I'm Dying up Here: Heartbreak and High Times in Stand-up Comedy's Golden Era

by William Knoedelseder

This is an entertaining and engrossing look at the stand-up comedy scene in the 1970s. Topics include:

• Why stand-up moved from NYC to CA (hint: Here’s Johnny!),
• An in-depth account of Mitzi Shore and The Comedy Store,
• The great comics’ strike of 1979,
• The life and death of an aspiring comedian, and
• Tidbits about big name comedians, including Leno, Letterman, Robin Williams, and Richard Lewis.

The lives of stand-up comics in the seventies were both fascinating and frightening (those precarious paychecks). These folks broke new ground in Comedy at Mitzi’s club; that is for sure. More importantly, they paved the way for generations after them—they may have worked for free, but there were determined to change that practice for future generations of comedians.

I loved this book—thanks to the KQRS morning show for the recommendation.

6/17/10