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I'm Dying Up Here: Heartbreak and High Times in Stand-Up Comedy's Golden Era by William Knoedelseder (41 page)

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See also specific individuals

Sugar Shack club, 27

Van Dyke, Jerry/club, 213, 215–216,

Sullivan, Ed, 10

218–219, 237–238

Sunset Boulevard
(movie), 266

Variety
, 163, 192

Super, Glenn, 266

Velardi, Valerie, 73–74, 145

Sweetzer, Susan, 78, 204, 239, 254, 255

Vernon, Jackie, 22, 33

Swerdloff, Eli, 160

Village Gate, 14

Vincent, Hilda, 78

Taxi
(TV show), 104, 127

Teamsters, 160, 180, 189, 212, 226

Wag the Dog
(movie), 34

Tennis, Craig, 29, 41–42, 43–44, 65–66,

Waits, Tom, 73

69, 90

Walker, Jimmy

Texaco Star Theater
(TV show), 9

Comedy Store, 23, 39, 40, 51, 52, 62,

That Nigger’s Crazy
(Pryor), 20, 87

86, 111

Thaxton, Lloyd, 56, 57

Ebony Genius Management, 55, 74

Theodore’s coffeehouse, 52, 72, 75

Good Times
(TV show), 39, 44

Thomerson, Tim, 60, 85–86, 140,

Improv, 12

147–151

labor dispute, 161, 162

Throw Me a Line
(TV show), 56–57

Walters, Mitch, 73, 197, 240

Tim and Tom

Wanted: Richard Pryor Live in Concert

break up, 45–46

(Pryor), 87

Improv, 28

Warfield, Marsha

See also
Dreesen, Tom; Reid, Tim

after strike, 256

Time
magazine, 105, 130

Chicago, 75

Tiny Tim, 115–116

Comedy Store, 60, 75, 77, 86, 87, 113,

Today Show, The
, 144–145

136, 137, 140

Tomlin, Lily, 101

labor dispute, 158, 159, 186

Tonight Show, The

money problems, 119–120

importance to comedians, 12, 22, 24,

Pryor and, 87, 91

31–32

Washington Post
, 144

launching/making careers, 23, 26, 29

Wayne, Carol, 78

Letterman/Leno and, 2–4, 258

Weinberger, Ed., 103

move/effects, 31–32, 34–35, 38–44

Weinstock, Lotus, 77, 112–113,

See also
Carson, Johnny;
specific
136–137

individuals

Weis, Gary, 141, 142

Town Hall, New York, 103

Weiss, Chuck E., 73

Tramer, Bennett, 141, 142, 144

Weld, Tuesday, 24

Turn of the Century club, 57–58

Wilcox, Larry, 202

Turner, Lana, 34

Wild and Crazy Guy, A
(Martin), 102

20 Grand, Detroit, 27

Wilder, Gene, 101

1586483173 text_rev.qxd:Layout 1 5/19/09 1:55 PM Page 280

280

Index

William Morris Agency, 63, 69–70

Wilson, Flip, 33

Williams, Andy, 35–36

Winger, Debra, 52, 93–94

Williams, Robin

Winters, Jonathan, 10, 88

after strike, 257

Witherspoon, Johnny, 3, 51, 52, 60, 86,

background, 91

91, 119

Boosler and, 73–74

WKRP in Cincinnati
(TV show), 46

borrowing material, 131–133

Wolff, Bud, 227–228

Canter’s, 76

Women comedians

Comedy Store/Shore, 59–60, 76, 91,

Belly Room, 112–113, 114, 115,

111, 118, 266, 267

135–137, 182–183, 200, 218, 229,

drugs, 129, 130, 259, 266

232, 237, 250

Improv fire and, 179

Carson and, 78–79, 90

income/success, 119, 130–131,

overview, 71–79

132–133

Shore and, 72, 77, 79, 112–115, 116,

labor dispute, 120, 122, 161, 162

135–137, 258

Laugh In
(TV show), 91

See also specific individuals

Leno and, 89

Women’s movement (1979), 135

Lewis and, 145–146

Masada and, 264

Ye Olde Treasure Shoppe, 14

Mork, 104–105, 130

Young Comedians
HBO specials, 257

Pryor and, 91

Youngman, Henny, 256

Winters and, 88

Your Show of Shows
(TV show), 9

1586483173 text_rev.qxd:Layout 1 5/19/09 1:55 PM Page 281

William Knoedelseder
has been a jour-

nalist with the
Los Angeles Times
, executive producer of Fox Entertainment

News and of the
Philadelphia Inquirer
’s hour-long nightly television news program “Inquirer News Tonight,” and vice

president of news at USA Broadcasting.

He is the author of
Stiffed: A True Story
of MCA, The Music Business, and the

Mafia
and
In Eddie’s Name: One Family’s Triumph Over Tragedy
. Born in St. Louis, Missouri, he lives near Los Angeles, California.

1586483173 text_rev.qxd:Layout 1 5/19/09 1:55 PM Page 282

PublicAffairs is a publishing house founded in 1997. It is a tribute to the standards, values, and flair of three persons who have served as mentors to countless reporters, writers, editors, and book people of all kinds, including me.

I. F. Stone, proprietor of
I. F. Stone’s Weekly
, combined a commitment to the First Amendment with entrepreneurial zeal and reporting skill and became one of the great independent journal-ists in American history. At the age of eighty, Izzy published
The
Trial of Socrates,
which was a national bestseller. He wrote the book after he taught himself ancient Greek.

Benjamin C. Bradlee was for nearly thirty years the charismatic editorial leader of
The Washington Post.
It was Ben who gave the
Post
the range and courage to pursue such historic issues as Watergate. He supported his reporters with a tenacity that made them fearless and it is no accident that so many became authors of influential, best-selling books.

Robert L. Bernstein, the chief executive of Random House for more than a quarter century, guided one of the nation’s premier publishing houses. Bob was personally responsible for many books of political dissent and argument that challenged tyranny around the globe. He is also the founder and longtime chair of Human Rights Watch, one of the most respected human rights organizations in the world.

• • •

For fifty years, the banner of Public Affairs Press was carried by its owner Morris B. Schnapper, who published Gandhi, Nasser, Toyn-bee, Truman, and about 1,500 other authors. In 1983, Schnapper was described by
The Washington Post
as “a redoubtable gadfly.”

His legacy will endure in the books to come.

Peter Osnos,
Founder and Editor-at-Large

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