Author: Publisher: Samuel French, Inc.
ISBN: 9780573614934
Category : American wit and humor
Languages : en
Pages : 72
Book Description
Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In
Author: Ken FeilPublisher: Wayne State University Press
ISBN: 0814338232
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 197
Book Description
Examines the reception, formal strategies, production history, and ideological underpinnings of the groundbreaking comedy-variety show Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In. The highest-rated network program during its first three seasons, comedy-variety show Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In(NBC, 1968–1973) remains an often overlooked and underrated innovator of American television history. Audiences of all kinds—old and young, square and hip, black and white, straight and queer—watched Laugh-In, whose campy, anti-establishment aesthetic mocked other tepid and serious popular shows. In Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In,author Ken Feil presents the first scholarly investigation of the series whose suggestive catch-phrases "sock it to me," "look that up in your Funk'n'Wagnalls," and "here comes the judge" became part of pop culture history. In four chapters, Feil explores Laugh-In's newness, sophisticated style, irreverence, and broad appeal. First, he considers the show's indulgence of "bad taste" through a strategy of deliberate ambiguity that allowed audiences to enjoy countercultural, anti-establishment transgression and, reassuringly, conveyed the sense that it represented the establishment's investment in containing such defiant delights. Feil considers Laugh-In's camp, otherness, and "open secrets" as well as the show's conflicted positions on the "private" issues of taste, sexuality, lifestyle, and politics. Sexual swingers, stoned hippies, empowered African Americans, feminists, and flamboyantly "nellie" men all filled Laugh-In's routine roster, embodied by cast members Goldie Hawn, Jo Anne Worley, Lily Tomlin, Chelsea Brown, Alan Sues, Johnny Brown, and Judy Carne, along with regular guests Flip Wilson, Sammy Davis Jr., and Tiny Tim. Related to these icons, Laugh-In reflected on hotly politicized current events: militarism in Vietnam, racist discrimination in the U.S., Civil Rights and Black Power, birth control and sex, feminism, and gay liberation. In its playful put-ons of the establishment, parade of countercultural types and tastes, and vacillation between identification and repulsion, Feil argues that Laugh-In's intentional ambiguity was part and parcel of its inventiveness and commercial prosperity. Fans of the show as well as readers interested in American television and pop culture history will enjoy this insightful look at Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In.
Author: Dan Rowan
Author: Judy CarneThe Comedians
Author: Kliph NesteroffPublisher: Open Road + Grove/Atlantic
ISBN: 0802190863
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 460
Book Description
“Funny [and] fascinating . . . If you’re a comedy nerd you’ll love this book.” —Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Named a Best Book of the Year by Kirkus Reviews, National Post, and Splitsider Based on over two hundred original interviews and extensive archival research, this groundbreaking work is a narrative exploration of the way comedians have reflected, shaped, and changed American culture over the past one hundred years. Starting with the vaudeville circuit at the turn of the last century, the book introduces the first stand-up comedian—an emcee who abandoned physical shtick for straight jokes. After the repeal of Prohibition, Mafia-run supper clubs replaced speakeasies, and mobsters replaced vaudeville impresarios as the comedian’s primary employer. In the 1950s, the late-night talk show brought stand-up to a wide public, while Lenny Bruce, Mort Sahl, and Jonathan Winters attacked conformity and staged a comedy rebellion in coffeehouses. From comedy’s part in the civil rights movement and the social upheaval of the late 1960s, to the first comedy clubs of the 1970s and the cocaine-fueled comedy boom of the 1980s, The Comedians culminates with a new era of media-driven celebrity in the twenty-first century. “Entertaining and carefully documented . . . jaw-dropping anecdotes . . . This book is a real treat.” —Merrill Markoe, TheWall Street Journal
Author: Library of Congress. Copyright Office
Author: Yael KohenDangerously Funny
Author: David BianculliPublisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1439109532
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 418
Book Description
An unprecedented behind-the-scenes look at the rise and fall of The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour -- the provocative, politically charged program that shocked the censors, outraged the White House, and forever changed the face of television. Decades before The Daily Show, The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour proved there was a place on television for no-holds-barred political comedy with a decidedly antiauthoritarian point of view. In this first-ever all-access history of the show, veteran entertainment journalist David Bianculli tells the fascinating story of its three-year network run -- and the cultural impact that's still being felt today. Before it was suddenly removed from the CBS lineup (reportedly under pressure from the Nixon administration), The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour was a ratings powerhouse. It helped launch the careers of comedy legends such as Steve Martin and Rob Reiner, featured groundbreaking musical acts like the Beatles and the Who, and served as a cultural touchstone for the antiwar movement of the late 1960s. Drawing on extensive original interviews with Tom and Dick Smothers and dozens of other key players -- as well as more than a decade's worth of original research -- Dangerously Funny brings readers behind the scenes for all the battles over censorship, mind-blowing musical performances, and unforgettable sketches that defined the show and its era. David Bianculli delves deep into this never-told story, to find out what really happened and to reveal why this show remains so significant to this day.
Revolution of the Eye
Author: Maurice BergerPublisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 030020793X
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 173
Book Description
An engaging exploration of the relationship between avant-garde art and American network television from the 1940s through the 1970s The aesthetics and concepts of modern art have influenced American television ever since its inception in the 1930s. In return, early television introduced the public to the latest trends in art and design. This engaging catalogue comprehensively examines the way avant-garde art shaped the look and content of network television in its formative years, from the 1940s through the mid-1970s. It also addresses the larger cultural and social context of television. Artists, fascinated with the new medium and its technological possibilities, contributed to network programs and design campaigns, appeared on television to promote modern art, and explored, critiqued, or absorbed the new medium in their work. More than 150 illustrations reveal both sides of the dialogue between high art and television through a selection of graphic designs, ephemera, and stills from important television programs--from The Twilight Zone to Batman to Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, and more--as well as works by artists including Salvador Dalí, Lee Friedlander, Agnes Martin, Man Ray, Andy Warhol, and many others. Revolution of the Eye uncovers the cultural history of a medium whose powerful influence on our lives remains pervasive.
Jump Cut!
Author: Arthur SchneiderPublisher: McFarland
ISBN: 9780786403455
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 220
Book Description
During his 40-year career, the author became one of the industry's most respected television editors, receiving seven Emmy nominations and winning four of the coveted awards. But it was as a master of the jump cut--an editing style in which a sudden cut from one shot to another is made without a fadeout--that he is most remembered, and the term became his nickname. Mr. Schneider worked on many of Bob Hope's shows over the years, but it was for Laugh-In that he fully developed his editing style. This is a behind-the-scenes look at the development of television, from the days when some editing was done with a razor blade and tape to the electronic editing of today. Along the way, Mr. Schneider remembers the stars he worked with, from Gene Kelly to Redd Foxx.
