Boom Chicago Presents the 30 Most Important Years in Dutch History by Andrew Moskos


Boom Chicago Presents the 30 Most Important Years in Dutch History
Title : Boom Chicago Presents the 30 Most Important Years in Dutch History
Author :
Rating :
ISBN : 1636141048
ISBN-10 : 9781636141046
Language : English
Format Type : Paperback
Number of Pages : 456
Publication : Published July 4, 2023

An exciting history of the improv group you've never heard of that changed comedy in America—this is the story of Boom Chicago in Amsterdam as told by its founders and most famous alumni "It’s kind of crazy, the impact on culture so many Boom Chicago alums have had. Boom was where I became my best comedic the excitement of Amsterdam, the freedom of that environment, the letting loose—it's magic. There's no better training ground." — Jordan Peele "Boom Chicago should have ended up on the scrap heap of 'Terrible Ideas Americans Have While Stoned in Amsterdam.' But when you stubbornly love one thing (comedy) as much as another thing (Amsterdam), you just believe they should be together. And here we are—thirty years later, Boom Chicago is alive and kicking." — Seth Meyers "Working at Boom Chicago was an unbelievable experience. Thank goodness someone was smart enough to write it all down! You're lucky 'cause you get to read about THE most exciting, fun, and illegal time I've ever had!" — Amber Ruffin Featuring interviews with Meyers, Peele, Ruffin, Jason Sudeikis, Ike Barinholtz, Greg Shapiro, Kay Cannon, and many more; and a sixteen-page, full-color insert with both behind-the-scenes snapshots and images from live performances.  What do Ted Lasso, Get Out, Late Night with Seth Meyers, 30 Rock, A Black Lady Sketch Show, Breaking Bad, Saturday Night Live, Girls5Eva, The Colbert Report, Inside Amy Schumer, Pitch Perfect, Key & Peele, The Daily Show, MADtv, Rick and Morty, The Amber Ruffin Show, Horrible Bosses, Portlandia, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Suicide Squad, Superstore, How I Met Your Mother, Wicked, The Pee-Wee Herman Show, Brooklyn Nine-Nine , and Broad City all have in common? They all feature writers, creators, directors, or stars who got their start at Boom Chicago. Having risen roughly to the middle of Chicago's cutthroat comedy scene, Andrew Moskos and Pep Rosenfeld decamped the Midwest for Amsterdam, Netherlands in 1993 to start their own improv comedy troupe, Boom Chicago. In a foreign land with zero tradition of English-language humor, Moskos and Rosenfeld unwittingly created the finishing school for some of today's most groundbreaking comedic talents. They (along with coauthors Matt Diehl and Saskia Maas) document this journey in the definitive oral history Boom Chicago Presents the 30 Most Important Years in Dutch History. From its stages, Boom Chicago went on to launch cultural game changers like Seth Meyers, Jordan Peele, Amber Ruffin, Jason Sudeikis, Brendan Hunt, Ike Barinholtz, Kay Cannon, and Tami Sagher (and that's just a partial list). At Boom, these young upstarts honed their craft in front of unsuspecting foreign audiences and visiting dignitaries like Burt Reynolds, Run-DMC's Jam Master Jay, Dutch royalty, and the Netherlands's prime minister—all while navigating a world with legal weed and prostitution, annual holiday celebrations involving blackface, cookies with weird racist names, and football that has nothing to do with the NFL. From this culture shock, this collective created a more topical, inclusive, tech-savvy humor that would become the dominant comedy style of our time.  Praise for Boom "The Groundlings. The Harvard Lampoon . Second City. These comedy institutions have been supplying Hollywood with a steady stream of talent for decades. Well, there's another name—almost as influential—that you've never heard Amsterdam's Boom Chicago. Huh?"— GQ "A small theater in Amsterdam became the most influential American comedy factory you've never heard of . . . Boom alums have had a significant hand in many of the shows that defined the past two decades of comedy."  —New York 

Boom Chicago Presents the 30 Most Important Years in Dutch History Reviews

  • Diana

    BOOM CHICAGO PRESENTS THE 30 MOST IMPORTANT YEARS IN DUTCH HISTORY.
    The book is written by Andrew Moskos and Pep Rosenfeld with Matt Diehl and Saskia Maas.

