The Laugh-Makers: Stand-Up Comedy as Art, Business, and Life-Style

175 Pages·1990·8.24 MB·English

by  Robert A. Stebbins

TTze Laugh-Makers
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The Laugh-Makers
Stand-up Comedy
as Art, Business,
and Life-Style
ROBERT A. STEBBINS
McGill-Queen's University Press
Montreal & Kingston • London • Buffalo
©McGill-Queen's University Press 1990
ISBN 0-7735-0735-3
Legal deposit first quarter 1990
Bibliotheque nationale du Quebec
Printed in Canada on acid-free paper
This book has been published with the help of a grant
from the Social Science Federation of Canada, using
funds provided by the Social Sciences and Humanities
Research Council of Canada.
Canadian Cataloguing In Publication Data
Stebbins, Robert A., 1938-
The laugh-makers: stand-up comedy as art, business
and life-style
Includes bibliographical references.
Bibliography: p.
ISBN 0-7735-0735-3
1. Stand-up comedy—Canada. 2. Comedians—Canada.
3. Stand-up comedy—United States. I. Title.
PN1969.C65S75 1990 792.7 C89-090351-4
A Jeanne et Jean-Pierre Deslauriers
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Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction xi
1 An Art Is Born 3
2 Stand-up Comedy Comes to Canada 18
3 Comedy Club Comedy 35
4 So You Think You're Funny 59
5 Becoming a Comic 72
6 The Road 95
7 The Comedy Business 124
Appendix: Interview Guide for
Professional Comics 141
Notes 145
Bibliography 151
Index 155
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Acknowledgments
Authors of books reap all the glory (and the censure) that comes
with publication, while a small cast of supporting players lan-
guishes quietly backstage. So important has the supporting cast
been to the present volume that it simply would not exist without
them. The fifty-seven interviewees gave graciously of their time,
views, opinions, and personal histories. In line with the ethics of
social scientific research, they must remain anonymous. And then
there were the owners, managers, impresarios, comics, and
agents - Mark Breslin, Ernie Butler, Evan Carter, Mark and Rich
Elwood, Larry Horowitz, Gilbert Rozon, and Louise Sauve. In inter-
views, follow-up telephone calls, face-to-face conversations, and
manuscript critiques, each contributed in exceptional measure to
this book. Bill Robinson and Keith Bale endured my presence in
their comedy clubs over a pe-riod of several months so that I
could familiarize myself with the nightly production of stand-up
comedy and the rudiments of this form of entertainment as art,
business, and life-style. It is unlikely that any of these people
agree with all that is said here, and my acknowledgment of them
is not meant to claim their acceptance of what is said here.
Several other important sources of support concern production
and finances. Lynda Costello worked, always cheerfully and effi-
ciently, to transform my ragged drafts into readable manuscript.
Her devotion to the project will never be forgotten. Copy-editor
Constance Buchanan worked effectively not only to enhance the
logic and readability of this book but also, as a fan of stand-up,
to sharpen my presentation of the audience view of it. Finally, I
would like to acknowledge the Calgary Institute for the Humani-
ties for granting me an annual fellowship to write this book. Data
collection for the project was subsidized by a research grant