Outrageous: A History of Showbiz and the Culture Wars

by Kliph Nesteroff

From the preeminent historian of modern comedy comes an expansive history of showbiz and the culture wars

 

There is a common belief that we live in unprecedented times, that people are too sensitive today, that nobody objected to the actions of actors, comedians, and filmmakers in the past. Modern pundits would have us believe that Americans of a previous generation had tougher skin and seldom complained. But does this argument hold up to scrutiny? 

 

In Outrageous, celebrated cultural historian Kliph Nesteroff demonstrates that Americans have been objecting to entertainment for nearly two hundred years, sometimes rationally, often irrationally. Likewise, powerful political interests have sought to circumvent the arts using censorship, legal harassment, and outright propaganda. From Mae West through Johnny Carson, Amos ’n’ Andy through Beavis and Butt-Head, Outrageous chronicles the controversies of American show business and the ongoing attempts to change what we watch, read, and hear.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Comedy, Pop Culture, Politics, Humor, Audiobook

320 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 28, 2023

About the author

Kliph Nesteroff is a best-selling author regarded for his vast knowledge of show business. Vice Magazine has called Nesteroff "The Human Encyclopedia of Comedy," and Los Angeles Magazine profiled him as "The King of Comedy Lore."

Reviews

[Scott · Rating 2 out of 5]

"American show business essentially begins in the 1830's with the blackface minstrel show. Ever since that time, audiences have complained. For two hundred years, performers were subjected to criticism, protest, and outrage. Long before modern catchphrases like 'PC police,' 'cancel culture,' and 'woke mob,' popular artists were threatened, blacklisted, fired, and publicly shamed. Sometimes the grievances were thoughtful and logical. Just as often they were impulsive and irrational." -- on page 9

I know it's a red flag of sorts when I finished a book several days ago but lack any sort of initiative to compose a GR review. When author Nesteroff recounts some of the controversial American show biz personalities or product in a historical context during Outrageous it was okay, if a bit dry and lacking in needed humor. (However, I did laugh out loud at an imagined response from early rock 'n roller Fats Domino, when he supposedly was told that only the white kids could dance at his concert in Houston, Texas during the 50's . . . but it was followed by an eye-rolling moment when the author confused Walter Brennan for the similarly-named Walter Huston, although both were Oscar-winning character actors. I guess the fact-checkers / proof-readers were on vacation, or IMDb and Wikipedia were down for maintenance?) When focusing on the activist / political / religious groups either panning or supporting controversies throughout the decades it was not terribly interesting, because at this time the country is so divided that one man's trash is another man's treasure, or vice-versa.

[Brendan (History Nerds United) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Comedians today will sometimes opine, "You can't say anything anymore without offending someone." Kliph Nesteroff is here to tell us all that you apparently could offend people since comedy started in his book Outrageous.

Nesteroff's narrative is chock full of entertainment anecdotes from the 1800s to today. Each page is littered with primary sources (my favorite!) and some background on various entertainment trends over 200 years. Whatever someone may think of this book they cannot say Nesteroff did not do his homework. His knowledge of show business is extensive and he gives the reader plenty of interesting nuggets of information.

However, this approach is also a problem. Nesteroff uses a lot of sources but it also leads the reader to ask what sources matter? Are they being cherry picked to make a point or did they really represent the majority or minority of Americans during the time period being discussed. One singular quote from a newspaper cited sparingly or never again does not make a convincing argument.

And what is Nesteroff's argument? At a high level, he is making the point that comedy and show business have been under attack since day 1. I believe Nesteroff convincingly proves this. However, there are other sections which veer into specific politics. He seems to be making other arguments which are not fully fleshed out. It makes the central conceit of the book feel a bit too surface level to be fully convincing. That said, any author who can seamlessly talk about minstrel shows and The Simpsons in the same book is clearly talented.

(This book was provided as an advance copy by Netgalley and Abrams Press.)

[Still · Rating 5 out of 5]

Entered this anticipating another book of (occasionally) embarrassing and hilarious anecdotes regarding old school Showbiz and Pop Culture personalities.

