Im Dying Up Here: Heartbreak and High Times in Stand-Up Comedys Golden Era by William Knoedelseder

Im Dying Up Here: Heartbreak and High Times in Stand-Up Comedys Golden Era Reviews

• 
  Don

  A total comfort read, the literary equivalent of a grilled cheese sandwich with tomato soup.
  I'm Dying Up Here allows us to spend 280 pages in the company of the great 1970s comedians, from Dave and Jay to Richard, Robin, Andy, and many more. I would have preferred more time on the comics' antics and less on The Comedy Store strike, but that's a minor quibble for such a soul-satisfying reading experience.
• 
  Ryan

  One of the reasons I read so few books in the last year and a half is that I spent a lot of my commute time - usually my prime reading time - listening to Marc Maron's WTF podcast interviews with comedians, writers, actors, directors, chefs, artists, musicians, and others that are a serious master class in the creative process and incredibly inspiring. Marc mentioned this book on one of the podcasts, and it's a perfect companion piece, looking at the history of the stand-up comedy world in 1970s LA, when the scene completely exploded around Mitzi's Shore's Comedy Store, and then caused an enormous rift in the comedy world over the dispute with Mitzi and subsequent long strike of her club because she refused to pay any of the comedians that performed there. She fostered the careers of so many now-legendary comedians that it's mind-boggling - Robin Williams, Richard Pryor, Jimmie Walker, Jay Leno, David Letterman, Gary Shandling, Elayne Boosler, Richard Lewis, Freddie Prinze, Andy Kaufman, and many, many others. It's a great, engrossing read.
• 
  John

  Fun and interesting read. Wish it was longer.
• 
  Dana

  I can't remember where I heard of this book, but somehow it ended up in my library queue and I set about to read it. That said - I'm so glad that I did. I really enjoyed the writing, and the progression of the story. I had always heard of this Mitzi Shore person, but didn't know who she was or what an impact she had on the comedy scene in the 70s. That said - the first half of the book was very interesting to learn about the comics of that day (Leno, Letterman, Lewis & Boosler with some Pryor thrown in here and there). The second half of the book dealt almost entirely with the Comics strike of 1979 which I a) didn't know happened and b) am so amazed by their attempted organization of collective bargaining. I will say this - the one thing about the book that was so well written, and something I had no knowledge about, was the tragic story of Steve Lubetkin. I am glad this book exists and that I read it just for the fact that I now know his story. Hats off to the author for his very sympathetic and kind retelling of his deserved tale. I do recommend this book to anyone who is interested in stand-up and/or history, and how the people who make you laugh got their start. Quick read, for sure.
  
  I would just like to say this, as my opinion part of this particular review: I take my hat off to Mitzi Shore for her vision, and the way that she really did craft and create a wonderful method of promoting comedians. What is truly tragic is either her massive greed or her Roman Empire style ego that for all intents and purposes ruined a great thing. When you look at the piles of $$ that The Comedy Store took in, and the fact that she wasn't even willing to concede a stipend for gas or breakfast to these comics who were making her all that $$ just seems completely insane. I am sure there are other issues in play here, and if I read a book that is 100% written from the perspective of her side of the story, maybe I'd feel a little bit different. But overall, the idea of one person becoming rich on the backs of others talent who can't even afford to eat just seems altogether wrong. I feel things got out of hand because she was entirely unreasonable, and it's really too bad things went down that way. To this day I am amazed that comics still work so hard for so little - but I'm glad that it's gotten a little bit better thanks to the resolve of Tom Dreesen - a man I knew nothing about before reading this book, and now am aware of and have massive respect for. And now I know why I had such a strange feeling about the energy of The Comedy Store when I drive by there. Great stories and great comedy turned into bad juju. Sad for them, and us.
• 
  Monty

  Hey, believe it or not, Jay Leno was a very respected comedian before everyone got mad at him for that Tonight Show thing with Conan...
  
  Stand up comedy has been a huge interest of mine for a long, long time. While many stand up comics release books today where they're just publishing their bits and trying to be funny, I've grown to be more into memoir style books about comedy that feature road stories or how they came up with some of their jokes. So, when I saw there was a book about the comedy boom and strike in L.A. from the 70's and 80's I was pretty excited.
  
