The laugh-makers
Subtitle: stand-up comedy as art, business, and life-style
By: Robert A. Stebbins.
Publisher: McGill--Queen's University Press
Published: 1990
Place of publication: Montreal; Buffalo
Language: eng
Number of pages: 160
Subjects: Stand-up comedy -- Canada; Comedians -- Canada
Description: "Stebbins begins with a history of stand-up comedy, giving vital background about the industry as it emerged and flourished in the United States and subsequently developed into a popular form of entertainment in Canada. He deals with the nature of comic performance in comedy rooms - cabarets designed specifically for stand-up comedy - and examines the career of the comic: how people become interested in comedy, how they progress as amateurs, how they survive on the road and how, sometimes, they become headliners and later writers for film and television. He also discusses the business of comedy: booking agents, comedy chains such as Yuk-Yuk's, room managers, and the comics themselves as entrepreneurs. As the first comprehensive study of a growing phenomenon, The Laugh-Makers will interest sociologists of humour and sociologists of occupations and will contribute to our understanding of Canadian popular culture."--Pub. desc.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [151]-154) and index.