Download or read book I Shouldn t Even Be Doing This written by Bob Newhart and published by Hachette Books. This book was released on 2006-09-19 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first book ever from an icon of American comedy -- a hilarious combination of stories from his career and observations about life That stammer. Those basset-hound eyes. That bone-dry wit. There has never been another comedian like Bob Newhart. His comedy albums, movies, and two hit television series have made him a national treasure and placed him firmly in the pantheon of comedy legends. Who else has a drinking game named after him And now, at last, Newhart puts his brilliant and hysterical world view on paper. Never a punch-line comic, always more of a storyteller, he tells anecdotes from throughout his life and career, including his beginnings as an accountant and the groundbreaking success of his comedy albums and The Bob Newhart Show and Newhart, which gave him fifteen years on primetime television. And he also gives his wry, comedic twist to a multitude of topics, including golf, drinking, and family holidays. Today, Newhart appears on Desperate Housewives, in hit movies such as Elf, and in theaters around the country. Reruns of his shows air constantly on Nick at Nite -- have recently been released with great success for the first time ever on DVD. With this book, Bob Newhart gives his millions of fans a first ever opportunity to sample his unique brand of humor -- including excerpts from some of his classic routines -- on the printed page.
Download or read book Summary of Bob Newhart s I Shouldn t Even Be Doing This written by Everest Media, and published by Everest Media LLC. This book was released on 2022-05-15T22:59:00Z with total page 30 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 I loved watching comedians on television, and I would ask myself why certain jokes got a laugh. I learned that the audience would accept the premise if I convinced them to do so, and then everything I said would be logical. #2 King Kong is a routine that came to me full-born. It happened when I was living in New York doing the television show The Entertainers with Carol Burnett. I was talking about jobs that I had before I became a stand-up, and I made a connection between these two seemingly opposite thoughts. #3 I have a dark side when it comes to jokes. I love to make people uncomfortable with my macabre sense of humor. I’m constantly thinking of new jokes, and I’ll tell them if I think they’re funny. #4 Comedians are often very close to one another, and can only discuss certain things with other comedians because they have never done stand-up. If you have never done stand-up, you don’t know what it’s like.
Download or read book What s So Funny written by Tim Conway and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2013-10-29 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Six-time Emmy Award-winning funny man Tim Conway—best known for his roles on The Carol Burnett Show—offers a straight-shooting and hilarious memoir about his life on stage and off as an actor and comedian. In television history, few entertainers have captured as many hearts and made as many people laugh as Tim Conway. What’s So Funny? follows Tim’s journey from life as an only child raised by loving but outrageous parents, to his tour of duty in the army, to his ascent as a national star. Conway’s often-improvised humor, razor-sharp timing, and hilarious characters have made him one of the funniest and most authentic performers to grace the stage and studio. As Carol Burnett, who also provides an intimate foreword to the book, has said, “there’s no one funnier” than Tim Conway. What’s So Funny? shares hilarious accounts and never-before-shared stories of behind-the-scenes antics on McHale’s Navy and The Carol Burnett Show as well as his famous partnerships with entertainment greats like Harvey Korman, Don Knotts, and Dick Van Dyke; and his friendships with stars like Betty White and Bob Newhart. Filled with warmth, humor, and heart, What’s So Funny will delight and inspire fans everywhere.
Download or read book Here s the Deal written by Howie Mandel and published by Bantam. This book was released on 2010-09-28 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NATIONAL BESTSELLER An engaging no-holds-barred memoir that reveals Howie Mandel’s ongoing struggle with OCD and ADHD—and how it has shaped his life Howie Mandel is one of the most recognizable names in entertainment. But there are aspects of his personal and professional life he’s never talked about publicly—until now. Twelve years ago, Mandel first told the world about his “germophobia.” He’s recently started discussing his adult ADHD as well. Now, for the first time, he reveals the details of his struggle with these challenging disorders. He speaks candidly about the ways his condition has affected his personal life—as a son, husband, and father of three. Along the way, the versatile performer reveals “the deal” behind his remarkable rise through the show-business ranks, sharing never-before-told anecdotes about his career. As heartfelt as it is hilarious, Here’s the Deal: Don’t Touch Me is the story of one man’s effort to draw comic inspiration out of his darkest, most vulnerable places.
Download or read book Don t Look Back written by Marcia Wallace and published by . This book was released on 2004 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Don't Look Back, We're Not Going That Way! is a book for anyone who has felt unloved and unattractive, been broke, experienced failure, been fat and thin and fat again, had a fire, had cancer and/or a nervous breakdown, or been widowed. This is also a book for anyone who has found love in midlife, experienced success, adopted a child, had a spiritual awakening, flourished from the love of family and friends, or started all over again after losing a spouse. It is told by a woman who can still "count her lucky chickens," a woman who makes you laugh out loud, and a woman you feel like you've known your entire life.
