The Comedians

Drunks, Thieves, Scoundrels and the History of American Comedy

By: Kliph Nesteroff

Narrated by: Kliph Nesteroff

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.

Starting with the vaudeville circuit at the turn of the last century, Nesteroff introduces the first stand-up comedian - an emcee who abandoned physical shtick for straight jokes. After the repeal of Prohibition, Mafia-run supper clubs replaced speakeasies, and mobsters replaced vaudeville impresarios as the comedian's primary employer. In the 1950s, the late-night talk show brought stand-up to a wide public, while Lenny Bruce, Mort Sahl, and Jonathan Winters attacked conformity and staged a comedy rebellion in coffeehouses. From comedy's part in the Civil Rights movement and the social upheaval of the late 1960s to the first comedy clubs of the 1970s and the cocaine-fueled comedy boom of the 1980s, The Comedians culminates with a new era of media-driven celebrity in the 21st century.

©2015 Kliph Nesteroff. Some of the material herein is based on Kliph Nesteroff's work with WFMU's Beware of the Blog and Classic Television Showbiz. Recorded by arrangement with Grove Atlantic, Inc. (P)2017 Audible, Inc.

Performance issues

This book was exhaustively researched, with many many pieces of information. It did read as a bit of a “list of things that happened” and less as narrative. My issue was with the performance. Audible, where was your editor? Some egregious mispronunciations, happened enough to be very distracting. “Poignant” with a hard g. “Shuts-PA” for chutzpah. Spiro Agnew’s first name as “Spyro” These are the highlights, there were more. I expect better from Audible productions.

Comprehensive and Entertaining

This book is so fascinating in that it gives basically a full history beginning in the early 1900s of comedy in America. The material is comprehensive and interesting the entire way. The only gripe I have is the author does impressions of a select few comedians, and it is very over-the-top and distracting. Not enough to drop it down to 4-stars, but it takes a little away from the content at times.

Fantastic book for comedy lovers

This book was awesome. If you're a comedy fan, this is for you. Great, thorough research and interesting stories. The book mentions just about every notable comedian of the the last 100 years. Really fantastic read

Great history of American comedy

If you're interested in the history of American comedy, I'm sure you'll love this book. It's a great combination of interesting stories and anecdotes about individual people and a solid explanation of the larger arc of American comedy as a whole. We spend a lot of time watching or listening to comedy, but most of us don't know very much about it. This book fills in some of the gaps.

I usually don't write reviews here, but a lot of people here have complained about the performance. The comments were so negative I hestitated before buying the book. But I'm glad I did buy it, and I wanted to encourage people who might have doubts to give it a chance.

It's true that Nesteroff isn't a professional voice actor isn't a particularly gifted mimc. But the book is read clearly and is not at all difficult or unpleasant to listen to. It's fine. it really is. And if you're interested in the subject, you should buy it, because it contains information you're not going to find anywhere else.

Kliph is not great at voices. Great book though.

A review requires fifteen words....so here's fifteen words for my review to be posted. Banana.