    There is an Introduction, Welcome to thirty years of Boom Chicago, by Andrew Moskos & Pep Rosenfeld.
    “ It was when we - Andrew Moskos and Pep Rosenfeld, old friends since childhood - were traveling through Europe after graduating college that we fell in love with Amsterdam.
    And no, it’s not for the reason you think………. It was for the drugs.
    In our stoner haze, we thought we’d found a hole in the market there. See, we were fans of comedy who’d grown up visiting Second City, Chicago’s improv and sketch institution.”
    “Like many young, aspiring comedians in Chicago, we were also taking improv classes. Lots of improv classes….
    Performing improv wasn’t just not paying the rent - it was actually costing us money. But what if we turned it around? What if we skipped the classes and just put on a show? And what if we tried to make a business of it? Hey, what if we left Chicago and did it somewhere else? What about Amsterdam? Why not?”
    There you have it - the origins of Boom Chicago by the perpetrators themselves!

    There is also a Foreword by Seth Meyers.
    “As ideas go, Boom Chicago should never have worked. It should have ended up on a scrap heap of ‘Terrible ideas Americans have had while stoned in Amsterdam’, a scrap heap likely higher than the tallest building in the Netherlands.”

    There is a Fore-And-A-Half-Word by Ruben van der Meer.
    Ruben is a native Amsterdammer and a massive star in The Netherlands. He is a “true titan and innovator on the national comedy scene.”

    There is a Meet the Cast section by Rob AndristPlourde and Greg Shapiro.
    Rob and Greg compiled short bios of the people whose voices appear in this book - adding some “bonus salacious details and ridiculous nicknames”.

    25 Chapters follow spanning the years 1993-2023.
    I loved ALL the chapters, but (as a soccer fan) I really liked Chapter 3. 1995: Ajax wins the Champions League. Actors get soccer fever. Ajax (pronounced Eye-ax) is the Netherlands most successful club.
    I also liked the title of Chapter 23. 2016: Boom Chicago hired to teach Dutch Prime Minister how to be funny. (Just the chapter title is funny.)

    There is a ‘Backword’ by Jordan Peele.
    “I don’t know if my quality of life has ever gotten close to the time I lived in Amsterdam as a Boom Chicago cast member. It’s such a timeless world, with one foot in the past, one foot in the future. It’s a great combination.
    The biggest laughs I’ve ever been part of, or seen, were at Boom Chicago. Improv itself is such a special art form. When you combine that with the excitement of Amsterdam, the freedom of that environment, the letting loose……it’s magic.”

    There are also Acknowledgements, a List of Boom Chicago Alumni 1993-2023 and an About the Authors page.
    There is also a 16 page, full-color insert with both behind-the-scenes snapshots and images from live performances.

    I LOVED this book. I love comedy and this book made me laugh out loud on every page. It was so much ‘FUN’ to read. It was extremely personal, friendly and hilarious. It was very interesting to read - historical and cultural tidbits of the Netherlands, and all the historical and cultural tidbits of the cast members of Boom Chicago.
    Boom Chicago is “an exciting history of the improv group you’ve never heard of that changed comedy in America.”
    I am very happy to have received an ARC (Advance Reading Copy) from the publisher, Akashic Books for my reading and unbiased review. *I swear this was an unbiased review, even though I adore Akashic Books and their eclectic book list, and am secretly very fond of the work of Seth Meyers.
    *****

  • Katie Rose Martin

    This book was so interesting! Not only does it give a historical anecdote of each year in Holland from 1993 through 2023, it also tells the story of Boom Chicago from its beginnings to the present. I really enjoyed learning about Dutch hstory. I was also surprised at who has been through Boom Chicago -- seriously big names in comedy! Each chapter has some of the Boom Chicago Alums talking about that particular year in a back-and-forth, conversation-esque format.

  • Arah

    I read this to cram for a trip to Holland. Reading it took a little longer than 2 podcast episodes (from The Rest is History) but filled in the gaps with laughs and, I hope, guidance for interacting with people when we get there. So glad Matt Diehl promoted it so heavily!

  • Max

    As a Dutchman living in New York who has been telling all his American friends about weird American things, it was a joy to read a book with so many fun American perspectives on weird Dutch things. Boom Chicago has definitely become ‘onze eigen’ Boom Chicago, a Chicago-Amsterdam institute.