We look forward to seeing you on your next visit to the library. Find a location near you.

Inside Comedy: The Soul, Wit, and Bite of Comedy and Comedians of the Last Five Decades
(Adobe EPUB eBook, Kindle Book, OverDrive Read)

Book Cover
Average Rating
Published:
Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group 2021
Status:
Checked Out
Description
The world of comedy and comedians of the last five decades. By the man the New York Times calls "a comic institution himself," the only comedian (twenty-six years in stand-up) to have made Elie Wiesel laugh, as well as having appeared on The Tonight Show (140 times, second only to Bob Hope, but who's counting). From the director of TV comedy series Mad About You, Seinfeld, Friends, Weeds and Curb Your Enthusiasm.
 
Larry David:  “I’m lucky. I know and love David Steinberg. You don’t. Now's your chance. Don’t blow it!"
 
“David has always been a comedy hero to me. One of his many gifts is the ability to inspire funny people to be even funnier, as you will discover in this truly hilarious, insightful book.” —Martin Short
 

From David Steinberg, a rabbi's son from Winnipeg, Canada, who at age fifteen enrolled at Hebrew Theological College in Chicago (the rabbinate wasn't for him) and four years later, entered the master's program in English literature at the University of Chicago, until he saw Lenny Bruce, the "Blue Boy" of Comedy, the coolest guy Steinberg had ever seen, and joined Chicago's Second City improvisational group, becoming, instead, the comedian's comedian, director, actor, working with, inspired by, teaching, and learning from the most celebrated, admired, complicated comedians, then and now—a funny, moving, provocative, insightful look into the soul, wit, and bite of comedy and comedians—a universe unto itself—of the last half-century.
From the greats: George Burns, Lenny Bruce, Sid Caesar, Lucille Ball, Mel Brooks, and Carl Reiner, et al., to the newer greats: Carol Burnett, Steve Martin, Lily Tomlin, Billy Crystal, Bob Newhart, and the man for all comedy, Martin (Marty) Short; to the greats of right now: Chris Rock, Dave Chappelle, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Wanda Sykes; and more . . .
Steinberg, through stories, reminiscences, tales of directing, touring, performing, and, through the comedians themselves talking (from more than 75 interviews), makes clear why he loves comedy and comedians who have been by his side in his work, and in his life, for more than sixty years.
Here are: Will Ferrell, Eric Idle, Whoopi Goldberg, Mike Myers, Groucho himself and the greatest of them all (at least of the last half century), Jonathan Winters . . .
Also in This Series
Formats
Adobe EPUB eBook
Works on all eReaders (except Kindles), desktop computers and mobile devices with reading apps installed.
Kindle Book
Works on Kindles and devices with a Kindle app installed.
OverDrive Read
Need Help?
If you are having problem transferring a title to your device, please fill out this support form or visit the library so we can help you to use our eBooks and eAudio Books.
More Like This
Other Editions and Formats
More Copies In LINK+
Loading LINK+ Copies...
More Details
Format:
Adobe EPUB eBook, Kindle Book, OverDrive Read
Street Date:
07/13/2021
Language:
English
ISBN:
9780525520580
ASIN:
B08FZCSDPS
Reviews from GoodReads
Loading GoodReads Reviews.
Citations
APA Citation (style guide)

David Steinberg. (2021). Inside Comedy: The Soul, Wit, and Bite of Comedy and Comedians of the Last Five Decades. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.

Chicago / Turabian - Author Date Citation (style guide)

David Steinberg. 2021. Inside Comedy: The Soul, Wit, and Bite of Comedy and Comedians of the Last Five Decades. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.

Chicago / Turabian - Humanities Citation (style guide)

David Steinberg, Inside Comedy: The Soul, Wit, and Bite of Comedy and Comedians of the Last Five Decades. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 2021.

MLA Citation (style guide)

David Steinberg. Inside Comedy: The Soul, Wit, and Bite of Comedy and Comedians of the Last Five Decades. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 2021.

Note! Citation formats are based on standards as of July 2022. Citations contain only title, author, edition, publisher, and year published. Citations should be used as a guideline and should be double checked for accuracy.
Copy Details
LibraryOwnedAvailable
Shared Digital Collection10
Staff View
Grouped Work ID:
63df9960-cdd0-cc27-3908-c10c0e2cd7c5
Go To Grouped Work
Needs Update?:
No
Date Added:
Jul 09, 2021 16:15:46
Date Updated:
Jul 09, 2021 16:15:46
Last Metadata Check:
Mar 24, 2024 15:28:10
Last Metadata Change:
Jan 30, 2024 07:37:58
Last Availability Check:
Mar 24, 2024 15:28:13
Last Availability Change:
Mar 06, 2024 05:09:09
Last Grouped Work Modification Time:
Mar 27, 2024 02:11:40

