The History of Stand-Up: From Mark Twain to Dave Chappelle

If you’re looking for an approachable, compact history of stand-up comedy, Wayne Federman’s The History of Stand-Up is it. In addition to being an active stand-up comedian, writer, and actor, Federman is an adjunct lecturer at the University of Southern California where he teaches courses in the School of Dramatic Arts. His History of Stand-Up cobbles together material gathered during his career as a stand-up and comedy writer, his History of Stand-Up podcast (with Andrew Steven), and several articles written for Vulture. Along the way it introduces readers to the form’s genesis in the lecture circuits of the mid-nineteenth century while addressing a series of major transformations as the form responded to changes in culture and technology including radio, television, and social media.After a brief introduction, the book unfolds in ten chapters, each addressing what Federman calls an “inflection point” in stand-up’s history. The first chapter considers the lecture circuit of proto-stand-up and the early years of comedy theater and variety shows through four “forefather” figures: Artemis Ward (née Charles Browne), Bert Williams, Mark Twain, and Will Rogers. In chapter 2, Federman outlines the contours of vaudeville and burlesque and shows how these venues provided a space for stand-up monologuists and “doubles” to hone their craft and their acts. Federman’s third chapter addresses the rise of radio as both a technological revolution (microphones became much more common and accessible) and a ready platform for comedy programming (as networks relied on comics like Eddie Cantor and Fred Allen to provide content on a budget). The fourth chapter returns to the stage for the nightclub era of the mid-twentieth century. Here, Federman describes the segregated circuits of clubs and resorts, such as the “borscht belt” of the Catskills and swank hotels for white audiences and the “chitlin’ circuit” for Black comics like Moms Mabley and Nipsey Russell. He also details the increased reliance on house emcees who used crowd work to keep the audience laughing—and drinking.Around the midpoint of the book, chapter 5 covers both the rise of television and what Federman calls the “new wave” of stand-up comedians like Mort Sahl and Dick Gregory—and the comedy LPs that this new wave produced. Chapter 6 takes up perhaps the most influential stand-up comedians in American culture, Richard Pryor and George Carlin, as Federman details the form’s move into coffee houses and clubs in the sixties as well as how late-night television, especially The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, became a hub for stand-up performers. In chapter 7, Federman briefly addresses the evolution of stand-up during the seventies as venues like HBO, Saturday Night Live, and films like Pryor’s Live in Concert reimagined what stand-up media might look like for comics from the wild and crazy Steve Martin to the countercultural icon Carlin.The book really gains momentum in the final three chapters, which constitute more than one-third of the relatively short volume. In chapter 8, Federman takes on the comedy boom of the 1980s, the same time when he was finding his own footing as a club comedian. Weaving together stories about comics like Eddie Murphy and Sam Kinison, this chapter describes the explosive growth of the live stand-up comedy industry through the comedy clubs like Catch a Rising Star and stand-up shows like A&E’s An Evening at the Improv. The ninth chapter takes up alternative comics like Janeane Garofalo, the late-night wars to replace Johnny Carson, Jim Carrey’s meteoric rise from performing at open mics in Toronto comedy clubs to being the highest paid actor in Hollywood, and the astounding number of sitcoms based around stand-up comedians. The final chapter turns to the impact of digital technologies on stand-up. It opens with a story about MySpace—remember MySpace?—and about how Dane Cook—remember Dane Cook?—moved from clubs to arena tours on the back of his friends list before reflecting on the wide appeal of Twitter for stand-ups and comedy writers, the success of Netflix in luring serious players like Chris Rock and Dave Chappelle, the centrality of podcasting for contemporary comedians, and, briefly, the impact of COVID-19 on the stand-up industry. These last three chapters feature snippets of comedians’ careers, notes about technological changes and industry innovations, and interesting connections with the previous chapters—for instance, the fact that Bo Burnham experienced a Bob Newhart-esque rise to fame without performing in clubs.The History of Stand-Up is really at its best in the final three chapters. Federman’s ability to draw throughlines from the earlier chapters and innovations through the contemporary moment is noteworthy. So too is his capacity to weave together the stories of technologies like the microphone and LP with theatrical venues and ever-evolving media without losing sight of the comedians who stand up and make people laugh. His account of marquee players like Will Rodgers, Lenny Bruce, and Richard Pryor is particularly well done. At the same time he draws in more obscure comics that are nevertheless worthy of attention—folks like Bert Williams, Jonathan Winters (a personal favorite of mine), and Rodney Dangerfield. Overall, The History of Stand-Up is a quick read and offers a thorough account that is quite accessible for readers new to stand-up comedy. It even includes a timeline of stand-up history at the end of the book that readers might find useful.However, the book isn’t particularly rigorous in its history—the one-page bibliography comes in at around twenty-five entries, and there are precious few footnotes or citations to help readers verify Federman’s claims. Nevertheless, Federman’s retelling of the stand-up story is pretty much on point. In this way, it is an effective companion resource to more detailed histories like Kliph Nesteroff’s The Comedians: Drunks, Thieves, Scoundrels, and the History of American Comedy (2015). What is more, the rosy picture Federman paints of the history of stand-up comedy may give some readers pause. Bill Cosby, for instance, gets quite a bit of attention over the course of the book, but his prison time for sexual assault doesn’t make its way onto the page. Neither does Louis C. K.’s public confession to sexual assault. Both comics are lauded for their contribution to the form—Cosby’s storytelling and sit-com stardom and C. K.’s internet savvy—but their personal and professional misconduct are left out of Federman’s historiography. The same goes for his accounts of some other comedians. Perhaps these concerns fall outside of the boundaries of the project as Federman imagines it, but their absence leaves questions to ask and answer about the industry, its culture, and how we remember the people who built it.In sum, while The History of Stand-Up wouldn’t hold up as a textbook for any particular course or as required reading for an in-depth study of a stand-up topic, it would be a great supplementary reading to provide context for courses and research projects on American humor in general and stand-up comedy in particular.

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