The Los Angeles Times reviews “I’m Dying Up Here:Heartbreak and High Times in Stand-Up Comedy’s Golden Era,” a book by Knoedelseder which details the early days of the migration west (from NY to LA) by a gang of young, eager comedians that ignited the boom.

For all his attention to the industry of comedy clubs, Knoedelseder frequently loses sight of the comedic art, all the stuff that makes it worthwhile and still draws Leno to the road. In the early 1990s, even Pryor turned up at the Comedy Store to perform from his wheelchair, cracking angry jokes about his multiple sclerosis.

And after nine years leading what became one of the top-rated comedies in television history, Jerry Seinfeld was back on tour, happily alone behind the microphone again, and hungry for the naked thrill that only stand-up provides.

“To actually do your creative thing right in front of an audience and have them judge it right there,” he explained wistfully to Time magazine in 2007, “that’s exciting.”

We received a couple books here at SHECKYmagazine HQ– The Ultimate Green Room by Barbara Corry and The Legacy of the Wisecrack by Eddie Tafoya.

The Tafoya book’s premise is that even though standup comedy has, since the days of vaudeville, become an entertainment industry mainstay, it “has received precious little scholarly attention.” The author “looks at the theory of stand-up comedy, its literary dimensions, and its distinctly American qualities as it provides a detailed history of the forces that shaped it.”

We enjoyed (and have heartily recommended) a similar book, Haunted Smile by Lawrence J. Epstein, which looked at the history of standup comedy through the the story of Jewish comedians in America.

Tafoya’s book is a bit more scholarly, comparing standup to literature. With such chapter titles as “Richard Pryor: American Dante” and “Steven Wright and the Post-Modern Picaresque,” the result, says the cover, “is one of the first serious treatments of stand-up comedy as a literary form.” Read it if you want to feel better about your chosen profession. (Or pick it up if you’re just starting out and you want a response to relatives who view your avocation as a waste of time!)

Corry’s book is quote-heavy– lots of nuggets of wisdom from dozens of comedians on the craft of standup. The book is broken up into four main sections. After an introductory section or two (“The Role of Natural Talent in Becoming a Stand-Up Comic” and “The Role of Family and Environment in Becoming a Stand-Up Comic”), attention is paid to the “phases”– the Amateur Phase, The Opening Act Phase, The Middle Act Phase, and Headlining.

The phases are a convenient way to organize the mountains of information (Get a standup comic talking about his craft and it’s tough to get him to stop!) and they are no doubt helpful for a beginner to envision his climb “up the ladder.”

It’s packed with minutiae– Good crowds, bad crowds, learning to emcee, what makes a good middle, dealing with club owners, why comics drop out, booze and alcohol, etc.