  The book has a very basic arch to it, in that it introduces many of the main players, then talks about comedy getting popular and then finally moves into the comedy strike where all the comedians, no matter what level they were at, would like to get paid for their performances at the Comedy Store.
  
  If you have any interest in stand up comedy, and I mean passed whatever Louie or Amy Shumer are doing right this second, then you should check out this book. Comedians have always been around but interest in stand up always seems to ebb and flow; I guess like anything. However, this is a very important part of comedy history.
  
  It hearkens back to a time when the internet wasn't a thing and comradery between you and your friends was the best part of the day. Should we call it Comederadry? No probably not.
  
  This book is that much more enjoyable if you're familiar with the people in it. While I don't know everyone mentioned from the time, we all know many of the heavy hitters (Robin Williams, David Letterman, Jay Leno, Elaine Boosler, Richard Pryor and many others). Regardless, it was very cool to read about what they were all dealing with back then and even to learn about a few people who didn't really make it to where they wanted to be.
  
  If you don't know many of the names, do yourself a favor and look them up on google or youtube and watch a little bit of their work so you can put a face to the name. It really makes the book that much better.
  
  Again, fully recommended for the stand up fan!
• 
  John G.

  I devoured this book in two days, loved getting the inside dish from someone who was there and experienced it and was affected by it. Yes, this book is certainly about a specific scene in a certain era, but there are timeless elements involved as well such as the tension between commerce and art and the conflict of management/ownership versus labor. I like that the author doesn't try to glamorize the comics, I would say he reveals his biases in favor of the comics (labor) and against the comedy establishment (Mitzi Shore) in this case. I am a wannabee stand-up comic and absolutely nothing has changed in the way he describes the personality traits and flaws of comics and those of the folks who run the comedy club business. This is a social history, not a how-to book or biography, but this book was just a good, gripping human story. Fascinating to catch glimpses of the character and struggles of some the comedy biggies, this book forever changed my mind in a negative way towards Garry Shandling, damn scab! I would like to read more of this author's work, we need more investigative journalists out there like him!
• 
  Beth Mechum

  I've become increasingly interested in stand up comedy after I discovered the Marc Maron podcast. I think I even found this book through his Twitter feed. The first half of the book was exactly what I wanted - great stories and inside knowledge of stand up comedians and their relationships. The book really stalled when the conflict between the comedians and the Comedy Store with Mitzi Shore. Most of the rest of the book was about that conflict and the formation of (or the proposed formation of) a comedian union. I understand the importance of the event, but when one half of the book is about how well known famous comedians (Letterman, Dreesen, Lewis, Leno, etc.) became who they are today plus the ups and downs of their interpersonal relationships, it's not a surprise that the other half of the book about the strike legalities wasn't as interesting. It left me feeling like there were probably a lot of stories untold.
• 
  Linda

  
  During the seventies, I was hoovering up as much stand-up comedy as I was able. Granted, with access to only four tv channels, a bedtime of 10 pm, and no internet, it wasn’t easy.
  
  I was vaguely aware of a comedian’s strike against the Comedy Store, but knew none of the details until I read this book.
  
  I found the book fascinating and enlightening. Still relevant, as well, inasmuch as it illustrates the prevalent attitude of “job creators” who believe they’re entitled to collect the fruits of other people’s labor without providing any compensation.
  
  Reading this made me even sadder that Letterman is closing up shop. The end of an era, indeed.
  
• 
  Douglas Castagna

  Great story, I was hoping there would be a bit more humorous stories, but was satisfied with what was portrayed. I knew a bit about Mitzi Shore from other sources, even the view from the other side when I saw a documentary by her son. Pauly Shore. I was always intrigued by this time in stand up comedy and how so many talented people went on for so long for no money, and was finally glad to get the whole story, or at least a larger picture of what went on in that turbulent era. Interesting and fact filled and some fun to read.
• 
  Sara Goldenberg

  Most of the book was about The Mitzi Shore Dilemma; when she didn't want to pay the comics that were on their way to becoming stars, and how they had to live on the bar food that they ate before their sets because they were starving, and wearing shoes that had no laces or soles.
  
  I didn't enjoy that.
• 
  Simon Smith

  Mitzi Shore? More like Shitzi Shore... Am I riiiiiiight?
• 
  Karen Chung

  This book is an interesting study in human ambition, power struggle and the power of money, and its lack. The only choice for many comedians just getting started was to work for free, and they often didn't have enough to pay for the next morning's breakfast.
  
