The Funniest One in the Room: The Lives and Legends of Del CloseChicago Review Press, 2008 M04 1 - 416 páginas Nichols and May. John Belushi. Bill Murray. Chris Farley. Tina Fey. Mike Myers. Stephen Colbert. For nearly a half century, Del Close—cocreator of the Harold, director for the Second City, San Francisco's the Committee, and the ImprovOlympic, and “house metaphysician” for Saturday Night Live—influenced improvisational theater's greatest comedic talents. His students went on to found the Groundlings in Los Angeles, the Upright Citizens Brigade in both New York and Los Angeles, and the Annoyance Theatre in Chicago. But this Pied Piper of improv has gone largely unrecognized outside the close-knit comedy community. Del was never one to let the truth of his life stand in the way of a good story—and yet the truth is even more fascinating than the fiction. In his early years, he traveled the country with Dr. Dracula's Den of Living Nightmares, knew L. Ron Hubbard before Scientology, and appeared in The Blob. Del cavorted with the Merry Pranksters, used aversion therapy to recover from alcoholism, and kicked a cocaine habit with the help of a coven of witches. And when he was dying, Del bequeathed his postmortem skull to the Goodman Theatre for use in its productions of Hamlet—a final legend that lives on, long beyond the death of the father of long-form improvisation. |
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... play games like hide-and-seek with the neighborhood children, and was particularly good at hiding. But his favorite game was army. It was more fun to shoot him than anyone else, and Del always wanted to be the one who got shot. Young ...
... play in the basement of his house, while another unnamed friend put on another play in competition. During the other boy's play, Del heckled him mercilessly, ruining the other play. The Close family was comfortably middle class, and did ...
... playing card manipulation. He was much more interested in shocking illusions like cutting off heads or sawing a woman in half. The neighborhood children considered Mildred Close nervous and fidgety. When they arrived at Del's house to play ...
... play that led him intellectually forward. While still in junior high school, he began attending plays at the high school, and displaying the programs on the wall of his bedroom. Del had also developed an interest in music. He carried a ...
... played in the city band, as it was commonly called—but they only became close through their mutual love of science ... playing in the band, he and two other musicians went downtown to a local movie theater after a concert. The other two ...
Contenido
17 The ImprovOlympic | |
18 Roaches in the Dental Floss | |
19 The Return of the Harold the Barons Barracudas and Charna | |
20 The Brain of the Galaxy | |
21 Chris Farley The Blob and Farewell to Second City | |
22 Workshops Reunions and the Family | |
23 Close Youve Gone Sane | |
24 The Party | |
8 The Merry Pranksters and My Mother the Car | |
With the Committee in San Francisco | |
10 The Birth of Harold Spidering and a Pornographic Western | |
11 Pretty Much a Blur | |
Belushi and the Bean Can | |
13 Valium Vitriol and Ancient Egyptian Opium | |
14 The Clockwork Orange Treatment | |
15 Junkies Give the Best Shots | |
16 Saturday Night Live Tennessee Williams and the Cleanup | |
25 Curtain Call | |
Bibliography | |
Notes | |
Interviews | |
Acknowledgments | |
Works of Del Close | |
Index | |
Otras ediciones - Ver todas
The Funniest One in the Room: The Lives and Legends of Del Close Kim Johnson Sin vista previa disponible - 2008 |