Friedman Budd - The Improv: An Oral History of the Comedy Club That Revolutionized Stand-Up

Praise for The Improv

The Improv was a cauldron of talent. Whetsell writes about it wonderfully and with respect for its importance to comedy.

ROBERT KLEIN

They used to say that if you made it in New York you could make it anywhere. Maybe so, but if you didnt make it at the Improv, it was time to pack your bags and move to anywhere.

RICHARD LEWIS

This book is a great walk down memory lane for me. All hail the Improv and all the laugh-filled times and wonderful nights that happened in front of those brick walls.

BILL MAHER

The Improv played a vital part in my early stand-up days as it did in the careers of the dazzling array of stars, eccentrics, and colorful characters whose stories adorn this bright and greatly entertaining book. Get at least two copies, in case you lose one.

DICK CAVETT

Heres a book Ill probably never finish, because for years to come Ill be picking it up again and again and rereading parts over and over, whenever I need perking up. Its the history of an art form, though that sounds way too stuffy, and of an institutionthe great American comedy club, especially the Improvs of New York and LA.

TOM SHALES, Pulitzer Prizewinning former television critic of the Washington Post and #1 bestselling co-author of Live from New York and These Guys Have All the Fun

An entertaining ride through the glory yearsthe people, the stories, the feuds, the laughsof the club that started the stand-up comedy boom in America.

RICHARD ZOGLIN, author of Hope: Entertainer of the Century and Comedy at the Edge: How Comedy in the 1970s Changed America

The Godfather of the comedy club is finally called to testify... and he sings like a canary.

WILLAIM KNOEDELSEDER, author of Im Dying Up Here: Heartbreak and High-Times in Stand-Up Comedys Golden Era

Copyright 2017 by Budd Friedman with Tripp Whetsell

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

All photos, unless otherwise stated, are courtesy of the authors personal collection.

BenBella Books, Inc. | 10440 N. Central Expressway, Suite 800 | Dallas, TX 75231

First E-Book Edition: September 2017.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Friedman, Budd, 1932- author. | Whetsell, Tripp, author.

Title: The Improv : an oral history of the world-famous comedy club that revolutionized stand-up / Budd Friedman with Tripp Whetsell ; foreword by Jay Leno.

Description: Dallas, TX : BenBella Books, [2017] | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2017012336 (print) | LCCN 2017028364 (ebook) | ISBN 9781942952442 (electronic) | ISBN 9781942952435 (hardback)

Subjects: LCSH: Improvisation (Organization : New York, N.Y.)History. | Stand-up comedyNew York (State)New YorkHistory. | Friedman, Budd, 1932- | Theatrical producersUnited StatesBiography. | BusinessmenUnited StatesBiography. | ComediansUnited StatesAnecdotes. | BISAC: BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Entertainment & Performing Arts. | PERFORMING ARTS / Comedy.

Classification: LCC PN3166.N4 (ebook) | LCC PN3166.N4 I47 2017 (print) | DDC 792.7/6097471dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017012336

Editing by Vy Tran

Copyediting by Scott Calamar

Proofreading by James Fraleigh and Michael Fedison

Indexing by Amy Murphy Indexing & Editorial

Text design and composition by Silver Feather Design

Cover design by Jason Gabbert

Jacket design by Ivy Koval

Printed by Lake Book Manufacturing

Distributed by Perseus Distribution | www.perseusdistribution.com

To place orders through Perseus Distribution:

Tel: (800) 343-4499 | Fax: (800) 351-5073 | E-mail:

To my wife, Alix, for changing my life and giving me everlasting love and happiness.

BUDD FRIEDMAN

To my mother, Anne Whetsell, for always being the rock that grounds me and the rudder that pushes me forward. Also, to my agent, Peter Rubie, for never losing faith.

TRIPP WHETSELL

Contents

More than four decades have passed since I drove round-trip from Boston three nights in a row every week to go onstage at a dingy little club in New Yorks Hells Kitchen called the Improv. A lot has happened since then, but the Improvthen known as the Improvisationwas where I received my comedy education, and my long association with both the club and its founder, Budd Friedman, who was also my first manager, remains one of the most important of my career.

Though I had already been doing stand-up for several years at the time, the Improv was the first place where I truly felt like I had found a home, especially since I didnt know any other professional comedians in Boston, and when I told people this was what I wanted to do for a living, they didnt exactly take me seriously. Instead, they just assumed it was a phase I was going through, so I rarely mentioned it. Whenever I did, the response was almost always the sametheyd shrug their shoulders and roll their eyes, as if to say, This guys delusional.

This never happened to me at the Improv. All of the sudden, I fit in because I was finally surrounded by people who were like me, in a place where we could sit around until two in the morning, critiquing each others sets and discussing who was good on The Tonight Showconversations I never could have had in Boston. In fact, Ive often compared my early days at the Improv to being in college. Budd was a wonderful professor, too, and Ill forever be grateful for the fact that he always put me on and gave me the freedom to experiment.

I didnt quite know what to expect that first time, and Im not exactly sure how I heard about it, although the Improv already had a magical name by that point and hosted a mixture of comics and singers like Bette Midler, whom Budd also managed, and Barry Manilow, who was the house piano player.

The one thing I did know for sure from the moment I walked in, however, was that this was where I was supposed to be, especially after meeting other young comics like Richard Lewis and Billy Crystal, who quickly became my friends. Then there were the more established performers like Robert Klein, Lily Tomlin, Stiller and Meara, and Dustin Hoffman, who used to occasionally drop in to play the piano, as well as a then-unknown Danny Aiello, who was the bouncer.

Being in their presence was the brush with greatness thing, as my old friend David Letterman used to say. You didnt necessarily hang out with them, depending on how famous they were, but what amazed me the most was that youd get to see all these people you had just seen on television, in person. The other truly amazing part was that we were all practically one and the same at the Improv, no matter how well known we were or werent yet. It was as if all seniorities and superficialities were left at the door, and being at the Improv was like being at a big party every night where you never knew who might show up.

Then there was Budd with the monocle and goatee he wore then, who prided himself on being pretentiousand still does. At the time, my day job was delivering cars to New York for a place called Foreign Motors in Boston, which meant I showed up at the Improv in a different Rolls-Royce or Mercedes every night, and one of my favorite stories is how much this impressed Budd because he thought I was some rich kid, which, of course, I wasnt.