Download or read book Life Stories written by Maureen O'Connor and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2011-08-23 with total page 768 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Memoirs, autobiographies, and diaries represent the most personal and most intimate of genres, as well as one of the most abundant and popular. Gain new understanding and better serve your readers with this detailed genre guide to nearly 700 titles that also includes notes on more than 2,800 read-alike and other related titles. The popularity of this body of literature has grown in recent years, and it has also diversified in terms of the types of stories being told—and persons telling them. In the past, readers' advisors have depended on access by names or Dewey classifications and subjects to help readers find autobiographies they will enjoy. This guide offers an alternative, organizing the literature according to popular genres, subgenres, and themes that reflect common reading interests. Describing titles that range from travel and adventure classics and celebrity autobiographies to foodie memoirs and environmental reads, Life Stories: A Guide to Reading Interests in Memoirs, Autobiographies, and Diaries presents a unique overview of the genre that specifically addresses the needs of readers' advisors and others who work with readers in finding books.
Download or read book 700 Sundays written by Billy Crystal and published by Grand Central Publishing. This book was released on 2006-10-24 with total page 92 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: To support his family, Billy Crystal's father, Jack, worked two jobs, having only one day a week to spend with his family. Based on Crystal's one-man Broadway show of the same name, "700 Sundays"--referring sadly to the time shared by an adoring father and his devoted son--offers a heartfelt, hilarious memoir.
Download or read book Dangerously Funny written by David Bianculli and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2009-12-01 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An unprecedented behind-the-scenes look at the rise and fall of The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour -- the provocative, politically charged program that shocked the censors, outraged the White House, and forever changed the face of television. Decades before The Daily Show, The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour proved there was a place on television for no-holds-barred political comedy with a decidedly antiauthoritarian point of view. In this first-ever all-access history of the show, veteran entertainment journalist David Bianculli tells the fascinating story of its three-year network run -- and the cultural impact that's still being felt today. Before it was suddenly removed from the CBS lineup (reportedly under pressure from the Nixon administration), The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour was a ratings powerhouse. It helped launch the careers of comedy legends such as Steve Martin and Rob Reiner, featured groundbreaking musical acts like the Beatles and the Who, and served as a cultural touchstone for the antiwar movement of the late 1960s. Drawing on extensive original interviews with Tom and Dick Smothers and dozens of other key players -- as well as more than a decade's worth of original research -- Dangerously Funny brings readers behind the scenes for all the battles over censorship, mind-blowing musical performances, and unforgettable sketches that defined the show and its era. David Bianculli delves deep into this never-told story, to find out what really happened and to reveal why this show remains so significant to this day.
Download or read book Make em Laugh written by Zeke Jarvis and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2015-04-07 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This lighthearted and eye-opening book explores the role of comedy in cultural and political critiques of American society from the past century. This unprecedented look at the history of satire in America showcases the means by which our society is informed by humor—from the way we examine the news, to how we communicate with each other, to what we seek out for entertainment. From biographical information to critical reception of material and personalities, the book features humorists from both literary and popular culture settings spanning the past 100 years. Through its 180 entries, this comprehensive volume covers a range of artists—individuals such as Joan Rivers, Hunter S. Thompson, and Chris Rock—and topics, including vaudeville, cartoons, and live performances. The content is organized by media and genre to showcase connections between writers and performers. Chapters include an alphabetical listing of humorists grouped by television and film stars, stand-up and performance comics, literary humorists, and humorists in popular print.
Download or read book Make Room for Daddy written by Judith Walzer Leavitt and published by Univ of North Carolina Press. This book was released on 2009-06-21 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Using fathers' first-hand accounts from letters, journals, and personal interviews along with hospital records and medical literature, Judith Walzer Leavitt offers a new perspective on the changing role of expectant fathers from the 1940s to the 1980s. She shows how, as men moved first from the hospital waiting room to the labor room in the 1960s, and then on to the delivery and birthing rooms in the 1970s and 1980s, they became progressively more involved in the birth experience and their influence over events expanded. With careful attention to power and privilege, Leavitt charts not only the increasing involvement of fathers, but also medical inequalities, the impact of race and class, and the evolution of hospital policies. Illustrated with more than seventy images from TV, films, and magazines, this book provides important new insights into childbirth in modern America, even as it reminds readers of their own experiences.
