Drunks, Thieves, Scoundrels and the History of American Comedy
by Kliph Nesteroff
Recommended by Bill Burr and Robert Odenkirk
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Amazon availability
Recommended by 2 sources and appears in Humor, History, and Fiction.
Jokes change from generation to generation, but the experience of the comedian transcends the ages: the drive, jealousy, heartbreak, and triumph. From the Marx Brothers to Milton Berle to George Carlin to Eddie Murphy to Louis CK?comedy historian Kliph Nesteroff brings to life a century?s worth of rebels and groundbreakers, mainstream heroes and co...
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Why recommended
Recommended by 2 sources and appears in Humor, History, and Fiction.
People and public figures who have recommended this book.
Recommendation proof is sourced from public posts, interviews, reading lists, and cited references.
Robert Odenkirk
American actor, comedian and filmmaker
“I'm a fan of comedy, all the way back this book is SO FUN...great overview! via @amazon”
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Consider Accidental Presidents by Jared Cohen. Recommended by 10 sources.
“Accidental Presidents offers eight narrative portraits of men who succeeded to the U.S. presidency without election, using anecdote-rich scenes and readable context to show how personality and circumstance interact with office power. It’s strongest as a set of self-contained stories that make succession stakes concrete for non-specialist readers; it does not prioritize dense archival argument or exhaustive methodology, so expect some interpretive generalizations and repeated themes across cases. Use it for fast historical orientation rather than scholarly deep-dives.”
Each recommendation is collected from a public source — interviews, articles, or curated lists — and linked to its original URL. Books with many verifiable recommendations from respected people rank higher.
