Richard Zoglin
Author of Hope: Entertainer of the Century
About the Author
Richard Zoglin is a Time magazine contributor and the author of Hope: Entertainer of the Century and Comedy at the Edge: How Stand-Up in the 1970s Changed America. A native of Kansas City, Missouri, Zoglin currently lives in New York City.
Image credit: photo by Howard Schatz
Works by Richard Zoglin
Associated Works
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Gender
- male
- Birthplace
- Kansas City, Missouri, USA
- Education
- University of California, Berkeley (BA, English)
University of California, Berkeley (MA, Journalism) - Occupations
- journalist
- Relationships
- Krupp, Charla (wife)
- Organizations
- Phi Beta Kappa
- Short biography
- [from author's website]
Richard Zoglin is the author of three books. He spent more than 30 years as a writer and editor at Time Magazine, and is now an op-ed contributor to the Washington Post, New York Times, and Wall Street Journal.
Zoglin began his journalism career in San Francisco as a copy editor for Saturday Review magazine, before moving to New York, where he worked as a magazine editor and freelance writer, contributing articles to the New York Times, Village Voice, New Republic and other publications. In 1978 he moved to Atlanta to become television critic for the Atlanta Constitution. He left in 1982 to help launch Time Inc.'s new television magazine, TV-Cable Week.
After joining Time as a staff writer in 1983, Zoglin served as the magazine's television critic for more than a decade — reviewing hundreds of TV shows, examining media coverage of such news events as the first Gulf War, and writing cover stories on David Letterman, Bill Cosby, Diane Sawyer, Arsenio Hall and Star Trek, among others. He later became a senior editor and assistant managing editor for both the magazine and its website, Time.com, as well as the magazine's theater critic.
Members
Reviews
1 
mstrust | Mar 6, 2022 |
mstrust | Mar 6, 2022 | 
A extensive and well researched overview of Bob Hope’s career, but I felt it was missing something. It didn't really explore the man behind the brand. It is obvious that the more successful he became as “Bob Hope” the less that Leslie Townes Hope mattered. The book, while acknowledging his ego-driven work-ethic, his reliance on other people for his material, and his hypocrisy about relationships, also brushes over them and never tries to get at the roots of the legends and stories that Hope built up about his own past. If you want to know what Bob Hope did, this is an informative volume, but if you want to know why he did them, it might disappoint.… (more)
Comedy at the Edge by Richard Zoglin is a fantastic comprehensive and concise history of stand-up comedy during the late 1960 through the 1970s, from the death of Lenny Bruce to the ascendance of stand-up into the mainstream of American popular culture. It's well researched and compellingly presented.
I've always had a soft spot for stand-up comics. I love watching them on TV and seeing them in person. The conversational aspect of this style of performance lends an intimacy that you don't get from any other form of popular entertainment. Stand-up comedy is a type of theatre—it's really the only form of theatre that has attained truly mass appeal in our culture.
Despite my love of stand-up, I had never considered the history of it or thought too deeply about the differences between modern stand-up and the older styles that defined comedy in the middle of the 20th century. Consequently, Comedy at the Edge is revelatory.
Beginning the late 1960s, in the aftermath of Lenny Bruce, stand-up comedy underwent an evolution that broke with past humorous traditions and established new styles of comedy that still dominate stand-up today. Moreover, Mr. Zoglin argues that this evolution was not merely a product of the rebellious culture of the '60s and '70s, but one of its most powerful driving forces.
The evidence he presents in Comedy at the Edge is enough to convince me. Comedy has always been an essential tool for people to critique and analyze ourselves and our culture. Comedy can speak truth to power in a unique way that's easy for everyone to hear. In tumultuous times, comedians help us understand what's going on and warn us when we start down the wrong path.
What made the comedy revolution of the '60s and '70s so unique is that it brought stand-up to a level of mass popularity that it had never seen before and that continues to this day. It saw an explosion of creativity and inventiveness that has yet to be equaled. The comedians who came to prominence in this era—George Carlin, Richard Pryor, Richard Lewis, Albert Brooks, Steve Martin, Robin Williams, Andy Kaufman, et al—forged the blueprints that stand-up comics still follow. They elevated stand-up comedy from mere entertainment to a fully expressive and nuanced art form.
I admit that I'm biased—I grew up on the comedians Mr. Zoglin profiles in this book. They will always rank as my favorites. I'm an easy sell for anyone who wants to call them geniuses.
The book is structured with each chapter profiling one comedian (or sometimes two) who best exemplifies a specific aspect of the stand-up comedy culture of this time period. It's packed with quotations, interviews, analysis, and commentary from many comedians, club owners, and critics who were there and lived it all first-hand. Mr. Zoglin ably captures the vitality and excitement of it.
