A Great, Silly Grin
A Great, Silly Grin: The British Satire Boom of the 1960s Humphrey Carpenter,
Publisher: Da Capo Press
ISBN: 1586480812
Edition: Hardcover; 2002-04-01
Summary:
A vibrant history of the British satire explosion of the early
1960s-from Private Eye and Beyond the Fringe to That Was the Week
That Was-and its lasting influence on comedy. Humphrey Carpenter's A
Great, Silly Grin is both a thoughtful history and a great deal of
fun. The British satire boom of the early 1960s created a motherlode
of styles and material for generations of bright comedians and social
critics on both sides of the Atlantic and set a standard for clever
humor that still shapes comedy and commentary in America today.
Carpenter's history of that formative era revisits the 1960 Edinburgh
Festival, when a staggeringly inspired satirical review startled a
public steeped in the polite, bland banality of the 1950s; recalls
the appearance in London coffee bars of a scruffy yellow pamphlet
calling itself Private Eye, and looks back at the groundbreaking BBC
television program That Was the Week That Was. Exclusive interviews
with the people involved are woven together with a wealth of comic
material, photographs-most from private collections and never before
published-and other contemporary material to bring the era vividly to
life. Carpenter also assess the satirical movement's impact in
America. A Great, Silly Grin is a feast of nostalgia for those who
remember its signature comedians fondly, and an insightful look back
at a high-water mark for satire in the English speaking world.
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