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Comedy at the Edge: How Stand-up in the 1970s Changed America
What Peter Biskind did for filmmaking, Time magazine critic Richard Zoglin does for comedy in this meticulously researched and hilariously readable account of stand-up comedy in the 1970s. In the rock-and-roll 1970s, a new breed of comic, inspired by the fearless Lenny Bruce, made telling jokes an art form. Innovative comedians like George Carlin, Richard Pryor, and Robert Klein, and, later, Steve Martin, Albert Brooks, Robin Williams, and Andy Kaufman, tore through the country and became as big as rock stars in an era when Saturday Night Live was the apotheosis of cool and the Improv, Catch a Rising Star, and the Comedy Store were the hottest clubs around. In Comedy at the Edge, Richard Zoglin gives a backstage view of the time, when a group of brilliant, iconoclastic comedians ruled the world—and quite possibly changed it, too. Based on extensive interviews with club owners, agents, producers—and with unprecedented and unlimited access to the players themselves— Comedy at the Edge is a no-holdsbarred, behind-the-scenes look at one of the most influential and tumultuous decades in American popular culture. .
Price: $11.73
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Truth in Comedy: The Manual of Improvisation
Who would have ever thought that learning the finer points of improvisation could be such fun? The "Harold," an innovative improvisational tool, helped Saturday Night Live's Mike Myers and Chris Farley, George Wendt (Norm on "Cheers") and many other actors on the road to TV and film stardom Now it is described fully in this new book for the benefit of other would-be actors and comics. The "Harold" is a form of competitive improv involving six or seven players. They take a theme suggestion from the audience and free-associate on the theme, creating a series of rapid-fire one-liners that build into totally unpredictable skits with hilarious results. The teams compete with scoring based on applause. The "Harold" is a fun way to "loosen up" and learn to think quickly, build continuity, develop characterizations and sharpen humor..
Price: $8.18
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Rifles for Watie
Jeff Bussey walked briskly up the rutted wagon road toward Fort Leavenworth on his way to join the Union volunteers It was 1861 in Linn County, Kansas, and Jeff was elated at the prospect of fighting for the North at last. In the Indian country south of Kansas there was dread in the air; and the name, Stand Watie, was on every tongue. A hero to the rebel, a devil to the Union man, Stand Watie led the Cherokee Indian Na-tion fearlessly and successfully on savage raids behind the Union lines. Jeff came to know the Watie men only too well. He was probably the only soldier in the West to see the Civil War from both sides and live to tell about it. Amid the roar of cannon and the swish of flying grape, Jeff learned what it meant to fight in battle. He learned how it felt never to have enough to eat, to forage for his food or starve. He saw the green fields of Kansas and Okla-homa laid waste by Watie's raiding parties, homes gutted, precious corn deliberately uprooted. He marched endlessly across parched, hot land, through mud and slash-ing rain, always hungry, always dirty and dog-tired. And, Jeff, plain-spoken and honest, made friends and enemies. The friends were strong men like Noah Babbitt, the itinerant printer who once walked from Topeka to Galveston to see the magnolias in bloom; boys like Jimmy Lear, too young to carry a gun but old enough to give up his life at Cane Hill; ugly, big-eared Heifer, who made the best sourdough biscuits in the Choctaw country; and beautiful Lucy Washbourne, rebel to the marrow and proud of it. The enemies were men of an-other breed - hard-bitten Captain Clardy for one, a cruel officer with hatred for Jeff in his eyes and a dark secret on his soul. This is a rich and sweeping novel-rich in its panorama of history; in its details so clear that the reader never doubts for a moment that he is there; in its dozens of different people, each one fully realized and wholly recognizable. It is a story of a lesser -- known part of the Civil War, the Western campaign, a part different in its issues and its problems, and fought with a different savagery. Inexorably it moves to a dramat-ic climax, evoking a brilliant picture of a war and the men of both sides who fought in it. .
Price: $2.78
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The Comedy Bible: From Stand-up to Sitcom--The Comedy Writer's Ultimate "How To" Guide
Do you think you're funny?Do you want to turn your sense of humor into a career? If the answer is yes, then Judy Carter's The Comedy Bible is for you. The guru to aspiring stand-up comics provides the complete scoop on being -- and writing -- funny for money. If you've got a sense of humor, you can learn to make a career out of comedy, says Judy Carter. Whether it's creating a killer stand-up act, writing a spec sitcom, or providing jokes for radio or one-liners for greeting cards, Carter provides step-by-step instructions in The Comedy Bible. She helps readers first determine which genre of comedy writing or performing suits them best and then directs them in developing, refining, and selling their work. Using the hands-on workbook format that was so effective in her bestselling first book, Stand-Up Comedy: The Book, Carter offers a series of day-by-day exercises that draw on her many years as a successful stand-up comic and the head of a nationally known comedy school. Also included are practical tips and advice from today's top comedy professionals -- from Bernie Brillstein to Christopher Titus to Richard Lewis. She presents the pros and cons of the various comedy fields -- stand-up, script, speech and joke writing, one-person shows, humor essays -- and shows how to tailor your material for each. She teaches how to find your "authentic" voice -- the true source of comedy. And, perhaps most important, Carter explains how to take a finished product to the next level -- making money -- by pitching it to a buyer and negotiating a contract. Written in Carter's unique, take-no-prisoners voice, The Comedy Bible is practical, inspirational, and funny. .
