About the Book:

The Last Laugh: The World of Stand-Up Comics is the first and only book to take you deep into the bizarre universe of the stand-up comic, from the classic years of Milton Berle, Sid Caesar, and Shecky Greene to modern comedy superstars.

In this pioneering history Phil Berger offers a genuine and immediate view of the hardships, pressures, and fleeting glories that comics encounter nightly. Performers profiled include Woody Allen, Sandra Bernhard, Lenny Bruce, George Carlin, Bill Cosby, Billy Crystal, Phyllis Diller, Dick Gregory, Andy Kaufman, Jay Leno, Richard Lewis, Steve Martin, Eddie Murphy, Richard Pryor, Rita Rudner, Lily Tomlin, Robin Williams, and many others. This substantially updated edition is filled with comics' hilarious routines and anecdotes.

What people say:

"Hilarious yet harrowing… the breakthrough book on the subject." — Publishers Weekly

"Phil Berger is best known as a New York sportswriter... but his best work might be The Last Laugh." — Minneapolis Star Tribune

"Utterly authentic, a fascinating account of what life is like in an important area of American humor." — Steve Allen, television personality best known as the first host of The Tonight Show

About the Author:

Phil Berger (1943 – 2001) was an award-winning writer, screenwriter, and author of more than a dozen books on sports and entertainment. Born in Brooklyn and raised in Stamford, Connecticut, he graduated from Johns Hopkins in 1964 and received a master's degree in creative writing from Hollins College in 1965. A writer covering sports and entertainment for the New York Times from 1985 to 1992, he also wrote for Esquire, Playboy, Sport and the Village Voice. He was also the screenwriter of a feature film about boxing, Price of Glory, which starred Jimmy Smits.