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Beyond a Joke: Inside the Dark Minds of Stand-up Comedians
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Beyond a Joke: Inside the Dark Minds of Stand-up Comedians Paperback - 2012

by Dessau, Bruce

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Random House Uk Ltd, 2012. Paperback. New. reprint edition. 285 pages. 8.00x5.25x0.75 inches.
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From the publisher

Comedians are not normal. If they were normal they wouldn't want to go onstage and make thousands of strangers laugh every night. Beyond a Joke is the story of lives lived to excess: of alcohol, drugs, sex... and running marathons.
 
Beyond a Joke is a celebration of comedy -- one of the modern world's most dominant and compelling art forms -- but it is also the story of comedy's dark side, homing in on the scandals that have surrounded some of light entertainment's biggest stars, and telling it as it is, featuring insight from one who was there at the time.
 
While Beyond a Joke explores the extremes of this world it also addresses another question. Are comedians naturally dysfunctional, or does the stress and pressure of the job make them dysfunctional? Ruby Wax once told the author that she had builders in her house who were just as emotionally unstable as most stand-up comedians she had worked with. But they don't want to go on stage and plead with an audience to love them.
 
Bruce Dessau is the only person who could write this book. From Russell Brand slashing his chest onstage to Jo Brand trashing a friend's car on the motorway, he has heard it all. Bruce Dessau knows where the bodies are buried.

About the author

Bruce Dessau is a respected comedy journalists who contributes to many publications including the "Guardian," the "Evening Standard," and "Time Out." He is the author of "Rowan Atkinson," has chaired the Edinburgh Comedy Awards panel twice, and has regularly served on the judging committee.