The Funniest One in the Room: The Lives and Legends of Del CloseChicago Review Press, 01/04/2008 - 416 páginas Nichols and May. John Belushi. Bill Murray. Chris Farley. Tina Fey. Mike Myers. Stephen Colbert. For nearly a half century, Del Close—cocreator of the Harold, director for the Second City, San Francisco's the Committee, and the ImprovOlympic, and “house metaphysician” for Saturday Night Live—influenced improvisational theater's greatest comedic talents. His students went on to found the Groundlings in Los Angeles, the Upright Citizens Brigade in both New York and Los Angeles, and the Annoyance Theatre in Chicago. But this Pied Piper of improv has gone largely unrecognized outside the close-knit comedy community. Del was never one to let the truth of his life stand in the way of a good story—and yet the truth is even more fascinating than the fiction. In his early years, he traveled the country with Dr. Dracula's Den of Living Nightmares, knew L. Ron Hubbard before Scientology, and appeared in The Blob. Del cavorted with the Merry Pranksters, used aversion therapy to recover from alcoholism, and kicked a cocaine habit with the help of a coven of witches. And when he was dying, Del bequeathed his postmortem skull to the Goodman Theatre for use in its productions of Hamlet—a final legend that lives on, long beyond the death of the father of long-form improvisation. |
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... Flicker , who was casting for the St. Louis version of the Compass theatre , saw it and hired Hardin and myself . ( Hardin later dropped out . ) Primarily because we improvised in a style obviously not " method . " ( He'd never seen ...
... Flicker had come to see Nine by Six one evening , possibly at the instigation of Severn Darden . According to one story , Flicker offered both Del and Har- din jobs with the incipient St. Louis Compass ; however , Flicker quickly ...
... Flicker himself said that his first encounter with Del was at a regu- lar audition held at his apartment on Thirty - fourth Street : “ There was no question , before the audition was half over , he was on his way to St. Louis with me ...
... Flicker , Nancy Ponder , Mary Jo Henderson , and Del Close arrived in St. Louis in early March 1957. They moved into rooms in Fred Landesman's mansion and began rehearsing . Landesman , a mem- ber of a well - to - do , artistic St ...
... Flicker was anxious to harness his obvi- ous exuberance, performing talent, and intellect. It fell to Flicker to figure out what the St. Louis Compass would ulti- mately be. He did not want it to be like the Chicago Compass. Flicker was ...
Índice
1 | |
22 | |
36 | |
44 | |
62 | |
77 | |
7 Stongehenge and a Skate Through the Sewers | 95 |
8 The Merry Pranksters and My Mother the Car | 109 |
17 The ImprovOlympic | 239 |
18 Roaches in the Dental Floss | 251 |
19 The Return of the Harold the Barons Barracudas and Charna | 267 |
20 The Brain of the Galaxy | 285 |
21 Chris Farley The Blob and Farewell to Second City | 300 |
22 Workshops Reunions and the Family | 316 |
23 Close Youve Gone Sane | 331 |
24 The Party | 350 |
With the Committee in San Francisco | 118 |
10 The Birth of Harold Spidering and a Pornographic Western | 132 |
11 Pretty Much a Blur | 153 |
Belushi and the Bean Can | 165 |
13 Valium Vitriol and Ancient Egyptian Opium | 175 |
14 The Clockwork Orange Treatment | 193 |
15 Junkies Give the Best Shots | 208 |
16 Saturday Night Live Tennessee Williams and the Cleanup | 220 |
25 Curtain Call | 364 |
Bibliography | 376 |
Notes | 377 |
Interviews | 386 |
Acknowledgments | 389 |
Works of Del Close | 393 |
Index | 410 |
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The Funniest One in the Room: The Lives and Legends of Del Close Kim Johnson Pré-visualização indisponível - 2008 |