Instead I received a history lesson on what both the Left and the Right call “Cancel Culture”. It’s older than America.

Periodically, Americans seem to lose their collective minds in a kind of frenzy of outrage over shifts in cultural mores throughout society.

Nesteroff provides the most important explanation for these UFO flap-like events: the incitement of public outrage over momentary events inspiring culture shock and Christofascist uproar is most often a tool for those in favor of an authoritarian and pro-corporation/big bidness government.

All these protests against television shows, comedians, movies, etc. for contributing to the moral deterioration of our country?
They’re all provoked by clergy members and politically ambitious folk who receive their inspiration if not their marching orders from think tanks like the Heritage Foundation and the Cato Institute and countless other groups funded by a select group of American billionaires like Coors, Koch, Scaife, DeVos, Abrams.

They set up so many cultural war fires, the rest of us are too busy stomping them out to pay attention to their endgame: complete eradication of Liberal policies in American government.

I was expecting laughs at the expense of dolts like Pat Robertson, Donald Wildmon, Jerry Falwell. Brent Bozell but guess what?

The yoke’s on me.

Sobering Pop Cult history that serves as a warning.
Who am I kidding- who the hell pays attention to warning signs anymore?

EDIT:

Look, I just have to close with this rather lengthy quote edited from pages 244-245. Maybe it’ll explain my feelings of futility in my endless and undying “rage against the machine”.


“Charles Koch and his ‘foundations’ funded dozens of front groups with deceiving, euphemistic names. Among then were the American Future Fund, Americans For Prosperity… Every single one existed for the purpose of political propaganda, to protect the wealth of Koch Industries, and to discredit those who might stand in their way.”

”The Bradley Foundation, the Scaife Foundation, the Olin Foundation, the Heritage Foundation, the Heartland Institute…the Cato Institute, the Claremont Institute, …the Federalist Society- all of them were funded by the vast wealth of Koch, Olin, Scaife, Bradley, and DeVos. Nearly all started out assisting the John Birch Society in the 1960s. As the millennium approached, hundreds of ‘senior fellows’ appeared on talk radio, cable news, and even some late-night comedy shows. They published hundreds of newspaper editorials, toured the lecture circuit, and conformed to identical talking points.”

…”The success of the strategy was dependent on repetition. According to the ‘senior fellows’, America was always at the precipice of disaster- unless the corporate wish list was immediately implemented. Catchphrases such as ‘weapons of mass destruction’, ‘ACORN’, ‘fiscal cliff’, and ‘Cultural Marxism’ became common parlance, paving the way for a new generation of buzzwords like ‘critical race theory’.


The think tanks turned obscure terms into American obsessions, inciting large segments of the population to turn against anything standing in the way of corporate dominance.”


Yowza!
It’s later than you think… and …keep watching the skies. (two tag lines from two different 1950s sources -an old radio show and a Cold War era Science Fiction movie.)

Bumped it up to 5 stars.

[Katrisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am not sure how to feel after reading this book! On one hand, Nesteroff convincingly shows that the culture wars in America have been going on in a recognizable form for the whole scope of the book (this book covers from the 1800s to the early 2000s) with one side decrying entertainment as being unbecoming America because it offends morality and the other side saying we should be less racist/homophobic/sexist etc. Both sides protesting and both sides claiming the other side is trying to curtail free speech. On the other hand, it did make me feel a little better to see how societal mores have generally become more accepting and more sensitive to minority groups.
Basically angry trolls have been threatening the collapse of society because of entertainers for as long as entertainers have been performing. And old-timey trolls were just as vitriolic and violent as current day trolls - I think we just hear about them more with the prevalence of social media.
I am not sure if it is comforting or super depressing to see that not much has changed over 200 years, but regardless this book was really well researched and engaging to read (but also a bit horrifying)

Thank you to Netgalley and Abrams Press for this advance reading copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Jon · Rating 5 out of 5]

The more society changes, the more backwards people stay the same.

