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Comedy legends get their due, in print and on screen

Writer: Steve LaBate
News, Published online on 24 Mar 2008

After Lenny Bruce’s daring experimentation and free-speech advocacy changed the very notion of what a comedian could be—standup wizards like Richard Pryor and George Carlin picked up the comedic baton and carried it to astounding heights in the 1970s with their brazen, witty, insightful and, of course, hilarious social commentary.

Pryor’s fearless confessional style and heartfelt monologues shattered walls and fostered important discussion of race and racism, using comedy as a tool to engage taboo subjects in American culture. And Carlin’s bitingly sarcastic, anti-authoritarian diatribes tore gaping holes in the façades of polite society and its nonsensical rules, eventually finding an audience at the U.S. Supreme Court.

Exploring the profound (yet often overlooked) cultural impact of these pioneers and countless others from the comedic ranks, Time senior editor Richard Zoglin recently published Comedy at the Edge: How Stand-Up in the 1970s Changed America (Bloomsbury). Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker R.J. Cutler (The War Room) has wasted no time in acquiring the rights to this new book.

“[Zoglin’s] combination of anecdotal storytelling and reporting and interviews with all of the subjects... just brings the whole era to life,” Cutler told Variety.

Currently, the film is still in early planning stages. Like the book, it will likely cover comedians from Bruce to Jerry Seinfeld.

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Comedy legends get their due, in print and on screen

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