OverDrive Product Record

sortTitle
Inside Comedy The Soul Wit and Bite of Comedy and Comedians of the Last Five Decades
crossRefId
5678994
images
    • cover:
        • href: https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-100/0111-1/{4030C852-0BE0-4300-B60E-2C537B6D0F9D}Img100.jpg
        • type: image/jpeg
    • thumbnail:
        • href: https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-200/0111-1/{4030C852-0BE0-4300-B60E-2C537B6D0F9D}Img200.jpg
        • type: image/jpeg
    • cover150Wide:
        • href: https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-150/0111-1/403/0C8/52/{4030C852-0BE0-4300-B60E-2C537B6D0F9D}Img150.jpg
        • type: image/jpeg
    • cover300Wide:
        • href: https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-400/0111-1/403/0C8/52/{4030C852-0BE0-4300-B60E-2C537B6D0F9D}Img400.jpg
        • type: image/jpeg
formats
      • identifiers:
            • type: ISBN
            • value: 9780525520580
            • type: PublisherCatalogNumber
            • value: 564668
            • type: KoboBookID
            • value: d4d24ecf-bcd5-31c7-b4c5-b9d46d646a31
      • name: Adobe EPUB eBook
      • id: ebook-epub-adobe
      • identifiers:
            • type: ISBN
            • value: 9780525520580
            • type: PublisherCatalogNumber
            • value: 564668
      • name: OverDrive Read
      • id: ebook-overdrive
subtitle
The Soul, Wit, and Bite of Comedy and Comedians of the Last Five Decades
mediaType
eBook
primaryCreator
    • role: Author
    • name: David Steinberg
id
4030c852-0be0-4300-b60e-2c537b6d0f9d
title
Inside Comedy
starRating
0
contentDetails
      • href: https://link.overdrive.com/?websiteID=141&titleID=5678994
      • type: text/html
      • account:
          • name: Sacramento Public Library (CA)
          • id: 1151

OverDrive MetaData

isPublicDomain
False
formats
      • fileName: InsideComedy_9780525520580_5678994
      • partCount: 0
      • fileSize: 34938997
      • identifiers:
            • type: ISBN
            • value: 9780525520580
            • type: PublisherCatalogNumber
            • value: 564668
      • rights:
            • type: Copying
            • value: 0
            • type: Printing
            • value: 0
            • type: Lending
            • value: 0
            • type: ReadAloud
            • value: 0
            • type: ExpirationRights
            • value: 0
      • name: Adobe EPUB eBook
      • isReadAlong: False
      • id: ebook-epub-adobe
      • onSaleDate: 7/13/2021
      • samples:
            • source: From the book
            • formatType: ebook-overdrive
            • url: https://samples.overdrive.com/?crid=4030c852-0be0-4300-b60e-2c537b6d0f9d&.epub-sample.overdrive.com
      • fileName: InsideComedy_5678994
      • partCount: 0
      • fileSize: 0
      • identifiers:
            • type: PublisherCatalogNumber
            • value: 564668
            • type: ASIN
            • value: B08FZCSDPS
      • name: Kindle Book
      • isReadAlong: False
      • id: ebook-kindle
      • onSaleDate: 7/13/2021
      • samples:
            • source: From the book
            • formatType: ebook-overdrive
            • url: https://samples.overdrive.com/?crid=4030c852-0be0-4300-b60e-2c537b6d0f9d&.epub-sample.overdrive.com
      • fileName: InsideComedy_9780525520580_5678994
      • partCount: 0
      • fileSize: 0
      • identifiers:
            • type: ISBN
            • value: 9780525520580
            • type: PublisherCatalogNumber
            • value: 564668
      • name: OverDrive Read
      • isReadAlong: False
      • id: ebook-overdrive
      • onSaleDate: 7/13/2021
      • samples:
            • source: From the book
            • formatType: ebook-overdrive
            • url: https://samples.overdrive.com/?crid=4030c852-0be0-4300-b60e-2c537b6d0f9d&.epub-sample.overdrive.com
keywords
      • value: celebrity
      • value: Biography
      • value: Comedian
      • value: Humor
      • value: Movies
      • value: autobiographies
      • value: Film
      • value: Cinema
      • value: Comedy
      • value: Autobiography
      • value: Memoirs
      • value: Drama
      • value: Creativity
      • value: Seinfeld
      • value: broadway
      • value: Acting
      • value: biographies
      • value: jewish history
      • value: TV
      • value: History
      • value: memoir
      • value: stand up comedy
      • value: funny books
      • value: standup comedy
      • value: fathers day
      • value: gifts for history buffs
      • value: true story books
      • value: good books to read
      • value: biography books
      • value: nerd gifts
      • value: white elephant gifts
      • value: bite me
      • value: comedy books
      • value: funny gifts
      • value: acting books
      • value: theater gifts
      • value: gifts for actors
      • value: uncle gifts
      • value: the history of sketch comedy by keegan-michael key
creators
      • role: Author
      • fileAs: Steinberg, David
      • bioText: DAVID STEINBERG is a Canadian comedian, actor, writer, director, and author.
      • name: David Steinberg
imprint
Knopf
publishDate
2021-07-13T00:00:00-04:00
isOwnedByCollections
True
title
Inside Comedy
fullDescription
The world of comedy and comedians of the last five decades. By the man the New York Times calls "a comic institution himself," the only comedian (twenty-six years in stand-up) to have made Elie Wiesel laugh, as well as having appeared on The Tonight Show (140 times, second only to Bob Hope, but who's counting). From the director of TV comedy series Mad About You, Seinfeld, Friends, Weeds and Curb Your Enthusiasm.
 