Download or read book Rickles Book written by Don Rickles and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2008-06-03 with total page 259 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An internationally popular comedian describes his youth as a disadvantaged Jewish boy from Queens, the obstacles he overcame in order to achieve success, and his four-decade stage and screen career. Reprint. 50,000 first printing.
Download or read book Crush written by Phoef Sutton and published by Prospect Park Books. This book was released on 2015-06-22 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Caleb Rush, a. k. a. Crush, is the toughest, coolest bodyguard/bouncer in Los Angeles, a man who lives strictly by his own moral code, which doesn't exactly hew to the standards of US law. When Amelia Trask, the wild daughter of a scruples-free billionaire tycoon, comes to Crush for help, his quiet life roars into overdrive, and he has to use his wits, brawn, martial-arts training, and knowledge of the Russian mafia to stay alive and clean up the mess that young Amelia has created. Crush is a rollicking, page-turning ride through LA, full of action, suspense, memorable characters, and a sly wit. Phoef Sutton is television writer, novelist, and playwright whose work has won two Emmys, a Peabody, a Writers Guild Award, a GLAAD Award, and a Television Academy Honors Award. He was an executive producer of Cheers, a writer/producer for such shows as Boston Legal and NewsRadio, a writer for Terriers, and the creator of several TV shows, including the cult hit Thanks. Coming in 2015 is a new series of mystery novels that Sutton is co-authoring with Janet Evanovich; the first is called Goldbug.
Download or read book And Give Up Showbiz written by Josh Young and published by BenBella Books, Inc.. This book was released on 2014-09-16 with total page 332 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the early '90s, Big Tobacco was making a killing. There was no entity more powerful, and national tobacco-related deaths numbered in the hundreds of thousands each year. The economic loss from smoking-related illnesses was billions of dollars. And yet, Big Tobacco had never paid a nickel in court. Until one Southern, small-town lawyer figured out how Florida could sue Big Tobacco to reimburse the state for health care costs. The end result? Beyond the $13 billion settlement, hundreds of thousands of American lives have been, and will continue to be, saved. Meet Fred Levin. Called by his own son “a philanthropist and a cockroach," Fred Levin is no ordinary attorney, and his remarkable story is far from squeaky clean. In And Give Up Showbiz?, New York Times bestselling author Josh Young works closely with Levin to give readers a glimpse into the extraordinary and entertaining life of the top trial lawyer who was a pioneer in establishing American personal injury law. Seen as an inspiring innovator by some and a flamboyant self-promoter by others, Levin has not only fought against Big Tobacco, he has won victories for women, African Americans, and workers everywhere. Levin's unprecedented legal career is just one aspect of his roller-coaster life story. From managing one of the world's greatest boxers to avoiding multiple disbarment attempts, and from becoming a chief in the country of Ghana to even being a person of interest in two separate murder investigations, his story reads like a novel suitable for the silver screen. And Give Up Showbiz? is both shockingly candid and wildly funny.
Download or read book Epic Survival written by Matt Graham and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2015-07-14 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Matt Graham, star of the Discovery Channel’s Dual Survival and Dude, You’re Screwed, details the physical, mental, and emotional joys and harrowing struggles of his life as a modern-day hunter-gatherer. Early on in his life, Matt craved a return to nature. When he became an adult, he set aside his comfortable urban life and lived entirely off the land to learn from the smallest and grandest of all things. In this riveting narrative that brings together epic adventure and spiritual quest, he shows us what extraordinary things the human body is capable of when pushed to its limits. In Epic Survival, written with Josh Young, coauthor of five New York Times bestsellers, Matt relays captivating stories from his life to show just how terrifying—and gratifying—living off the grid can be. He learns the secrets of the Tarahumara Indians that helped him run the 1,600-mile Pacific Crest Trail in just fifty-eight days and endure temperature swings of 100 degrees. He takes us with him as he treks into the wilderness to live alone for half a year, armed with nothing but a loincloth, a pair of sandals, a stone knife, and chia seeds. He recounts near-death experiences of hiking alone through the snowdrifts at the bottom of the Grand Canyon, and tells us about the time he entered a three-day Arabian horse race on foot—and finished third. Above all, Epic Survival is a book about growing closer to the land that nurtures us. No matter how far our modern society takes us from the wilderness, the call remains. Whether you’re an armchair survivalist or have taken the plunge yourself, Matt’s story is both inspiration and invigoration, teaching even the most urbane among us important and breathtaking lessons.