  It's fascinating to be in on part of the backstories of comedians who are now mostly household names. But the book may leave you with a sense of melancholy over how things maybe could have gone better, but didn't. Mitzi Shore does not emerge from the account smelling like a rose. But this book will hit you in the face with how the blacks are never all black, nor the whites all white - life is complicated. And what you end up considering the best times of your life may slip by before you notice, and after it's too late to experience anything like them again.
• 
  Jimmy Mustion

  Excellent read. Phenomenal
• 
  Bob Nebel

  ‘I’m Dying Up Here’ chronicles the careers of comedians who built their careers at a place called The Comedy Store, a legendary Southern California comedy club run by the tough-minded businesswoman Mitzi Shore. Stories of comedians including Jay Leno, David Letterman, Richard Lewis and many others keep the reader engaged. I loved reading about how great talent was born and developed in the 1970s Los Angeles comedy scene showing us their triumphs and challenges trying to make people laugh. The author is also great at describing the era when young comedians got together in the wee hours of the southern California mornings to collaborate on comedy ideas and forge deep friendships.
  
  The good times and successes were also met with tragedy in many circumstances. 'I'm Dying Up Here' never dodges those facts, writing extensively about comedians’ struggles with drugs, depression and financial hardship. The book confirms much of what is known about the comedy business: it’s incredibly tough.
  
  The only negative I walked away with after reading the book is the heavy detail on how the comedians formed their own organization to set up a strike against Shore's Comedy Store.
  Certainly, there's no doubt that those who are either comedians from that time or even part of the audience could find those ‘strike sections’ of the book interesting, I found it to be too much 'inside baseball.'
  
  I’m told that there’s a Showtime premium cable television series based on this book. I’m eager to view those episodes after reading ‘I’m Dying Up Here.’
  
• 
  John

  Pro tip: If you read this book, have YouTube open and take a look at the standup of these comics: Many of them have become dim memories at this point, and some are quite funny.
  
  I originally gave this a 4 but after sleeping on it, downgraded it to a 3 because there is almost no way this book is going to satisfy readers based on the title. The book is a history of the scene around Mitzi Shore's Comedy Store on Sunset Strip, and in particular how the scene got through the 1979 "strike."
  
  If you're interested in the history of the LA comedy scene in the mid/late 70s, pretty narrowly: Read it. If you're interested in what made the scene's comedy tick, or if you're interested in the book with relation to the Showtime series, I'm not sure this is the one.
  
  The first problem here is it is actually rather light on the heartbreak and the "high times" -- there isn't much about comedy per se. We get a fair amount about the individual comics and their travails, which is genuinely interesting, but it doesn't really build to much. (You will learn some tidbits about Leno, Letterman, Robin Williams, Andy Kaufman, etc.) On the other hand, as a history of a labor movement, it's quite good. If you want a textbook case of how to mobilize support, you can't do much better than this. I'd quote some details but they would be spoilers.
  
  The second problem is that people are going to read this as the book that motivated the Showtime series of the same name. But after reading this book, it is pretty clear that it was only inspiration, not a blueprint. I really like the Showtime series, but it has gotten some negative reviews owing to the fact that all of the characters are new (maybe "Goldie" in the series is based on Mitzi - but if so, we never see here with her kids). You would be hard-pressed to decide which of the other characters is based on Jay Leno or Dave Letterman . . . mostly because they're not. I think this is much to the credit of the series: They made some pretty believable characters but didn't tread on the real histories from this book. As of the end of Season 1 of the series, the show producers might want to think about dramatizing even more the economic issues of mid/late-70s comics. It's there in the series: But there could be even more specification of direct relationship between the lack of pay in the club and the comics' hardships (I know it's there, but it's structural in the book, not so much in the series). And then the divergences from history are problematic: For instance, Mitzi's response to the rise of strong women in comedy was to create a women-only "Belly Room" in her club -- in the show, the young women comics are recruited for a women-only variety show: The latter provides for some interesting plotting, but it's just at odds with the history.
  
  Now that I'm re-reading this I think I'm maybe being too negative . . . so I'll see what the other reviewers had to say.
  
