eBook Funnymen ePub

by Ted Heller

Author: Ted Heller
Language: English
ISBN: 0349114994
ISBN13: 978-0349114996
Publisher: Time Warner Books Uk (August 2002)
Pages: 414
Category: Contemporary
Subcategory: Literature
Rating: 4.3
Votes: 811
Formats: rtf mobi docx mbr
ePub file: 1976 kb
Fb2 file: 1670 kb

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In "Funnymen", Ted Heller does the same thing in that he invents a classic straight man, funny man act and then . I liked Heller's first book "Slab Rat" but I -loved- "Funnymen" and would have no problem recommending it to just about anyone.

In "Funnymen", Ted Heller does the same thing in that he invents a classic straight man, funny man act and then invents and entire supporting cast around them to tell their story as if he was the modern interviewer and they were the ones who lived the stories they're telling. I think it's a brilliant de This book reminded me a lot of "World War Z" (stay with me for a moment). In that book, Brooks invents and entire zombie war and then re-tells is, fictionally, as a living history or documentary.

FREE shipping on qualifying offers. Sigmund Ziggy Blissman isn't the best-looking, sanest boy in the world. Far from it. But this misfit child of a failed husband-and-wife vaudeville team has one thing going for him: He can crack people up just by batting his eyelashes. Vittorio Vic Fontana.

SIGMUND ZIGGY BLISSMAN isn't the best-looking, sanest boy in the world

Sigmund "Ziggy" Blissman isn't the best-looking, sanest boy in the world. Vittorio "Vic" Fontana, the son of a fisherman, can barely carry a tune or even stay awake while attempting to, but he, too, has one thing going for him: Women love to look at him.

Все продавцы . Funnymen: A Novel. Funnymen is the wildly inventive story of Fountain and Bliss, the comedy duo that delighted America in the 1940s and '50s. Conceived as a fictional oral biography and filled with more than seventy memorable characters, Funnymen details the extraordinary careers of two men whose professional success is never matched in their personal lives. The two men fight constantly with their managers, their wives, their children, their mistresses, and those responsible for their success: each other.

SIGMUND "ZIGGY" BLISSMAN isn't the best-looking, sanest boy in the world. But on one summer night in the Catskills, they step onstage and together become the funniest men - and the hottest act - in America.

Talk about nuclear fallout! This was radioactive manna from heaven, the way it fell right into our laps

Talk about nuclear fallout! This was radioactive manna from heaven, the way it fell right into our laps Associated Press fotog; the Daily Mirror ran the picture and captioned it Nuclear Nuts. Bud Hatch mentioned an upcoming engagement in Philly at the Earl Theater and said something like Do not miss this atom-splitting, sidesplitting ac. .Variety called the act radioactive ridiculousness.

Funnymen - Ted Heller. ARNIE LATCHKEY : It's sad to say, but the funniest that Harry and Flo Blissman ever were was on the night that they were too dead to perform.

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бесплатно, без регистрации и без смс. SIGMUND "e;ZIGGY"e; BLISSMAN isn't the best-looking, sanest boy in the world. Far, far from it. But this misfit child of a failed husband-and-wife vaudeville team has one (and only one) thing going for him: He can crack people up merely by batting his eyelashes. And Vittorio "e;Vic"e; Fontana, the son of a fisherman, is a fraud.

Far from it. On their own, these two men are failures

by. Heller, Ted. Publication date.

by. Books for People with Print Disabilities. Internet Archive Books. Uploaded by YoshikoM on August 12, 2010.

Kalv

It's been a few years since I first read Funnymen by Ted Heller (it was published in 2002). I read so many books, and my memory is shot anyway, so it was time to give it another go (Heller is also the author of one of my all-time favorite comic novels, Slab Rat.)

The "funnymen" of the novel are the fictional comedy duo of Fountain & Bliss, loosely based on the legendary team of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. The narrative is unique, set up documentary style, as if Heller himself had interviewed all the major and minor characters of the Fountain & Bliss world. All of these characters (and boy are they characters!) tell of the meeting, union, and rise of the loony comedian (Bliss) and the girl-chasing crooner (Fountain), from the Catskills in the 1940s, to Hollywood of the 1960s, and beyond--past their eventual breakup, and into old age. Each character tells his/her version of events in a unique, identifiable voice, which I know (as a writer) is a hard trick to pull off.