Download or read book Diary of a Stage Mother s Daughter written by Melissa Francis and published by Hachette Books. This book was released on 2012-11-06 with total page 314 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Glass Castle meets The Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother in this dazzlingly honest and provocative family memoir by former child actress and current Fox Business Network anchor Melissa Francis. When Melissa Francis was eight years old, she won the role of lifetime: playing Cassandra Cooper Ingalls, the little girl who was adopted with her brother (played by young Jason Bateman) by the Ingalls family on the world's most famous primetime soap opera, Little House on the Prairie. Despite her age, she was already a veteran actress, living a charmed life, moving from one Hollywood set to the next. But behind the scenes, her success was fueled by the pride, pressure, and sometimes grinding cruelty of her stage mother, as fame and a mother's ambition pushed her older sister deeper into the shadows. Diary of a Stage Mother's Daughter is a fascinating account of life as a child star in the 1980's, and also a startling tale of a family under the care of a highly neurotic, dangerously competitive "tiger mother." But perhaps most importantly, now that Melissa has two sons of her own, it's a meditation on motherhood, and the value of pushing your children: how hard should you push a child to succeed, and at what point does your help turn into harm?
Download or read book A Disturbance in the Force written by Steve Kozak and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2023-11-15 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Bea Arthur as the owner of the Mos Eisley Cantina. Long scenes entirely of Wookies bleating at each other, without subtitles. Harvey Korman, in drag, as a four-armed Space Julia Child. Six minutes of Jefferson Starship performing for Art Carney and a bored Imperial Guard. Mark Hamill, fresh from his near-fatal motorcycle accident, slathered in pancake makeup. A salacious holographic burlesque from Diahann Carroll. Even by the standards of the 1970s, even compared to Jar-Jar Binks, the legendary 1978 Star Wars Holiday Special is a peerlessly cringeworthy pop-culture artifact. George Lucas, who completely disowned the production, reportedly has said, “If I had the time and a sledgehammer, I would track down every copy of that show and smash it.” Just how on earth did this thing ever see the light of day? To answer that question, as Steven Kozak shows in this fascinating and often hilarious inside look into the making of the Special, you have to understand the cultural moment in which it appeared—a long, long time ago when cheesy variety shows were a staple of network television and Star Wars was not yet the billion-dollar multimedia behemoth that it is today. Kozak explains how the Special was one piece of a PR blitz undertaken by Lucas and his colleagues as they sought to protect the emerging franchise from hostile studio executives. He shows how, despite the involvement of some of the most talented people in the business, creative differences between movie and television writers led to a wildly uneven product. He gives entertaining accounts of the problems that plagued production, which included a ruinously expensive cantina set; the acrimonious departure of the director and Lucas himself; and a furious Grace Slick, just out of rehab, demanding to be included in the production. Packed with memorable anecdotes, drawing on extensive new interviews with countless people involved in the production, and told with mingled affection and bewilderment, this never-before-told story gives a fascinating look at a strange moment in pop-culture history that remains an object of fascination even today.
Download or read book Keep Moving written by Dick Van Dyke and published by Hachette Books. This book was released on 2015-10-13 with total page 132 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Show-business legend Dick Van Dyke is living proof that life does get better the longer you live it. Who better to offer instruction, advice, and humor than someone who's entering his ninth decade with a jaunty two-step? Van Dyke isn't just a born song-and-dance man; his irrepressible belief in embracing the moment and unleashing his inner child has proved to be the ultimate elixir of youth. When he was injured during the filming of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, his doctor warned him he'd be using a walker within seven years, but Dick performed a soft shoe right there and never looked back. In Keep Moving, Dick Van Dyke offers his own playful anecdotes and advice, as well as insights from his brother, actor Jerry Van Dyke; his friend and creator of The Dick Van Dyke Show, Carl Reiner; and other spirited friends and family. Whether he's describing the pleasure he takes in his habitual visits to the grocery store; how he met his late-in-life-love Arlene; or how he sprung back, livelier than ever, from a near-death experience, Dick's optimistic outlook is an invigorating tonic for anyone who needs a reminder that life should be lived with enthusiasm despite what the calendar says. "You don't have to act your age. You don't even have to feel it. And if it does attempt to elbow its way into your life, you do not have to pay attention. If I am out shopping and hear music playing in a store, I start to dance. If I want to sing, I sing. I read books and get excited about new ideas. I enjoy myself. I don't think about the way I am supposed to act at my age - or at any age. As far as I know, there is no manual for old age. There is no test you have to pass. There is no way you have to behave. There is no such thing as 'age appropriate.' When people ask my secret to staying youthful at an age when getting up and down from your chair on your own is considered an accomplishment, you know what I tell them? 'Keep moving.'" - Dick Van Dyke