[Darren · Rating 4 out of 5]

3 1/2 STARS

Probably to me the least interesting of Nesteroff’s books just because of the subject matter and having a decent amount of knowledge surrounding it. The comedians to be researched have been replaced with like news sources to research or think tanks to wonder about. Perfectly encapsulates the right wing stranglehold on American culture with moral panics used to boost up political grievances/ profit from while at the same time contending that their people can’t say anything any more lest they be cancelled. When really it’s just time passing as it always does. Culture changing. He has a knack for really setting up a narrative and following thru with so many little side beats. I could read his comedy history books forever. I liked the more overtly political tone of this one. Can’t wait for more

[Sean Kottke · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Young people loved it. Old racists did not.” (p. 96)

This book, in eight words. As relevant as ever, and an important reminder that the cultural controversies we grapple with today are nothing new.

[Ed Erwin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some things never change. Comedians have always been "cancelled" for being offensive, either to the conservative parts of society for being too edgy, or from the progressives for being too insensitive. The details change a lot, though, as society changes. Lenny Bruce was arrested for saying "Schmuck". Mae West was sentenced to 10 days hard labor (!!!) for one of her plays. (After she gets out, she unrepentantly stages a play with 40 gay men dressed as women.)

Social media makes it easy for every crazy person's voice to be heard. But before that they would call or write TV and radio stations and scare off advertisers due to whatever offended them, whether blackface, ethnic stereotypes, sexual allusions, or, god-forbid, black and white people on stage together.

Sadly also constant is that as comedians get older they all seem to complain that 1) you can't say the things they used to be able to say without offending people and 2) new comedians are using too many dirty words.

[Max · Rating 4 out of 5]

Starts out a fascinating look at the beginnings of moral panics, ends up a horrifying look at our current times. The culture wars have always been a way for rich conservatives to seize power, and in the last 50 years they've managed to almost completely turn public opinion through their use. This is probably not news to you if you're reading this review, but checking this book out will give you more perspective into why and how things are this way.

[Peter Landau · Rating 4 out of 5]

We were always snowflakes.

[MaskedSanity­ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Being familiar with Kliph Nesteroff's work, I knew that I would probably like this book. I knew it would be informative, but I had no idea how informative it would be. I figured that it would it would reinforce some of the knowledge that I had about the Right and their use of racism and other scare tactics, but I didn't know how far it went.
Comedy, culture, and politics are all discussed in this book. And the amount of research and detail that Nesteroff puts into his work in phenomenal.
I cannot recommend this book enough.

[Craigtator · Rating 3 out of 5]

It felt like two books: one a century old listing of comedians being shouted down and the other about the propaganda power of John Birch’s progeny.

[Dan Wilbur · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nesteroff is our finest resource for the history of American comedy. Every time I felt he was getting a little too academic by sharing seemingly every prescient quote about cancel culture, I would come across a paragraph about some moron calling the Mr. Ed theme song satanic and laugh. He’s very good at letting the information tell the story for him, and anywhere he does seem to editorialize or slip his opinion in, it was funny and on point. Also: This book inspired me to read a tome about Rod Serling because that man was right about every issue in this book. A delight to read. Couldn’t put it down.

[Robert Stevens · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book highlights the culture wars and how each generation has tackled them. History doesn’t repeat itself, but it does often rhyme. We get to see how the culture wars, censorship, morality, and more play into forms of entertainment such as the movies, the radio, the theatre, and more. This is an interesting look at entertainment history to show how we really aren’t all that different today even though what is permissible today wouldn’t have been in years past. This book is proof that you cannot stop the train of progress, but you can throw obstacles in the road.

[Alex Robinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Given how todays discourse is filled with people taking offense and comedians moaning about how they aren’t allowed to make jokes about _____ anymore, this book was a good reminder that as long as there has been popular entertainment there have been people taking offense, and comedians whining about how they can’t make jokes about ________ anymore

[Andrew Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting but did not tie together as well as “the comedians”

[Brett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another excellent Kliph Nesteroff book.
This one looking at the long (too long) history of culture wars. Fascinating that the exact same arguments and defences repeat over and over.
The focus starts with the impact on entertainment but widens as perpetuating the culture wars become a lucrative business.

