A Funny Time to Be Gay

By Ed Karvoski Jr.

Book Overview

Meet the out crowd that's really "in" -- the gay and lesbian stand-up comics who've come out of the closet and stormed the mainstream with the hippest and wittiest comedy acts of the last three decades.

In A Funny Time to Be Gay, Ed Karvoski Jr. traces the evolution of gay and lesbian comedy from Robin Tyler in the seventies and mavericks who played San Francisco's famed Valencia Rose in the eighties to the latest comics in development for their own sitcoms.

With short introductions that reveal the performers' approaches to both their sexual and professional identities, over thirty hilarious monologues capture the diversity of the gay and lesbian comic community, including Lynda Montgomery on being white trailer trash ("I was raised in a paneled hallway"); Barry Steiger on Prozac ("I think antidepressants should come in a Pez dispenser"); Bob Smith on being a gay kid ("(My parents) once gave me a chemistry set -- I used it to make my own line of skin care products"); and Suzanne Westenhoefer on the distinctions in lesbian culture (.".. the butch is the one that holds the remote control, and the femme is the one that sits beside her going, 'change it ... change it ... change it ... '"). From cabaret performers, late-night regulars, and rising stars, these pieces carry a message of joyful celebration: "We're here, we're queer -- get used to laughing along with us "

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0684818965
• ISBN13: 9780684818962
• Release Date: January 1997
• Publisher: Fireside
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 1.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.5" x 8.6"

Customer Reviews

Entertaining and informational

"Gay stand-up comedy is not just alive and well these days but flourishing in a big way, as Ed Karvoski Jr. proves in his recent book, A FUNNY TIME TO BE GAY. ... The interviews that precede the monologues are not only entertaining, but informational. ... There are no closets in Karvoski's book, just page after page of humor and a very good read." -- Lester Strong, BALTIMORE GAY PAPER

Funny and fun

"A FUNNY TIME TO BE GAY is as funny as it is fun to read." -- Gregg Shapiro, OUTLINES

Laugh all the way through

"This is one of the few books I've been able to read and laugh all the way through. Get it!" -- Bill Kaiser, ON THE PURPLE CIRCUIT

Historical perspective

"What sets A FUNNY TIME TO BE GAY apart from the ever-increasing number of gay comedy books out there is that it chronicles the rise of gay stand-up and gives it some historical perspective." -- J.S. Hall, BAY WINDOWS

Informative, welll thought-out

"For the most part, Karvoski lets these hilarious comics speak for themselves, but his introductions are informative, well thought-out, and actually trace a telling line through the relatively new phenomenon of gay stand-up comedy." -- Jim Gifford, THE PINK PAGES