Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
WARNING: Another Boomer Narcissist Shows Us His Spleen., January 22, 2000
GOING TOO FAR is a haphazard and poorly edited attempt to stuff three books into one. Author Tony Hendra should have started out with attempt to explain just how countercultural "Boomer" humor came about, but aside from rare and banal observations (e.g., "(C)omics got their start in a network of jazz clubs..."), his "explanation" of the phenomenon is really an unrelieved rant about the Post WWII military-industrial complex and blandness of American mass-culture. The fascinating story of how the military, "multiveristies", and the FCC tried to blandize American society (for reasons of "national security") is not one you will read in this book, as all Hendra does is snarl. The First Book of uninformed social commentary flows into a Second Book of short biographical sketches of various comic minds. There are some very funny bits here only because Hendra quotes at length brilliant humorists such as Mort Sahl, Bob Newhart, and Dick Gregory. It is good that there is so much quotation because with the exception of the chapter on Sahl, and an interesting story of the Smother's Brothers battle with Cold War censorship, there is no sense of the times or the flavor of the comic styles. The chapter on the history of the Second City school of improvisation just gives names and dates, so only those already familiar with the Second City style would understand what Hendra is talking about. The entire book is riddled with factual errors. Hendra's incompetence as a historian of humor is most clearly shown by his stupid one paragraph write off of the inventive surrealist troupe The Firesign Theatre. Hendra wrongly categorizes TFT as "drug humor"; Hendra just confused TFT with Cheech and Chong. (Since Hendra did not offer an insightful view of the Cold War, it would be instructive to listen to the Firesign's classic--and drug-reference free--commentary on Cold War media, the album DON'T CRUSH THAT DWARF, HAND ME THE PLIERS.) Eventually the Second Book of history peters out into a pathetic and very long memoir of Hendra's time at the NATIONAL LAMPOON. Over a third of this tome is an example of a major Boomer trait: SELF-ABSORPTION. We are treated to a laundry list of every issue of the LAMPOON that Hendra was involved in. Hendra ignores major comic figures to dwell on his unimportant friends. He expresses envy toward his more successful contemporaries (such as Lorne Michaels and PJ O'Rourke) and and then tries to excuse his raving by accusing his brethren of not being "progressive" enough. After a couple of hundred pages of snarling at religion we are eventully told of his personal falling out with religion--"the Personal is the Political" indeed! Hendra discusses his personal drug use and goes into a tortured blow by blow account of his acts of adultery. A typical Boomer narcissist, Hendra admits that he ignored his family, and evaluates the the story of his infidelity with "And it must have been fun for my wife." As low as all that is, Hendra hits rock bottom when he tries to drum up excuses for his passing a Monty Python routine off as his own. Apparently his early '70s act of plagiarism was still hurting his career in 1987 when he published GOING TOO FAR, as it should. Hendra would have us believe that he is not a plagiarist, but a victim of circumstance--yet another Boomer trait. In short, GOING TOO FAR is a pathetic manuscript of a hack comic writer. Apparently the publisher did not assign an editor to this 400+ page monstrosity.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The History of "Sick" Humor in America and More, March 13, 2008
Despite what others might think, this book is a useful history for anyone who wishes to track the development and decline of "edgy" humor in the United States. Hendra is not egotistical but brutally honest when it comes to analyzing the difference between the type of satire that formerly characterized the genre in question and the uninspired descendants that have sapped such humor of its value.
Other Amazon reviewers have taken it upon themselves to psychoanalyze the author and have concluded that his motives here emerge from bitterness and a lack of success--a judgment that suggests that some readers didn't understand Hendra's point and have allowed their own affection for the lesser forms of this humor to take offense at Hendra's analysis. The author, in fact, gives a fairly reasonable argument as to how the form of sick or subversive humor was adopted by imitators like Lorne Michaels without concern for the socially relevant content that allowed National Lampoon to thrive at the end of the youth movement. Most of what followed this generation of humor retained the facade of hipness without the conscience. Sadly, Hendra's comments are as true today as they were in 1987.
Anyone born in the latter half of the twentieth century and beyond who believes they have an irreverent sense of humor and would like to know where it came from would find this an enlightening read.
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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
not far enough, June 11, 2001
By A Customer
The premise is that "boomer humor" equals getting a laugh while prodding the sacred cows of post-WW2 America. Along with scattered remarks about other humorists/comedians, Hendra tracks a progression from Saul to Bruce to Second City and the Committee to R. Crumb to the National Lampoon to Saturday Night Live, where he says "boomer humor" becomes co-opted, loses its vitality, and dies. The analysis is very good, his writing is clear and clever, and there are plenty of reprinted examples.But Hendra gets long-winded and defensive when covering his involvement with the Lampoon and "Lemmings". We get far too many pages about his interpersonal dealings with his associates ...,("I did not steal O'Donohue's girlfriend", "I did not introduce Belushi to coke", "I did not rip-off Monty Python") while dozens of great artists are ignored in this 454 page book. Aside from the denial, for example, you get nothing else about Monty Python. It's an entertaining and informative read, but a very subjective and narrow treatment, given its length. Nevertheless, if you're interested in the subject, it's worth your time.
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