The storytelling in Funnymen is engaging, spot-on, satisfying, exhausting, and more importantly--funny. When the laughs come (and there are plenty of them), it's because you as the reader know the characters so intimately, that you get the joke on every level, as if you are laughing at a long-time friend or family member.

So that's two great novels now from Mr. Heller, but the question is: When is the next one? It's been six long years since Funnymen was published. Ted, if you're out there, help me out. I need some more Heller. I'll be a first reader for you if you need one.

Abandoned Electrical

When Ziggy Blissman, a disastrous mix of sexual and social dysfunction, teams ups with Vic Fountain, (Formerly Fontana) who sings because he is trying to find the easiest life possible, entertainment history is made (up).Filled with ridiculous anecdotes from "friends and colleagues" of the great comedy duo, Fountain and Bliss, Ted Heller recreates the time when the nightclubs ruled. Martin and Lewis are the obvious models for Heller's fictional oral history, but his characters and their lives are different enough that it would be hard to separate any truths from this fiction. Heller does a great job of keeping all the characters consistent and each speaks with an individual voice that holds up to the conceit of this oral history quite well. The stories are so well conveyed by his characters; they have the sound of truth to them even when those stories are beyond belief. The end does become more than a little maudlin, but until that point this book is an outrageous farce.

Goltizuru

Couldn't put this one down. Ted Heller is a very good writer, and he made these characters come alive. Just enough Lewis and Martin in there to be Lewis and Martin, but with much more.

Nilabor

best book by Ted Heller yet! I recommend it to anyone interested in the world of comedy and comedians!!! Check it out.

Kigabar

There's a gem of a little-known Elvis Costello song called "Ghost Train" which tells the story of Maureen and Stan, a couple of hapless vaudeville performers who have "songs for every occasion and a little limelight robbery" but with no fans and followers are reduced to "autographing their overdraft" while going out of their minds. That tune played in my head while I read Ted Heller's deft, daft and dexterous juggernaut of showbiz madness. I can barely maintain the story lines of my own actual family and friends; Heller's artful use of multiple character voices to narrate the foibles of star-crossed Fountain and Bliss is the literary equivalent of the performer on Ed Sullivan who spun plates while riding a unicycle, juggling bowling pins and smoking a cigar. With names and voices only a gimlet-eyed insider could conjure, the tale unfolds like the Borscht Belt Decameron. Enter the bygone world of Arnie Latchkey, Lulu Fountain Guy Puglia, Snuffy Dubin, Dominick Mangiapane: sit back, pour yourself a tall glass of Hoffman's Cream Soda -- don't believe everything they tell you -- but be prepared to be entertained.

tref

"They were incorrigible, they were unprofessional, they were spiteful and childish and had not one jot of class," says one character about the funny men of the title. No kidding. The comedy duo of Fountain and Bliss (Vic Fountain and Ziggy Bliss) have people rolling in the aisles from the forties through the fifties -people actually have heart attacks from laughing so hard! They are secretly sent to Los Alamos to give the scientists some yucks before testing the A-bomb! But off-stage they are disgusting and are surrounded by people who are pretty much the same. So why is "Funnymen" so entertaining?
Author Ted Heller uses an oral history format to tell the tale of this famous team, which works. Their career is reported by a variety of pals from the old neighborhood, fellow Catskills comics, thugs, tarts, agents, spouses, and more. Nobody likes these guys, but they all ride on their coattails. And what a ride it is. When Vic Fountain and Ziggy Bliss catch sight of each other for the first time, they recognize fellow travelers. Vic may be a handsome crooner and Ziggy an brillo-haired zany comic, but they immediately see in each other someone missing that spark of empathy that makes a human being. On stage, they perform with an uncanny rapport. Off stage, they barely speak.
Fountain and Bliss are supposedly based on Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis in what some consider to be the golden age of comedy. Heller catches the whole rude, crude crowd, who are often funny in ways they'd never guess. But do not be fooled into thinking that "Funnymen" is just a raunchy snoop backstage in the age of cocktail lounges, Vegas shows, and tinselly Rat Pack glamour. The guys get their comeuppance in ways that are both just and very, very sad.