I'm Dying Up Here Audiobook By William Knoedelseder cover art

I'm Dying Up Here

Heartbreak and High Times in Standup Comedy's Golden Era

 Preview
LIMITED TIME OFFER

3 months free
Try for $0.00
Offer ends July 31, 2025 at 11:59PM PT.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 3 months. Cancel anytime.

I'm Dying Up Here

By: William Knoedelseder
Narrated by: William Dufris
Try for $0.00

$0.00/mo. after 3 months. Offer ends July 31, 2025 at 11:59PM PT. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $15.47

Buy for $15.47

Confirm purchase
Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use, License, and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.
Cancel
I'm Dying Up Here chronicles the collective coming of age of the standup comedians who defined American humor during the past three decades. Born early in the Baby Boom, they grew up watching The Tonight show, went to school during Vietnam and Watergate, migrated en masse to Los Angeles in the mid-1970s, and created an artistic community unlike any before or since.

They were arguably the funniest people of their generation, living in a late-night world of sex, drugs, dreams, and laughter. For one brief shining moment, standup comics were as revered as rock stars. It was Comedy Camelot but, of course, it couldn't last.

In the late 1970s, William Knoedelseder was a cub reporter assigned to cover the burgeoning local comedy scene for the Los Angeles Times. He wrote the first major newspaper profiles of Jay Leno, David Letterman, Andy Kaufman, and others. He got to know many of them well. And so he covered the scene too when the comedians--who were not paid for performing at the career-making-or-breaking venue called the Comedy Store---tried to change an exploitative system and incidentally tore apart their own close-knit community.

Now Knoedelseder has gone back to interview the major participants to tell the whole story of that golden age and of the strike that ended it. Full of revealing portraits of many of the best-known comedic talents of our age, I'm Dying Up Here is also a poignant tale of the price of success and the terrible cost of failure - professional and moral.

©2005 William Knoedelseder (P)2009 Tantor Performing Arts Witty Funny

Critic reviews

"Knoedelseder skillfully layers powerful dramatic details." ( Publishers Weekly)

People who viewed this also viewed...

The History of Sketch Comedy Audiobook By Keegan-Michael Key, Elle Key cover art
The History of Sketch Comedy By: Keegan-Michael Key, and others
All stars
Most relevant  
For all those who talked bad about the narrator... I couldn't disagree more. loved the book. loved the narration. I will listen again. I am a comedy need, a standup comedian (www.whitedewaynecomedy.com), and a comedy instructor, so this was very interesting for me the obvious reasons.

Great book, Great narrator

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The happy-go-lucky lilt of the narrator was perfect for this kind of tale, which basically was funny people in an ever – increasingly unfunny situation. Definitely was not a “happily ever after” story, but one that has been lost in the annals of time, which made it an enjoyable and revealing read. Those who wondered how the comedy boom got its roots will find out here – although in the end, they may regret learning about the components of the dark underbelly of it.

Well-researched and delivered

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
From start to finish the whole story is completely captivating. I am a stand-up comedian of no real importance but I don't think you even have to be to enjoy this piece of American culture.

Fascinating true story!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
If you ever wanted to know why the Comedy Store is so relevant to the history of comedy this is a book for you. Most of the comics famous today have a Mitzi Shore story of some sort and this explains why. Being from the Midwest I had no idea who Steve Lubetkin was and am sad now that I didn't.

Great Book

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I loved it! I'm a borderline obsessive fan of stand-up. this book fed my osession.

great depiction of real stand-up.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Having listened to many of Marc Marron's interviews with Comedy Store veterans, I liked hearing the venue's early history. The errors were 2 mentions of Billy Crystal with a role in "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman" (it was "Soap"); and a mention of the '80s show "Saturday Night" being on NBC (it was on ABC

Very good despite a couple of errors

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This is hands-down the most irritating narrator I've come across. The cadence is unbearable, and the only way I made it through without abandoning it altogether was to speed it up, which helped to elide some of the more ridiculous and unnecessary emphasis throughout. Will make a point to avoid this narrator in the future.

Nails on a chalkboard narration.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Good book, great story. The narrator could have been a little better. I would recommend for comedy fans. Especially since the recent Mike Binder 6 part series on the Comedy Store.

Eff Ned Mencia

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
... and if you enjoyed the Showtime TV adaptation and are curious to know which real persons the character composites are based on, you will also enjoy this book. The only tricky part is that with composites, the characters are based on several people, who may or may not have even done any of the things their imaginary counterparts do on TV - and that can make it a bit confusing.
I only realized more than ¾ into the story that the show's two *main characters* are based on a duo act that the book only mentions once! But if you're ready to forget what you thought you learned from the show, this book is at turns funny and sad. And highly informative. Recommended.

Fans of "Golden Era" stand-up, take notice!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.