Make 'Em Laugh: The Funny Business of America - Hardcover

Maslon, Laurence; Kantor, Michael

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0446505315 ISBN 13: 9780446505314

Publisher: Grand Central Publishing, 2008

Synopsis

Make 'Em Laugh features the most popular routines, the most ingenious physical schtick, the snappiest wisecracks and the most biting satire of the last century. It helps readers understand who we are as a nation, what we have laughed at, and why.

By melding comedy dialogue with biography and American history, Make 'Em Laugh informs as it entertains. Created by the same team behind the acclaimed book and Emmy Award-winning documentary series, Broadway: The American Musical, each chapter of Make 'Em Laugh focuses on a different style of comedy, from the physical comedy of the Marx Brothers and Jerry Lewis to the wiseass humour of Larry David and Chris Rock.

Rather than replicating the PBS series, the book offers more depth and detail on the lives and work of America's comic geniuses.

About this title

Book Description:

An illuminating look back at the last century of American comedy and the greats who have shaped it. The companion to the forthcoming five-part PBS documentary by the creators of Broadway: The American Musical.

About the Author:

Michael Kantor is a writer, director, and producer whose work includes "Quincy Jones: In the Pocket" for American Masters, Cornerstone for HBO, and The West with Ken Burns. Laurence Maslon is an associate arts professor at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts.

About this edition

• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0446505315
• ISBN 13: 9780446505314
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 304