Price: $5.76
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Comic Insights: The Art of Stand-up Comedy
If you want to build a stand-up comedy career, this book is a must read. If you want to write comedy, this book is a must read. If you simply enjoy comedy, well . . . this book is a must read. Part One offers essential advice about understanding the fundamentals of stand-up, studying other comedians, finding your own style, writing your material, working the live performance and appearing on television. Fascinating, candid, insightful interviews with today's top comedians, who discuss at length why and how they do what they do, comprise Part Two, the bulk of the book. Interviews with: Louie Anderson, Richard Belzer, Elayne Boosler, George Carlin, Ellen DeGeneres, Rich Jeni, Jay Leno, Richard Lewis, Bill Maher, Paul Reiser, Chris Rock, Roseanne, Jerry Seinfeld, Garry Shandling, Sinbad, George Wallace, Jonathan Winters. The last part of the book addresses your stand-up career through interviews with noted comedy club owners, an agent, a personal manager and a television talent coordinator. Crammed with the wisdom of today's finest stand-up comics, this book is without peer in quality, quantity and timeliness of information..
Price: $12.02
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Stand Up for Your Life: A Practical Step-by-Step Plan to Build Inner Confidence and Personal Power
Oprah life makeover maven Cheryl Richardson wants you to start rocking the boat. Stand Up for Your Life urges readers to stop playing it safe by putting their needs and priorities aside. Her premise: by spending less time listening to others and more time strengthening your relationship with yourself, you can learn to govern your own life and influence others. A personal coach and the bestselling author of Take Time for Your Life, Richardson promises readers "self-honoring strategies to transform your fear and doubt into self-trust and power." Drawing on self-quizzes, examples from her coaching clients, and her own experiences, she explores key issues for developing this inner authority. The book focuses on creating boundaries, developing "courage muscles," resolving conflict phobia, clarifying purpose, honing self-discipline, stating intentions, and graceful truth-telling. At times, her clarity is compromised by pop-psych speak and references to her earlier books. Richardson is at her best when she is specific--for example, the well-targeted exercises and self-assessments or an insightful list of behaviors that prevent people from leading their own lives. Readers who follow her lead can expect an attitude adjustment and increased ability to leverage self-knowledge into a purposeful life. --Barbara Mackoff.
Price: $2.87
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Debunking 9/11 Myths: Why Conspiracy Theories Can't Stand Up to the Facts
A Groundbreaking, meticulous, and scientific analysis of the 9/11 conspiracy theoriesThe first conspiracy theories about September 11 began to emerge while the wreckage was still smoldering Today, nearly five years later, hundreds of books and thousands of Web pages are devoted to the idea that the U.S. government encouraged, permitted, or actually carried out the attacks. These theories claim to be based on hard evidence. But an in-depth investigation by POPULAR MECHANICS—first published in the magazine’s March 2005 issue, and now greatly expanded into book form—definitively proves that the evidence most often cited by conspiracy theorists is inaccurate, misinterpreted, or false. The original article in POPULAR MECHANICS caused a huge groundswell of interest, setting off online debates that continue to this day. Debunking 9/11 Myths expands that investigation to include the 20 most prominent and persistent claims underlying the conspiracy theories, focusing on concrete, physical facts rather than political hypothesizing. Among the issues examined: claims that air traffic control violated standard operating procedures by not immediately intercepting the stricken jets; that the fire caused by the crashes wasn’t actually hot enough to melt steel and cause structural damage in the World Trade Center; that the holes in the Pentagon were too small to have been made by a Boeing 757; and that Flight 93 was actually shot down by an Air Force plane. The fascinating and in-depth findings come from leading experts in all the relevant fields, including aviation, air defense, air traffic control, civil engineering, firefighting, metallurgy, and geology. With a foreword by Senator John McCain.
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Price: $6.85
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Why Buildings Stand Up: The Strength of Architecture
Between a nomad's tent and the Sears Tower lies a revolution in technology, materials, and structures. Here is a clear and enthusiastic introduction to building methods from ancient times to the present day. B/W line drawings..
Price: $4.92
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