• 
  Kristy

  A history of the mid-1970s stand up comedy scene at Mitzi Shore's Comedy Store in LA (including Jay Leno, David Letterman, Richard Lewis, Elayne Boosler, Robin Williams, and many more), written by a journalist who covered the comedy beat for decades and knows the comics from that scene well. This is very readable, although sometimes a little scattered as Knoedelseder tries to capture the antics and personalities of a whole stable of comedians. The book gets better as it focuses in on the organization of a group to protest the lack of payment for comedy "showcases" even when the Comedy Store and other clubs were bringing in thousands of dollars in cover and drink money. The standoff between the young comedians and the stubborn Shore is interesting and (for the most part), well told, there are some great digs at strike-buster Garry Shandling, and the death of one of comedians at the end of the strike is really moving. Knoedelseder has some writing quirks (some of which are pretty sexist in an old white dude journalist clueless kind of way -- are all lesbians really "militant feminist lesbians?"), but he knows his stuff and any lover of the comedy scene will find something to love in this book. I'm still trying to figure out why we the lives and careers of stand up comics and professional chefs are so super interesting, but that's probably a question for another venue....
• 
  Malcolm

  Being old enough to remember some of the events of this book and the personalities involved, this book was great fun to read and I couldn't put it down. William Knoedelseder’s writing is smooth, graceful, and practically reads itself directly into the brain. If you're interested in a little slice of Hollywood history from the 1970s, the golden era of stand-up comedy, check out this book.
  
  Unfortunately, the Showtime series with the same name is only based on this book and is not about the real people and places discussed in the book. I understand how it would be awkward, psychologically as well as legally, to portray Jay Leno, David Letterman, Richard Lewis, Elayne Boosler, Tom Dreesen, Richard Pryor, Robin Williams, and many others, while so many of those comics portrayed in this book are still alive. Luckily for the TV series, however, it still has the same feeling as the book -- the same claustrophobic clubs, the same ambition, struggle and heartbreak of the comics, and the same greed and control of the club owners over the talent they showcased night after night.
  
  Interestingly, I read this book in May, 2018, just a month before Mitzi Shore, owner of The Comedy Store portrayed in the book and founder of the Comedy Channel, Inc., 1982, had died. At the time of her passing in April, 2018, Ms. Shore was 87 years old.
  
  I found this book fascinating and thoroughly enjoyably.
• 
  Susie

  Meh. I don't what I was expecting other than MORE. It wasn't dishy enough for me, although the stories he did tell were good. I guess I was hoping to know how difficult living was for these people, how having their day jobs interfered with their writing, or helped it. I have been watching the TV series and I liked it, but I'm sure that's because the stories are being embellished a little. There wasn't enough substance here.
• 
  Eleanor

  Interesting, as far as it goes
  
  Very well reported. A detailed history of the comedians' strike. But there was not a lot of fleshing out of the comedians as individuals. I also would have loved to see the comedians' strike and the idea of working for free at a showcase compared to current ideas about interning and working for free for exposure.
• 
  Steven Spector

  An easy read about stand-up comedy in the 1970s. Strongest when detailing comedians boycotting The Comedy Store. Starving comics really were starving comics!
• 
  Jerry Rocha

  A must read for anyone who is or was a Stand-Up Comedian, and a great read for anyone who may want to know what misery and insecurity comedians go through.
• 
  Steve

  Informative fun!
• 
  Logan Noble

  This is a interesting window into what sounded like a wild time in that explosive age of comedy.
• 
  Todd Stockslager

  Review title: Stand up grows up
  
  If you remember being a teenager in the mid 1970s and watching Saturday Night Live for the first time, or listening to Steve Martin or Richard Pryor records, this book is for you. William Knoedelseder tells the story of the stand up golden age that started in New York but grew up in Hollywood around a few iconic names and spaces. In short sets with punch writing, he covers the names we know--Letterman, Leno, Lewis, Kauffman, Boosler, Williams--and a few most won't remember so well, like Steve Lubetkin, Tom Dreesen, and Mike Binder. Knoedelseder writes from his background in print and television show business reporting, much of it on site in Hollywood, and most of the book is based on his own interviews. There is no bibliography but he does footnote a few direct quote references, and there is a good index of names and places.
  
