In the mid-1970s, Jay Leno, David Letterman, Andy Kaufman, Richard Lewis, Robin Williams, Elayne Boosler, Tom Dreesen, and several hundred other shameless showoffs and incorrigible cutups from all across the country migrated en masse to Los Angeles, the new home of Johnny Carson's Tonight Show. There, in a late-night world of sex, drugs, dreams and laughter, they created an artistic community unlike any before or since. It was Comedy Camelot — but it couldn't last.
William Knoedelseder, then a cub reporter covering the scene for the Los Angeles Times, was there when the comedians — who were not paid for performing — tried to change the system and incidentally tore apart their own close-knit community. In I'm Dying Up Here he tells the whole story of that golden age, of the strike that ended it, and of how those days still resonate in the lives of those who were there.
ISBN-13: 9781610398664
Media Type: Paperback
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Publication Date: 05-23-2017
Pages: 304
Product Dimensions: 5.40(w) x 8.10(h) x 0.90(d)
William Knoedelseder is a veteran journalist who honed his investigative and narrative skills at the Los Angeles Times, where his reporting on the entertainment industry produced a string of groundbreaking exposes. He is the bestselling author of Stiffed: A True Story of MCA, the Music Business, and the Mafia and Bitter Brew: The Rise and Fall of Anheuser-Busch and America's Kings of Beer.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Prologue: A True Comic 1
Blood Brothers 9
The Hippest Room 19
Mitzi's Store 31
Tom, Dave, and George 45
All About Budd 59
Six Minutes, Twenty-two Laughs 65
The Boys' Club 71
Guns, Drugs, and Westwood 81
Comedy University 87
Richard's Baroness, Steve's Movie 93
The Funniest Year Ever 101
Roommates 111
The New Year's Resolution 117
Drugs and Theft 125
Order, Please 135
Diary of a Young Comic 141
The Gauntlet 147
Comedians for Compensation 153
Choosing Up Sides 165
Fire! 175
The Vote 181
All on the Line 189
Dave's Big Night 203
The Union Forever? 211
Jay's Big Flop 223
"My Name is Steve Lubetkin" 231
A Standing Ovation 245
Epilogue: The Prisoner of Memory 253
Index 269
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