1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Probably worth a read for beginners, December 29, 2004
This review is from: Comedy Central: the Essential Guide to Comedy (Because There is a Fine Line Between Stupid and Clever) (Paperback)
As a former (failed) stand-up comedian, I read this book with great anticipation. While it was engaging and interesting at times, it didn't hold my interest as well as I thought it might. The book does a reasonable job of explaining the history of stand-up using highlights from several careers. But it also covers many off-topic, less interesting items such as movies made by comedians. And while the book is often even-handed, it takes too many easy shots at people like Gallagher to opine what the authors think is funny. One other note: Comedy Central is somehow related to this book as their logo appears on the cover. It's hard to say what their involvement in it was, however. Although I do note that many of the comedians whose names appear in the book are staples of Comedy Central.
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