  The cliche of the melancholy comic has roots in many of the stories Knoedelseder tells in this history. Many of these men and women started out with an idea on paper but "writing comedy was one thing--that was being a 'humorist. ' Performing comedy was something else entirely--that was show business" (p. 12). And the business of stand-up comedy--one person, one microphone, one spotlight, to make people laugh--was fraught with risks, from fragile psyches to violent hecklers to club owners who only paid for the best, the known quantities. And the best of the time, long past the days of vaudeville and the Borscht Belt, were "conceptual, observational, absurdist, sociopolitical, and scatological all at the same time" (p. 20) in the vein of Lenny Bruce and George Carlin. But a career was really made when you had "[put] together five minutes of solid, clean material for Johnny . . . . Other TV shows featured stand-up comedians, but only The Tonight Show launched careers." (p. 24)
  
  Knoedelseder keeps the history short and focused by zooming in on the names I listed in the first paragraph and weaving in short biographical capsules of their lives. While the author references various estimates of the total stand-up community from 200 to 300 active during the 1970s, it was those names and the few stages they had the opportunity to learn and perform their craft that tell the story. Budd Friedman started the Improv in New York around the same hip neighborhoods like Greenwich Village that nurtured folk music, jazz, and Bob Dylan, then moved to LA along with The Tonight Show to stay close to the producers, writers, and directors that could get comedians their TV big break. Mitzi Shore's Comedy Store grew from one stage (with everything painted black to focus the audience on the comic in the spotlight) to
  

  a kind of college of comedy with a curriculum that allowed young comedians to develop their art in graduated stages—from potluck nights, to the regular lineup at Westwood and the Original Room, to headliner status in the Main Room. She saw the San Diego club as a paid vacation for comics who had done particularly well. They earned $300 for the Tuesday-through-Sunday gig and were sometimes driven down to La Jolla by limousine on Monday night. She thought of the college concert tour, which paid $100 per show, as on-the-job training for their eventual careers as opening acts on the road. In this view, she was the founder of Comedy U, its head of faculty and dean of students. And Professor Pryor was the school’s comedian emeritus, her genius in residence. (p. 89)

  
  But until a comic reached that $300 stage in San Diego, nobody got paid for the hours of writing, practicing, performing, and odd jobs they performed around the clubs; waitresses and bar tenders, yes, the comics who entertained while patrons ate and drank, no. Those who graduated to sit next to Johnny or get a spot on a sit-com made a living, while the rest worked day jobs or slept in cars and literally begged friends for $5 to eat breakfast.
  
  That $5 incident, on New Years Day 1979, triggered the effort to organize the comedians to ask Shore to pay comics on a graduated scale for each set, starting at $5 up to a share of the ticket sales in the bigger venues. But Shore, firm in her stance that offering a chance to perform was already a massive service to the comedians, refused to budge, and the "No Money, No Funny" strike began March 27 of that year. As Knoedelseder writes, it was the end of an era. The comedians learned hard lessons about law and labor organization and about themselves as friendships and community ties were broken apart, club owners learned hard lessons about profit and competition and show business. While the strike was nominally settled within months, the impact in careers, lives, and business reverberated for years. There was heartbreak (and high times, as Knoedelseder confirms the stories of behind-the-scenes drug binging), some comics struggling on, some ending tragically, and a few becoming the stars we remember from this golden age of comics when stand-up grew up.
• 
  Frederic

  This book describes the standup comedy scene in Los Angeles in the 1970s, which boomed when career maker TV host Johnny Carson moved his Tonight Show west from New York in 1972.
  
  The Comedy Store was one of a handful of big comedy clubs in town and was sought after by comedians looking for stage time, as well as by talent scouts for TV and movies. Owner Mitzi Shore offered as many as 40 spots per night, but didn't pay her talent, at all. This left to an acrimonious walkout by comedians, who picketed her club.
  
  Now famous comedians like D Letterman, J Leno, and R Lewis were caught up in the conflict.
  
  Today, 40 years later, comedians still struggle to be paid. Standup remains a slog of long apprenticeships and very low financial rewards. Rookies still work for free, for years. Only the big stars make big money, although hundreds scratch out a lonely subsistence on the road.
  
  There are too many comedians chasing too few paid spots, with the food and drink business already having thin margins, so comedians' service is priced very low. Supply of comedians always exceeds demand.
  
  Many other reviewers found the story of the strike boring. As an aspiring comedian who's been on stage for about four years, I thought the whole book was well done and interesting. There's good insight into the personalities of some of the biggest comedians, like those mentioned above, as well as others. A good read that took only a couple of days.