The Funniest One in the Room: The Lives and Legends of Del Close

Capa
Chicago 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.

No interior do livro

Índice

17 The ImprovOlympic
18 Roaches in the Dental Floss
19 The Return of the Harold the Barons Barracudas and Charna
20 The Brain of the Galaxy
21 Chris Farley The Blob and Farewell to Second City
22 Workshops Reunions and the Family
23 Close Youve Gone Sane
24 The Party

8 The Merry Pranksters and My Mother the Car
With the Committee in San Francisco
10 The Birth of Harold Spidering and a Pornographic Western
11 Pretty Much a Blur
Belushi and the Bean Can
13 Valium Vitriol and Ancient Egyptian Opium
14 The Clockwork Orange Treatment
15 Junkies Give the Best Shots
16 Saturday Night Live Tennessee Williams and the Cleanup
25 Curtain Call
Bibliography
Notes
Interviews
Acknowledgments
Works of Del Close
Index
Direitos de autor

Outras edições - Ver tudo

Palavras e frases frequentes

Acerca do autor (2008)

Kim “Howard” Johnson was a longtime friend of Del Close, a personal assistant to John Cleese, a newspaper and magazine writer, and the author of several books on Monty Python. He coauthored the improv classic Truth in Comedy with Del Close and Charna Halpern. He lives in Ottawa, Illinois.

Informação bibliográfica