Who Stole the Funny?: A Novel of Hollywood

Robby Benson

10/2009 · Harper Collins

Táto e‑kniha

A Hollywood insider and director of Friends delivers a scathingly brilliant and caustically comedic bird’s-eye view behind the scenes of comedy television.

A wickedly delicious roman-a-clef about the making of a sitcom called My Urban Buddies, this satirical romp of a novel portrays life on the other side of the television lens, hilariously sending up self-serious Hollywood stereotypes across the board.

Programmed-for-success director J. T. Baker has to bring an up-and-coming sitcom to fruition after its initial director shoots himself in the head with a nail gun. Comically annotated with helpful and enlightening Hollywood glossary terms (“Creative-type director: One who has no hope of working in this town again”; “Eccentric: Affecting a style of dress, coiffure, speech, mannerisms, etc., carefully calculated to give the impression of creative credibility”), Benson creates an exaggerated world of crazy writers; backstabbing executives, agents, and producers; foul-mouthed everyone-elses; and hardcore cynics—and the ridiculous inner monologues behind them.

“An irreverent and hilarious stroll down the dark alleys of Hollywood’s TV landscape.” —Peter Bart, Editor in Chief, Variety

“Who Stole the Funny? benefits from Mr. Benson’s deep knowledge of his subject matter.” —The Wall Street Journal

O autorovi

Robby Benson, actor, writer, composer, and award-winning star of stage, screen, and television has also spent years behind the camera as the director of more than one hundred episodes of such hit sitcoms as Friends and Ellen, in addition to being a highly esteemed professor of film studies at New York University. He lives in both the Blue Ridge Mountains and New York City with his wife, singer Karla DeVito, and their two children.