The Joke's Over: Bruised Memories: Gonzo, Hunter S. Thompson, and Me [Paperback]

Ralph Steadman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2007

In the spring of 1970, artist Ralph Steadman went to America in search of work and found more than he bargained for when he met Hunter S. Thompson at the Kentucky Derby. Their remarkable collaboration resulted in the now-legendary Gonzo Journalism, which would document the civil rights movement, the Nixon administration, Watergate, and the many bizarre and great events that shaped the second half of the twentieth century. When Thompson committed suicide in 2005, it was the end of a unique friendship filled with both betrayal and understanding. A rollicking, no-holds-barred memoir, The Joke’s Over is the definitive inside story of the Gonzo years.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Steadman, who famously illustrated much of Hunter S. Thompson's work, wasn't along for the legendary ride to Las Vegas, but he was there at the birth of gonzo journalism in 1970, and he was there when Thompson's ashes were blasted out of a cannon in 2005. Here, alongside a generous selection of his drawings, he recounts their shambolic adventures together, from the Kentucky Derby to the Rumble in the Jungle to the Kona Coast. While Steadman's slashing, ink-spattered art seems the perfect embodiment of Thompson's booze- and drug-fueled prose, in temperament he was a foil, a Welshman who hated America, while Thompson, in his excess, was perhaps the quintessential American. Steadman genuinely admires his friend's writing but examines his character with clear-eyed honesty and corrects the record as he sees fit. Given the push-pull of their relationship, one wonders if Steadman--an author in his own right--will write his "own" memoir or if he'll be content to be on the record as the level-headed sidekick of the most mythologized journalist of all time. Funny and--unlike his subject--dry. Keir Graff
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

PRAISE FOR THE JOKE'S OVER

"Hunter Thompson’s marvelously deranged illustrator, Ralph Steadman, gives us a terrific memoir with The Joke’s Over . . . His testament to Thompson, light on hyperbole, is both fitting and touching."—New York Post

"There can be no question that Hunter S. Thompson’s pivotal works would not be the same without the accompanying artworks of his partner Ralph Steadman . . . A vivid, well-written paean to Thompson and, by extension, the character of the American rebel."—The Buffalo News

"Terrific . . . Steadman’s testament to Thompson, light on hyperbole, is both fitting and touching."

(New York Post (Required Reading) )

"The Joke’s Over is a must read for both longtime fans of Thompson, and the curious."

(BookPage )

"A vivid, well-written paean to Thompson and, by extension, the character of the American rebel."

(Buffalo News )

"Enormously entertaining."

(Boston Globe )

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Mariner Books; 1 edition (October 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0156032503
• ISBN-13: 978-0156032506
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #243,680 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An unflinching look at the dear, departed Prince of Gonzo, January 14, 2007

By 

M. Chapman "superedit" (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Joke's Over: Bruised Memories: Gonzo, Hunter S. Thompson, and Me (Hardcover)

Artist Ralph Steadman worked with commando journalist Hunter Thompson for over 30 years, and this wonderful book details the high-wire act that working with "The Doktor" truly was. This book debunks Thompson's insecure bellowing that "Steadman can't write". Write he does, and he does it well. Steadman's account of his on-again, off-again, love/hate relationship with the most savage, visceral American writer of our time reads like the diary of a marriage -- which indeed it resembled. Thompson as a person was capable of treachery, petty jealousy, sloth, narsicism, depression, violence, and occasionally, sentimentality and great affection. It's clear that Thompson's writing career was boosted by Steadman's illustrations, and that on occasion Thompson resented it, wanting to be remembered as a serious writer in the style of Hemingway or Faulkner, not a drug-swilling, epithet-spewing cartoon character.

Through it all, Steadman serves as the perpetual straight man (although with a wicked touch of Peck's Bad Boy and a horror of American politics and excess), forgiving his friend's moods and abuse, but never forgetting. It's clear that they had some wonderful adventures and times together, and though Steadman's ambivalence towards his friend in later life is obvious, it remains the most honest portrait yet of the dear, departed Prince of Gonzo, and also of the man who describes himself as Thompson's "Sancho Panza." A must for Thompson and Steadman fans alike.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Ralph's Take on Hunter, December 26, 2006

By 

William Rieger "wjrzagfan" (Sparks, Nevada United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Joke's Over: Bruised Memories: Gonzo, Hunter S. Thompson, and Me (Hardcover)

There are passages in this volume which will cause your heart to weep. Steadman is no slouch with the written word. His recounting of the Kentucky Derby episode had me LOL. When he does address the dark side of his departed friend, you feel as though there's no axe to grind, merely an attempt to set the record straight.

If you've been drawn to HST's work over the years, then this effort by Steadman should take its rightful place on the bookshelf next to Thompson's works. Part memoir, part elegy, it gives another insight into the "bad craziness" that made Hunter S. Thompson tick.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars About the father of "Gonzo Journalism", January 26, 2007

By 

Armchair Interviews (Minneapolis, MN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Joke's Over: Bruised Memories: Gonzo, Hunter S. Thompson, and Me (Hardcover)

Few people knew Hunter S. Thompson as well as Ralph Steadman did. Over thirty-five years, they collaborated on articles for Rolling Stone (including the counterculture phenom, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas), and documenting the stories that shaped America from the 70s to the 90s, including events as diverse as The Kentucky Derby, Watergate and the Foreman/Ali fight. Their collaboration gave birth to "Gonzo Journalism*."

In this memoir, Steadman recounts a turbulent and wild working relationship and friendship with Thompson--both the fun and games as well as the paranoia and betrayals.

It's a wild ride. Steadman's casual prose style captures the voice of the chaos that whirled around Hunter Thompson. And he doesn't hold back--his prose, like his drawing style, is raw and vivid. There is, as would be expected, lots of bad behavior in this book.

Thompson was a guy who never expected to live beyond the age of 30--that he waited 67 years before killing himself with a shotgun was surprising, even to his closest friends. So he lived without a future, in a way, or at least without considering it: drugs, alcohol, guns, women--and his writing, which in many ways seemed to be as much a vice as the rest.

The book is strongest when using text from the actual letters, faxes and answering machine messages that punctuated Steadman and Thompson's relationship, and Steadman's drawings help to make Gonzo real, even to someone not at all familiar with his or Thompson's work.

Steadman himself admits he is a better artist than writer, but, in true Gonzo style, he makes up for that by immersing himself, and us, into the actual world. You have to be careful, though, if you are the type of person who wouldn't want to get lured into admiring Thompson and his dark lifestyle of wanton carousing.

As Steadman says toward the end of the book, "Gonzo is a strange kind of magic that appeals to the beast that lurks in the dark heart of most of us." That magic comes through in Steadman's book.

(* According to Wikipedia, "Gonzo Journalism" is a style of reporting that mixes fiction and factual journalism. This highly subjective style often includes the reporter via a first-person narrative.)