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Essential Comedy Tome to Grill Chast, Sedaris, Clowes, Handey, Others
Filed under: The Squib Report Tagged: Al Jaffee, Allison Silverman, Bob Odenkirk, Bruce Jay Friedman, Buck Henry, Dan Mazer, Daniel Clowes, Daniel Handler, Dave Barry, David Sedaris, Dick Cavett, George Meyer, Harold Ramis, Irving Brecher, Jack Handey, Larry Gelbart, Larry Wilmore, Marshall Brickman, Merrill Markoe, Mitch Hurwitz, Paul Feig, Robert Smigel, Roz Chast, Stephen Merchant, Susan Morrison, Todd Hanson
Martin Schneider writes:
Finally, a post that doesn't mention Tw****r! I think I've discovered the 2009 release I'm looking forward to most. A gentleman named Mike Sacks has compiled a book of interviews with twenty-five of the funniest writers on earth, due for publication in July from F+W Press.
The book will feature interviews with familiar New Yorker contributors Roz Chast, Daniel Clowes, Jack Handey, and David Sedaris, as well as:
Paul Feig (Freaks and Geeks)
Merrill Markoe (Late Night with David Letterman)
Dick Cavett (The Dick Cavett Show)
Larry Wilmore (The Daily Show)
Irving Brecher (Marx Brothers)
Bob Odenkirk (Mr. Show)
Robert Smigel (TV Funhouse)
Dan Mazer (Ali G, Borat)
Harold Ramis (Groundhog Day)
Larry Gelbart (M*A*S*H)
Mitch Hurwitz (Arrested Development)
Dave Barry (syndicated column)
Daniel Handler (Lemony Snicket)
Bruce Jay Friedman (The Heartbreak Kid)
Marshall Brickman (Annie Hall, Manhattan)
George Meyer (The Simpsons)
Al Jaffee (MAD Magazine)
Allison Silverman (The Colbert Report)
Buck Henry (Get Smart, The Graduate)
Stephen Merchant (Extras)
Todd Hanson (The Onion)
(Apparently New Yorker editor Susan Morrison is involved as well.)
I feel confident in guaranteeing that if you collected that group in a room, nobody'd ask, "So when do the funny people show up?"—except in jest.
Best of all, you can read the chapters for Handler, Chast, Friedman, and Clowes in full on the book's website, which also has generous excerpts of every single other chapter.
As a comedy enthusiast with a serious weakness for artist interviews (Paris Review, Inside the Actor's Studio, you name it), I'm genuinely excited, as you can well imagine.
Comments
If you want to know more about the funniest man you never heard of, check out Irving Brecher’s brand NEW book, “The WICKED WIT of the WEST” (which Groucho called him) — subtitled The last great Golden Age screenwriter shares the hilarity and heartaches of working with Groucho, Garland, Gleason, Burns, Berle, Benny & many more.
Journalist Hank Rosenfeld spent seven years with Brecher, sharing pastrami sandwiches and recording all his stories. Brecher’s career began in the 1930s and went from vaudeville to radio, film, TV and even the Internet.
He died in November 2008, two months to the day before his 95th birthday and the publication date of his book.
That book sounds pretty great, too!