Larry David:  “I’m lucky. I know and love David Steinberg. You don’t. Now's your chance. Don’t blow it!"
 
“David has always been a comedy hero to me. One of his many gifts is the ability to inspire funny people to be even funnier, as you will discover in this truly hilarious, insightful book.” —Martin Short
 

From David Steinberg, a rabbi's son from Winnipeg, Canada, who at age fifteen enrolled at Hebrew Theological College in Chicago (the rabbinate wasn't for him) and four years later, entered the master's program in English literature at the University of Chicago, until he saw Lenny Bruce, the "Blue Boy" of Comedy, the coolest guy Steinberg had ever seen, and joined Chicago's Second City improvisational group, becoming, instead, the comedian's comedian, director, actor, working with, inspired by, teaching, and learning from the most celebrated, admired, complicated comedians, then and now—a funny, moving, provocative, insightful look into the soul, wit, and bite of comedy and comedians—a universe unto itself—of the last half-century.
From the greats: George Burns, Lenny Bruce, Sid Caesar, Lucille Ball, Mel Brooks, and Carl Reiner, et al., to the newer greats: Carol Burnett, Steve Martin, Lily Tomlin, Billy Crystal, Bob Newhart, and the man for all comedy, Martin (Marty) Short; to the greats of right now: Chris Rock, Dave Chappelle, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Wanda Sykes; and more . . .
Steinberg, through stories, reminiscences, tales of directing, touring, performing, and, through the comedians themselves talking (from more than 75 interviews), makes clear why he loves comedy and comedians who have been by his side in his work, and in his life, for more than sixty years.
Here are: Will Ferrell, Eric Idle, Whoopi Goldberg, Mike Myers, Groucho himself and the greatest of them all (at least of the last half century), Jonathan Winters . . .
reviews
      • premium: True
      • source: Library Journal
      • content:

        May 1, 2021

        Steinberg (The Book of David) offers a history of comedy filtered through 50-plus years of lived experience. It's hard to deny his comedy credentials--he's appeared on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, guest-hosted the Carson-era Tonight Show, and directed episodes of Seinfeld. But Steinberg continually centers himself in this narrative, even when writing about fellow comedians. Anecdotes about smoking cigars with Groucho Marx and being flashed by Milton Berle are nestled among paragraphs of name-dropping; they're balanced by his warm remembrances of Robin Williams, Johnny Carson, among others--plus a wild Redd Foxx story. The last third of the book is drawn from interviews Steinberg conducted on his TV show Inside Comedy, about the early careers of dozens of comedians (including Chris Rock, Richard Lewis, and Sarah Silverman). This section is effective, yet Steinberg still dominates the spotlight. VERDICT Steinberg hits the history harder than the comedy and presents himself as a pivotal figure. Comedy fans who remember his onscreen work will likely agree with his self-assessment and enjoy his book.--Terry Bosky, Madison, WI

        Copyright 2021 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

      • premium: True
      • source: Kirkus
      • content:

