Funnymen: A Novel [Hardcover]

Ted Heller (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 2, 2002

SIGMUND "ZIGGY" BLISSMAN isn't the best-looking, sanest boy in the world. Far, far from it. But this misfit child of a failed husband-and-wife vaudeville team has one (and only one) thing going for him: He can crack people up merely by batting his eyelashes.

And Vittorio "Vic" Fontana, the son of a fisherman, is a fraud. Barely able to carry a tune or even stay awake while attempting to, the indolent baritone (if that's what he is) has one thing going for him: Women love to look at him.

On their own, they're failures. But on one summer night in the Catskills, they step onstage and together become the funniest men -- and the hottest act -- in America.

"Funnymen" is the wildly inventive story of Fountain and Bliss, the comedy duo that delighted America in the 1940s and '50s. Conceived as a fictional oral biography and filled with more than seventy memorable characters, "Funnymen" details the extraordinary careers of two men whose professional success is never matched in their personal lives. The two men fight constantly with their managers, their wives, their children, their mistresses, and those responsible for their success: each other. The stories recounted about Vic and Ziggy -- and the truths Heller reveals about human ambition, egotism, and friendship -- make "Funnymen" a wild ride of a novel that is also a rare and imaginative masterpiece of storytelling.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This mock oral history by Heller (Slab Rat) is a comedic roller-coaster ride based on the partnership of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. New England dock worker Vic Fountain uses his striking good looks, impeccable stage timing and solid voice to become a big-band pop vocalist, only to struggle after a series of setbacks before finding his niche with comedian Ziggy Bliss. Bliss's story is even more compelling, particularly when Heller describes the hirings, firings and jockeying for position that even involved Bliss's parents as he battled to find his place in the world of borscht belt comics. Once Fountain and Bliss come together, the novel becomes more pedestrian, although Heller keeps things spicy by adding juicy backstage details about their unique chemistry and the gargantuan appetites of the two entertainers. Heller introduces a veritable armada of secondary characters to tell their stories, including managers, wives, ex-wives, children, etc., producing a nonstop, machine-gun-style series of anecdotes and stories that works well in the early going as Heller describes the cutthroat competition among comics and entertainers. As he shifts to the well-known backbiting that took place when Martin ("Vic") left to pursue his movie and TV career, the stylistic trick proves more cumbersome and unwieldy. Longer and less focused than it should be, this is nevertheless a funny and illuminating story of two of the industry's post-WWII giants. Agent, Chuck Verrill.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Review

"Friends, enemies...girlfriends, relatives and other observers tell absolutely everything about a zany/croony midcentury comedy duo.... Totally entertaining..." -- Kirkus Reviews

"This mock oral history...is a comedic roller-coaster ride.... a funny and illuminating story..." -- Publishers Weekly

. . . an inspired send-up . . . a laugh-out-loud funny show-biz satire that'll knock you on your tuchis. -- Maxim

Ted Heller proves he is one of the funniest of the FUNNYMEN in his highly original and hilarious new novel. -- Vanity Fair

Walter Kirn author of Up in the Air Ted Heller takes one of pop literature's tinniest forms, the gossipy celebrity "oral history," and makes of it a golden opportunity for jazzy, sympathetic satire. A fine performance. Reserve your tickets now. -- Review

“Wonderful reading, a great journey, and all true because I was there.” -- Mel Brooks

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 416 pages
• Publisher: Scribner (April 2, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743212630
• ISBN-13: 978-0743212632
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,526,252 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars laughed out loud, March 27, 2002

By 

a_reader_somewhere (Houston, Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Funnymen: A Novel (Hardcover)

I picked up this book because of the title and it really turned out to be full of funnymen (and women). I don't remember the last time a book made me laugh out loud the way this one did. Also, this book is set up in a really interesting way. Instead of long descriptions about this or that like in other novels, the entire story is only told by many many speaker/characters. They each have very distinctive ways of speaking, so after a while you can really imagine them speaking. And many of them are comedians, so what they say is really funny. This set up really keeps the action rolling. The effect is like watching a very funny episode of Behind the Music or something. I thought this was a really unique and brilliant way to set up a book.

Also, Funnymen is set during the classic era of American entertainment: the big band and vaudeville scene on down to the cocktail lounge scene and the Rat Pack. I liked this aspect the best. Lots of the characters are modeled after the classic stars of that time that everyone now treats like saints (like Sinatra and Dean Martin) but you figure were always living fast and loose. In this book, you get to go behind the scenes and see the wild times they had (well, sort of, since this is a work of fiction) and it's really really funny. In all, this book was fun, lighthearted and very entertaining to read. I really enjoyed it and recommend it.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Sharp as a tack, April 23, 2002

By 

Candace "thepageturner" (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Funnymen: A Novel (Hardcover)

"They were incorrigible, they were unprofessional, they were spiteful and childish and had not one jot of class," says one character about the funny men of the title. No kidding. The comedy duo of Fountain and Bliss (Vic Fountain and Ziggy Bliss) have people rolling in the aisles from the forties through the fifties -people actually have heart attacks from laughing so hard! They are secretly sent to Los Alamos to give the scientists some yucks before testing the A-bomb! But off-stage they are disgusting and are surrounded by people who are pretty much the same. So why is "Funnymen" so entertaining?

Author Ted Heller uses an oral history format to tell the tale of this famous team, which works. Their career is reported by a variety of pals from the old neighborhood, fellow Catskills comics, thugs, tarts, agents, spouses, and more. Nobody likes these guys, but they all ride on their coattails. And what a ride it is. When Vic Fountain and Ziggy Bliss catch sight of each other for the first time, they recognize fellow travelers. Vic may be a handsome crooner and Ziggy an brillo-haired zany comic, but they immediately see in each other someone missing that spark of empathy that makes a human being. On stage, they perform with an uncanny rapport. Off stage, they barely speak.

Fountain and Bliss are supposedly based on Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis in what some consider to be the golden age of comedy. Heller catches the whole rude, crude crowd, who are often funny in ways they'd never guess. But do not be fooled into thinking that "Funnymen" is just a raunchy snoop backstage in the age of cocktail lounges, Vegas shows, and tinselly Rat Pack glamour. The guys get their comeuppance in ways that are both just and very, very sad.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Like Spinal Tap in book form, a great "mockumentary!", May 19, 2003

By 

Michael L Robertson (Dripping Springs, TX United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Funnymen: A Novel (Paperback)

I'm overwhelmed with Ted Heller's achievement in this book. I can't remember ever reading another fictionalized oral history and the idea is such a great one! If you've ever read any showbiz biographies, especially from the Golden Age of Hollywood, you will love this book. True, there are plenty of similarities to the Dean & Jerry team, but there are tons of in-jokes stolen from the lives of Milton Berle, Groucho Marx, and other luminaries. It really did remind me of Christopher Guest's ...documentary movies; the details are believable, but then this slight sense of----insanity slips in. The famous female star whose food [indulging] veers dangerously close to cannibalism...oh, I don't want to spoil it. Just read this book if you're into showbiz stories. You will NOT regret it.