Regular price: $34.99

Membership details Membership details
  • A 30-day trial plus your first audiobook, free.
  • 1 credit/month after trial – good for any book, any price.
  • Easy exchanges – swap any book you don’t love.
  • Keep your audiobooks, even if you cancel.
  • After your trial, Audible is just $14.95/month.
OR
In Cart

People who bought this also bought...

Caddyshack audiobook cover art

  • Caddyshack

  • The Making of a Hollywood Cinderella Story
  • By: Chris Nashawaty
  • Narrated by: Peter Berkrot
  • Length: 7 hrs and 48 mins
  • Unabridged
  • Overall
    4.5 out of 5 stars 252
  • Performance
    4.5 out of 5 stars 230
  • Story
    4.5 out of 5 stars 227

Caddyshack is one of the most beloved comedies of all time, a classic snobs vs. slobs story of working-class kids and the white-collar buffoons that make them haul their golf bags in the hot summer sun. It has sex, drugs, and one very memorable candy bar, but the movie we all know and love didn't start out that way, and everyone who made it certainly didn't have the word classic in mind as the cameras were rolling.

  • 3 out of 5 stars

  • Not Really About Caddyshack Until Hour 5

  • By William M. on 07-01-18
The Comedians audiobook cover art

  • The Comedians

  • Drunks, Thieves, Scoundrels and the History of American Comedy
  • By: Kliph Nesteroff
  • Narrated by: Kliph Nesteroff
  • Length: 15 hrs and 6 mins
  • Unabridged
  • Overall
    4.5 out of 5 stars 232
  • Performance
    4.5 out of 5 stars 212
  • Story
    4.5 out of 5 stars 213

In The Comedians, comedy historian Kliph Nesteroff brings to life a century of American comedy with real-life characters, forgotten stars, mainstream heroes and counterculture iconoclasts. Based on over 200 original interviews and extensive archival research, Nesteroff's groundbreaking work is a narrative exploration of the way comedians have reflected, shaped, and changed American culture over the past 100 years.

  • 4 out of 5 stars

  • Good stories, but...

  • By Susan on 04-16-18
Live from New York audiobook cover art

  • Live from New York

  • The Complete, Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live as Told by Its Stars, Writers, and Guests
  • By: James Andrew Miller, Tom Shales
  • Narrated by: Christina Delaine, Paul Woodson
  • Length: 28 hrs and 18 mins
  • Unabridged
  • Overall
    4.5 out of 5 stars 206
  • Performance
    4.5 out of 5 stars 193
  • Story
    4.5 out of 5 stars 191

When first published to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Saturday Night Live, Live from New York was immediately proclaimed the best book ever produced on the landmark and legendary late-night show. In their own words, unfiltered and uncensored, a dazzling galaxy of trail-blazing talents recalled three turbulent decades of on-camera antics and off-camera escapades.

  • 3 out of 5 stars

  • Entertaining but repetitive

  • By Michelle on 05-05-18
Robin audiobook cover art

  • Robin

  • By: Dave Itzkoff
  • Narrated by: Fred Berman
  • Length: 16 hrs and 15 mins
  • Unabridged
  • Overall
    4.5 out of 5 stars 1,312
  • Performance
    4.5 out of 5 stars 1,213
  • Story
    4.5 out of 5 stars 1,204

From his rapid-fire stand-up comedy riffs to his breakout role in Mork & Mindy and his Academy Award-winning performance in Good Will Hunting, Robin Williams was a singularly innovative and beloved entertainer. He often came across as a man possessed, holding forth on culture and politics while mixing in personal revelations - all with mercurial, tongue-twisting intensity as he inhabited and shed one character after another with lightning speed. But as Dave Itzkoff shows in this revelatory biography, Williams’ comic brilliance masked a deep well of conflicting emotions and self-doubt.

  • 4 out of 5 stars

  • Oh Robin...

  • By Leigh on 05-24-18
Springfield Confidential audiobook cover art

  • Springfield Confidential

  • Jokes, Secrets, and Outright Lies from a Lifetime Writing for The Simpsons
  • By: Mike Reiss, Mathew Klickstein
  • Narrated by: Mike Reiss
  • Length: 7 hrs and 28 mins
  • Unabridged
  • Overall
    4.5 out of 5 stars 430
  • Performance
    4.5 out of 5 stars 394
  • Story
    4.5 out of 5 stars 390

Four-time Emmy winner Mike Reiss - who has worked on The Simpsons continuously since episode one in 1989 - shares stories, scandals, and gossip about working with America’s most iconic cartoon family ever. Reiss explains how the episodes are created and provides an inside look at the show’s writers, animators, actors, and celebrity guests. He answers a range of questions from Simpsons fans and die-hards and reminisces about the making of perennially favorite episodes.

