Showing results by author "Richard Zoglin" in All Categories

What Peter Biskind did for filmmaking, Richard Zoglin does for comedy in this meticulously researched and eminently readable account of stand-up comedy in the 1970s, when a small group of brilliant, iconoclastic comedians ruled the world and quite possibly changed it, too.

The "smart and zippy account" (The Wall Street Journal) of how Las Vegas saved Elvis and Elvis saved Las Vegas in the greatest musical comeback of all time. At once "a fascinating history of Vegas as gambling capital, celebrity playground, mob hangout, [and] entertainment Valhalla” (Rolling Stone) and the incredible "tale of how the King got his groove back" (Associated Press), Elvis in Vegas is a classic feel-good story for the ages.

Born in 1903, and until his death in 2003, Bob Hope was the only entertainer to achieve top-rated success in every major mass-entertainment medium, from vaudeville to television and everything in between. He virtually invented modern stand-up comedy. His tours to entertain US troops and patriotic radio broadcasts, along with his all-American, brash-but-cowardly movie character, helped to ease the nation's jitters during the stressful days of World War II.