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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... wanted a child to fill the empty space. But such is speculation. Perhaps the most remarkable thing about young Del's childhood is that it was, to all outward appearances, unremarkable. But he felt the paternal neglect early in his ...
... wanted to get on—and I did. I was never discovered—nobody ever gave it a second thought. But me. To me, this was a horrible lesson to learn—“You don't have to finish stuff!”4 There were no penalties for failure to finish what you ...
... wanted was denied him , that same desire for attention and a proclivity toward dark humor also drew other boys to him . Del enjoyed a good practical joke . The musicians dressed in white shirts and white trousers for the weekly band ...
... wanted to hear about his experiences in Denver , and Del was happy to comply . He knew his friends wanted a good story , so he told Tal Streeter and the others about a performance of Shakespear- ean scenes that included an excerpt from ...
... wanted to do . " 1 Years later , his classmates were skeptical of Del's claim . Kansas City was a lengthy commute from Manhattan in the days before the inter- state highway system . In addition , they felt , most fifteen - year - old ...
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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 |