        June 1, 2021
        A half-century survey of the comedic landscape. Steinberg has a gift not only for stand-up and improvisational comedy, but also for the rhythms and mores of show business more generally. Born in Winnipeg, the author left pre-rabbinical studies during his teens. While in college in Chicago, watching Lenny Bruce inspired him to invent his own brand of socially conscious stand-up, and he joined the famed Second City troupe alongside Joan Rivers, Alan Arkin, Mike Nichols, and Elaine May. Steinberg went on to a hugely successful comedy career that included 30 years of stand-up, 140 appearances on Johnny Carson's Tonight Show, directing successful sitcoms (Seinfeld, Mad About You, etc.), and producing and hosting Inside Comedy, his series of one-on-one conversations with more than 75 comedians. Along the way, he got to know just about everybody of importance in the comedy world, many of whom appear in these pages. The author charts a throughline of comics from the Borscht Belt to the Ed Sullivan Show to the Tonight Show, highlighting the work of Milton Berle, Sid Caesar, Don Rickles, and countless others. As a writer on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour in the late 1960s, Steinberg saw how CBS censors tried to shut down political humor. Now, as an elder statesman of entertainment, he reflects on "more than a good life, a dream built on laughter." Because the author interviewed his roll call of comedians for the Inside Comedy series, parts of the book read like transcripts, but beyond all the name-dropping and off-color anecdotes is a real love for the craft and its giants. Via dozens of memories from the leading lights of comedy over the past 50-plus years, Steinberg effectively expresses his "reverence for and experiences with Groucho Marx and George Burns and their world, for stand-up comedy, comedians in clubs and on television, and those who excel at being both actors and comedians." A lifelong story of comedy and its brilliant careers, told by a consummate insider.

        COPYRIGHT(2021) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

      • premium: True
      • source: Booklist
      • content:

        July 1, 2021
        David Steinberg may not be as easily recognized in the annals of comedy as the likes of Sid Caesar, Lily Tomlin, Richard Pryor, or Jerry Seinfeld, but he was just as influential. In a memoir that nearly qualifies as a history of American comedy during the last six decades, he shares illuminating tales of friends and colleagues. Even more impressively, he places the reader right next to the guy who was, seemingly, there for it all. From the 1960s, when Lenny Bruce was simultaneously censored and adored, to raucous stand-up tours, to endless shenanigans in The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour writing room in the 1970s, to directing some of the most historic television comedy seen so far with stints in Designing Women, Golden Girls, Friends, and Curb Your Enthusiasm. Not to mention Steinberg's record-setting 140 guest-host gigs on Johnny Carson's The Tonight Show. Steinberg's recollections are vivid as they are hilarious. There is a sense that every memory and every person in his life in comedy is given equal weight as he tells stories about and expresses gratitude for his impressive career.

        COPYRIGHT(2021) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

popularity
950
links
    • self:
        • href: https://api.overdrive.com/v1/collections/v1L1BWwAAAA2I/products/4030c852-0be0-4300-b60e-2c537b6d0f9d/metadata
        • type: application/vnd.overdrive.api+json
id
4030c852-0be0-4300-b60e-2c537b6d0f9d
starRating
3.6
images
    • cover:
        • href: https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-100/0111-1/{4030C852-0BE0-4300-B60E-2C537B6D0F9D}Img100.jpg
        • type: image/jpeg
    • thumbnail:
        • href: https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-200/0111-1/{4030C852-0BE0-4300-B60E-2C537B6D0F9D}Img200.jpg
        • type: image/jpeg
    • cover150Wide:
        • href: https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-150/0111-1/403/0C8/52/{4030C852-0BE0-4300-B60E-2C537B6D0F9D}Img150.jpg
        • type: image/jpeg
    • cover300Wide:
        • href: https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-400/0111-1/403/0C8/52/{4030C852-0BE0-4300-B60E-2C537B6D0F9D}Img400.jpg
        • type: image/jpeg
isPublicPerformanceAllowed
False
languages
      • code: en
      • name: English
subjects
      • value: History
      • value: Performing Arts
      • value: Nonfiction
      • value: Humor (Nonfiction)
publishDateText
07/13/2021
otherFormatIdentifiers
      • type: ISBN
      • value: 9780525520573
mediaType
eBook
shortDescription
The world of comedy and comedians of the last five decades. By the man the New York Times calls "a comic institution himself," the only comedian (twenty-six years in stand-up) to have made Elie Wiesel laugh, as well as having appeared on The Tonight Show (140 times, second only to Bob Hope, but who's counting). From the director of TV comedy series Mad About You, Seinfeld, Friends, Weeds and Curb Your Enthusiasm.
 
Larry David:  “I’m lucky. I know and love David Steinberg. You don’t. Now's your chance. Don’t blow it!"
 
“David has always been a comedy hero to me. One of his many gifts is the ability to inspire funny people to be even funnier, as you will discover in this truly hilarious, insightful book.” —Martin Short
 

From David Steinberg, a rabbi's son from Winnipeg, Canada, who at age fifteen enrolled at Hebrew Theological College in Chicago (the rabbinate wasn't for...
sortTitle
Inside Comedy The Soul Wit and Bite of Comedy and Comedians of the Last Five Decades
crossRefId
5678994
subtitle
The Soul, Wit, and Bite of Comedy and Comedians of the Last Five Decades
publisher
Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
bisacCodes
      • code: BIO026000
      • description: BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Memoirs
      • code: PER015000
      • description: Performing Arts / Comedy
      • code: HUM022000
      • description: Humor / Topic / History