  • 5 out of 5 stars

  • D'oh

  • By Lucas on 08-14-18
Dr. Katz: The Audiobook audiobook cover art

  • Dr. Katz: The Audiobook

  • By: Jonathan Katz, Laura Silverman, H. Jon Benjamin, and others
  • Length: 6 hrs and 32 mins
  • Unabridged
  • Overall
    4.5 out of 5 stars 95
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars 88
  • Story
    4.5 out of 5 stars 88

The doctor is back with a whole book of sessions from guests like Jon Hamm, Louie Anderson, Susie Essman, Gilbert Gottfried, David Mamet, Wanda Sykes, Marc Maron, Reggie Watts and a slew of others. 

  • 5 out of 5 stars

  • Just beautiful!

  • By Oscar Slovak on 08-16-18

Publisher's Summary

This ultimate biography of National Lampoon and its cofounder Doug Kenney offers the first complete history of the immensely popular magazine and its brilliant and eccentric characters. Relying on wonderful stories about the comedy scene in New York City in the 1970s and National Lampoon's place at the center of it, author Josh Karp chronicles how the magazine spawned a popular radio show and two long-running theatrical productions that helped launch the careers of John Belushi, Bill Murray, Chevy Chase, and Gilda Radner and that went on to inspire Saturday Night Live.

That history along with interviews conducted with more than 130 people connected to Kenney and the magazine - including Chevy Chase, John Hughes, P. J. O'Rourke, Tony Hendra, Sean Kelly, Chris Miller, and Bruce McCall - and behind-the-scenes stories about the making of Animal House and Caddyshack help to capture the nostalgia, humor, and popular culture that National Lampoon still inspires.

©2006 Josh Karp (P)2017 Dreamscape Media, LLC

What members say

Average Customer Ratings

Overall

  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    21
  • 4 Stars
    6
  • 3 Stars
    3
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0

Performance

  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    14
  • 4 Stars
    9
  • 3 Stars
    4
  • 2 Stars
    2
  • 1 Stars
    0

Story

  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    20
  • 4 Stars
    8
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Audible.com Reviews
Amazon Reviews
Sort by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent History of Golden Age in American Comedy

Loved the book, wish it went even longer. Lutkin’s narration was clean, well-read, but every time he said the word “parody” as “parity”, I wanted to punch a nun. A book on comedy, you’ve gotta be sure your reader can pronounce a few key words, eh?

2 of 3 people found this review helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Rich wonderful book

I loved listening to this. The story is great, Karp fills in lots of wide-ranging details about the many characters who made up National Lampoon and how humor and history moved through the strange times of the 60s and 70s. I found myself with tears in my eyes at the end dealing with Doug's death. The Netflix special piqued my interest but the story is much more vast and we get that all here. A word about the narrator - I had seen the other reviews talking about his pronunciation of "parody" as "parity" and I couldn't believe it. How right they are though, and since that word comes up many times in the book, someone really should have corrected Lutkin about this. He says ending 'd's as if they were 't's, we get this with "Kennedy" too.

1 of 2 people found this review helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great book despite the mispronounciations

The narrorator pronounces "parody" like "parroty" and calls Caddyshack's Judge Smails "judge Smalls," but his pronunciation aside this was an amazing book and a wonderful tribute to both Doug Kenney and National Lampoon. It's the basis for the Netflix movie of the same name which is also good.

1 of 2 people found this review helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Forever Young, Brilliant, and Tragic

I love Doug Kenney. I never met him, but this book and subsequent movie makes me admire and venerate him. I’ve gone from this book looking to learn and read more about National Lampoon, and hope to see more of this brilliant young man that I just read about here. A great look back on Kenney’s life and I recommend it to anyone.

1 of 2 people found this review helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Movie was better

I bought this book because I loved the movie. Unfortunately the movie was better. The author of the book is obsessed with getting all the details right about the politics at National Lampoon. I did not find it very interesting. It is more of a history of doug and National Lampoon than an entertaining story. I recommend you see the movie and skip the book.

0 of 2 people found this review helpful