Discover the gift behind the guffaws inside the minds of our greatest comedians. Through their words, as they discuss their profession, we learn how they feel about comedy, and about each other.    The great comics of Vaudeville, silent and "talkie" films, radio, TV, and stand-up deliver comments on various topics such as Comedy as Art, The Vaudevillians, The Silent Films Comedians, The Golden Age of Talkies, The Television Legends, Stand-up Comedians, and Comedians as Actors.
Contributors include Abbott & Costello, Fred Allen, George Burns, Gracie Allen, Woody Allen, Lucille Ball, Jack Benny, Fanny Brice, Mel Brooks, Charlie Chaplin, W. C. Fields, Whoopi Goldberg, Oliver Hardy, Buster Keaton, Stan Laurel, Jerry Lewis, The Marx Brothers, Joan Rivers, Hal Roach, and Dick Van Dyke, among others.
All have had much to say through the decades about the art of making people laugh. As they attest, their job is not all fun and games. Here is an entertaining, educational, and thought-provoking collection of observations and opinions by legendary comedians and current favorites. When the spotlight is off, they take their comedy seriously, and they share their knowledge, jealousies, failures, and triumphs when speaking between the laughs.
Paperback, 130 pages, a Bibliography, and an Index. Illustrated.