his routine the items in the daily newspaper, was punished for jokes he made about the Kennedys; when he refused to censor himself, Joe P. had the club in which he appeared closed for the owner's failure to pay back taxes. Sections about Dick Gregory, Bill Cosby and Godfrey Cambridge have each comedian addressing the question of whether their acts were either flagrant "Uncle Tomming" of white listeners or the opposite. Though the reporting does contain the occasional error--and a maddening typo or two (WHY can't the publisher pay for a copy editor, for crying out loud?)--the book is fresh in some of its points. For example, Nachman is one of the few writers NOT to deify Lenny Bruce. The story of our deification of him is as much a part of the biography as is the description of Bruce's rise and fall; my interpretation is that people made money off Bruce both before and after his death. Nachman does have his favorites, to be sure, and there's the rather bigoted insinuation that the best comics must be "ethnic" (whatever that means) but all in all, it's a great book.

Nachman's a Hack, man:
"Seriously Funny" does have serious flaws. Unlike Phil Berger, Nach the Hack has no real feeling for his subject. This is a dull each-chapter-is-a-bio book. It doesn't move. Berger's "Last Laugh" captured the dangerous world of stand-up. It was a moving train. Nachman's a fat San Francisco trolley. And yes, most of what's in the book is clip-material. Sure, he spoke to some comedians. They probably answered the phone and hung up on him. The New York Times book review said this was a clip job and it's very obvious. Did Mort Sahl talk to Nachman? No. That should tell you all you need to know about whether Nachman is Mr. Comedy Expert or respected in the comedy world. Nach the Hack's point is supposedly to talk about the dangerous 60's comedians. So he sticks everybody he can find in here, including Bill Cosby. It's just a bunch of bios of comics. There's really no point to it, unlike Tony Hendra writing about "Going too Far." If you want bios of comics go see Anthony Slide or Ronald L. Smith or Barry Took or Steve Allen. All of them have better credentials than Mr. Nach-Nach joke. Even Albert Goldman's better. The reviewers who've said they were disappointed have every right to be. Here and there you might find a quote you missed from somebody else's book or from some guy's article in Esquire or the Rolling Stone, but this is pretty much of a tired textbook with lifeless stagey portraits of each comedian opening each chapter. $... when it's remaindered in the Fall. That's what it's worth. But get "Funny People" by Steve Allen instead. Or "The Last Laugh" by Phil Berger.

For the curious, it's worth it!:
I am not the most avid reader, and for the most part the size of this book is usually preclusive, but I came away from knowing more than I did when I started, which is not necessarily a bad thing. Other reviewers of this book seem to have points of reference with which to mark from in talking about Nachman's work. I had none--I was born too late for the peaks of many of these classic comedians, and at least one was already gone and passed by the time I was born, plus this is the first time I had heard of this author. I came upon this book by way of being a third-generation Smothers Brothers fan, so I was excited when this book came out. It is time-consuming to read, true, but being that each chapter represents a single comedian or comedy team, the pressure is off to try and digest it all at once (good for non-avid readers such as myself). And with the Smothers Brothers, a lot of names were dropped that I never knew were what I term "Smothers Others" (those with less than a degree of separation from Tom and/or Dick). And with Tom and Dick, more of their early history was given than I have seen just about anywhere else. My only beef in regards to the book is pretty incidental and cosmetic: the choice of pictures for each of the comedians. Some of the photos were representative of the comedians in the time frame the book covers, some were not (in the case of the Smothers Brothers, a pic from their 1988-89 run of the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour was used, not one from either their 1965-66 sitcom or 1967-69 variety show, for which they earned their right to be included in this book). This book may be less than spectular for the pros,...but for us amatuers, it's just right.

A Fun Book:
If you love thoroughly researched biographies and are a fan of comedic giants, this is a book you must, and I mean must, add to your library. It's absolutely enlightening and entertaining and you'll discover things about great comedians that you never even knew. It is an enormous research effort that analyzes the work and lives of 26 comedy super stars, including and not limited to legendary genius Lenny Bruce. A fantastic read. I really enjoyed it. Now, if you're looking for a few other amazing titles, look no further than these, Buckland's Hot List: most creative, The Butterfly: A Fable (Singh); most engaging, The Alchemist (Coelho); most interesting, Life of Pi (Martel); most enlightening, 9-11 (Chomsky); most thrilling, The Lovely Bones: A Novel (Sebold); and finally, the most creative, engaging, interesting, enlightening and thrilling book of all, The Little Prince (Saint-Exupery). These are the books I'd recommend to my family, friends, students, and wife. There are many more, trust me, but these are the first that come to mind (for having left an impact slight or proud as it may be). If you have any questions, queries, or comments, or maybe even a title you think I should add to my list, please feel free to e-mail me. I'm always open to a good recommendation. Thanks for reading my brief but hopefully helpful review. Happy reading. Donald S. Buckland.