There are times, though, when the conciseness of the book feels a little too concise. Twelve chapters (plus a short prologue), examining just over a dozen comedians, packed into a meager 225 pages doesn't leave room for much depth. The broad strokes are vivid enough to paint a compelling picture, and all the important thesis statements are made and supported—but I'm also frequently aware of how much is getting left out.
Perhaps, though, that may be one of Comedy at the Edge's greatest accomplishments—it leaves me eager to learn more. There are plenty of biographies that have been written about the comedians in this book, and I want to go read all of them now.… (more)
I've always had a soft spot for stand-up comics. I love watching them on TV and seeing them in person. The conversational aspect of this style of performance lends an intimacy that you don't get from any other form of popular entertainment. Stand-up comedy is a type of theatre—it's really the only form of theatre that has attained truly mass appeal in our culture.
Despite my love of stand-up, I had never considered the history of it or thought too deeply about the differences between modern stand-up and the older styles that defined comedy in the middle of the 20th century. Consequently, Comedy at the Edge is revelatory.
Beginning the late 1960s, in the aftermath of Lenny Bruce, stand-up comedy underwent an evolution that broke with past humorous traditions and established new styles of comedy that still dominate stand-up today. Moreover, Mr. Zoglin argues that this evolution was not merely a product of the rebellious culture of the '60s and '70s, but one of its most powerful driving forces.
The evidence he presents in Comedy at the Edge is enough to convince me. Comedy has always been an essential tool for people to critique and analyze ourselves and our culture. Comedy can speak truth to power in a unique way that's easy for everyone to hear. In tumultuous times, comedians help us understand what's going on and warn us when we start down the wrong path.
What made the comedy revolution of the '60s and '70s so unique is that it brought stand-up to a level of mass popularity that it had never seen before and that continues to this day. It saw an explosion of creativity and inventiveness that has yet to be equaled. The comedians who came to prominence in this era—George Carlin, Richard Pryor, Richard Lewis, Albert Brooks, Steve Martin, Robin Williams, Andy Kaufman, et al—forged the blueprints that stand-up comics still follow. They elevated stand-up comedy from mere entertainment to a fully expressive and nuanced art form.
I admit that I'm biased—I grew up on the comedians Mr. Zoglin profiles in this book. They will always rank as my favorites. I'm an easy sell for anyone who wants to call them geniuses.
The book is structured with each chapter profiling one comedian (or sometimes two) who best exemplifies a specific aspect of the stand-up comedy culture of this time period. It's packed with quotations, interviews, analysis, and commentary from many comedians, club owners, and critics who were there and lived it all first-hand. Mr. Zoglin ably captures the vitality and excitement of it.
There are times, though, when the conciseness of the book feels a little too concise. Twelve chapters (plus a short prologue), examining just over a dozen comedians, packed into a meager 225 pages doesn't leave room for much depth. The broad strokes are vivid enough to paint a compelling picture, and all the important thesis statements are made and supported—but I'm also frequently aware of how much is getting left out.
Perhaps, though, that may be one of Comedy at the Edge's greatest accomplishments—it leaves me eager to learn more. There are plenty of biographies that have been written about the comedians in this book, and I want to go read all of them now.… (more)
What an amazing entertainer! I actually saw Bob Hope perform in Charlotte, NC, many years ago when he was probably in his 80’s. What a wonderful performance, much better than some legendary performers. Richard Zoglin in his book Hope relates the good and the bad of Bob Hope. Bob Hope started in vaudeville and went to radio, movies, and television. Bob Hope also entertained military from WWII until Vietnam. What man could maintain Bob Hope’s level of activity for so long and so well. Bob also presented the Oscars for many years and hosted many celebrity galas. I learned so many hidden facts concerning this icon—a womanizer and a Scrooge. I enjoyed the stories and the pictures and learning about the development of entertainment.… (more)
Lists
1970s Narratives (1)
Awards
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Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 3
- Also by
- 1
- Members
- 333
- Popularity
- #71,381
- Rating
- 3.8
- Reviews
- 11
- ISBNs
- 19
The last seventy-five pages or so are solidly Elvis, discussing the musicians, casino owners and others who were involved in the shows at The International. A reader picking up a book with this title might have been disappointed by how much of it was about other performers, but I was interested in all of it and enjoyed all the chapters that were devoted to the Rat Pack, but also enjoyed learning more about the mob, various casino owners, show producers, and how Howard Hughes changed the way casinos ran and how entertainers were treated. There are little quibbles. A native of California is not a Yankee, and sometimes it seems like the author is laying the criticism on too thick to prove he's a journalist, but overall I really enjoyed this very informative book. I recommend it not just for a fan of these entertainers, but also for someone looking for Vegas history.… (more)