You Will Not Believe - HIstory of Stand-Up

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Comedy at the Edge: How Stand-up in the 1970s Changed America

by Richard Zoglin
Mock Stars: Indie Comedy & the Dangerously Funny

by John Wenzel
Make 'Em Laugh: The Funny Business Of America

starring Billy Crystal, Amy Sedaris, Judd Apatow, Roseanne Barr, Carol Burnett

Week 1: Vaudeville

Stand-Up Pre-History
- Vaudeville and Broadway
  
  From the site of Make 'Em Laugh, the PBS documentary about American Comedy
- Vaudeville History
  
  The University of Arizona was recently given a large collection of historical artifacts chronicling the history of Vaudeville
Week 2: Borscht Belt

The Beginnings of Stand-Up
- The Borscht Belt on Wikipedia
  
  Description of the Catskills Vacation Spots where the earliest of Stand-Up took root.
- The 2000 Year Old Man
  
  The famous sketch/bit by Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner. While outside our focus of classic stand-up, this shows a nice mix of the Abbott and Costello vaudeville approach and the Borscht Belt joke structure.
Week 3: Political Awareness and Personal Narrative

Stand-up stands up
- Mort Sahl on Richard Nixon
  
  From Sahl's 1973 album "Sing a Song of Watergate"
- Mort Sahl Write-Up on PBS
  
  Brief Write-Up of Sahl and his influence on later comedians
- Lenny Bruce's Bit on "To Come"
  
  The bit that got Lenny Bruce arrested the first time
Week 5: Stand-Up Turns in on Itself

The Age of Irony
- Kaufman's Elvis Impersonation (from Man on the Moon)
  
  Jim Carrey as Andy Kaufman, recreating his famous Elvis Impersonation
- Steve Martin on Midnight Special
  
  Martin performs on the Late-Night musical variety show from the late 70s
- Albert Brooks's Rewriting the National Anthem
  
  Live bit from his album, Comedy Minus One
- Albert Brooks's Comedy School
  
  Short film made by Albert Brooks about a school for comedy
Week 6: What is the Deal with Airplanes?

The Stand-Up Boom
- Early David Letterman Interview
  
  Rare moment when David Letterman is interviewed about his stand-up career
- Catch a Rising Star Website
  
  The infamous club continues
- Andy Kaufman at Catch
  
  Andy Kaufman performs at Catch a Rising Star in the early 70s.

What You Will Not Believe Is

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This Year's Front-running Tunes

Entries in classic-jokes (1)

Sunday

Sep202009

Week 2: Borscht Belt and the Development of the Zinger

tagged

classic-jokes

Updated on September 21, 2009 by Matthew

While some vaudeville performers went on to become popular comedians on Television, one person in particular took the form he developed on the vaudeville stage and popularized it into what we today call stand-up. Bob Hope worked as an MC on the vaudeville stage, meaning he came up in between acts to introduce them and give time for the transitions. Rather than a character, Bob Hope performed as himself, relating directly to the audience and entertaining them with jokes.

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You are visiting You Will Not Believe, which is not me claiming you will not believe where you are visiting; that is just its name. All content here by Matthew Latkiewicz unless otherwise stated, with some restrictions on how this stuff can be used.

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Entries in classic-jokes (1)

Week 2: Borscht Belt and the Development of the Zinger