[Michael Reilly · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was something of a disappointment. I read Nesteroff's last book, "We Had A Little Real Estate Problem" which was about American Indian comedians. It was a deeply reported study of an out of the way fascinating part of American culture. Nesteroff did some deep reporting and had some sharp analysis.

This is a survey of ideological and religious attacks on popular culture in America from the 1890s to the present. Nesteroff shows that right wing religious attacks and left wing "woke" attacks are nothing new.

Ministers and politicians attacked popular music, movies and books as sinful for all of last century. Mae West, Fatty Arbuckle and the Beatles were all attacked as sinful. Nesteroff collects an impressive pile of outraged preachers, racist and right wingers who are outraged. In the 1950s any program which was not 100% pro-American were attacked as Communist propaganda. "The Twilight Zone" was a favorite target.

Nesteroff also tracks the attacks on culture from the left. "Gone With The Wind" and "Amos and Andy" were attacked as racist. Stock Jewish characters were attacked by the Anti-Defamation League as antisemitic. Red Skelton considered "All in the Family" to be "out and out Communism from start to finish."

I was disappointed with the book because it seems to be mostly a cut and paste collection of attacks. Many of the quotes are from newspaper letters to the editors, which is just a step ahead of quoting anonymous internet posts as a representation of popular opinion. There is almost no new or in depth reporting here. It is basically one example after another.

The second disappointment is that there is no attempt to judge whether some of the attacks were justified and some were not. "Gone With the Wind" was racist. There were many antisemitic stock characters on the 1930 radio shows. Neither "The Twilight Zone" nor "All in the Family" were Communist propaganda, nor were the Rolling Stones.

Nesteroff seems to argue that because there has always been attacks on popular culture and, in retrospect, many of them are silly, then we can dismiss any current attacks as silly. I was not convinced. There are many silly attacks these days but there is also some popular culture which should be criticized. Nesteroff doesn't address how we draw that line, nor does he address the difference between appropriate attacks and inappropriate attacks.

[Simon deVeer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cathartic & calming in a sense, though much is made in the contemporary culture war of how "you can't make a joke" like "kids these days" this is a take that is made in literally every single generation.

Nostalgia for a time when free expression was the norm is unfounded as no such era existed. From Vaudeville to cinema to radio to TV from the tango to jitterbug to shimmy jazz rock hip hop heavy metal the beatles Elvis moral panics around entertainment are incredibly stable and the arguments being made today online have absolutely nothing original about them, this is what people do when new art forms & technology come out.

This will calm culture warriors who earnestly believe "cancel culture is at an all time high" showing clearly they are caprive prisoners of the current moment & the narratives that dominate an algorithmically sorted internet are contextless & ignoring wide swaths of our messy history. See Bruce, Carlin, Cheech & Chongs arrest for stand up among countless other anecdotes demonstrating the thing we call "cancel culture" is in no way new & is as American as Apple pie

[EVAN · Rating 5 out of 5]

As it always was, so shall it always be

Kliph Nesteroff, probably the best comedy historian around, has written a book about how the culture wars are nothing new.

He begins in the 1800s and the fights over blackface and ethnic stereotyping through complaints in the 20s and 30s over sexual content (like the word 'pregnant') to Communism in the 1950s to today. The through line is that performers of every generation complain that their rights are being trampled, people are too sensitive and, as a result, comedy is dead.

It's more than that though. The author discusses the influence of right-wing interests, such as the Koch, Scaife and Bradley Foundations, on the media.

I don't, however, want to define the book as humorless. Far from it. Mr. Nesteroff is a gifted storyteller, and recounts such stories as the herpes tests Family Feud contestants had to undergo because of Richard Dawson's fondness for kissing guests on the mouth.

Read this and his other books.

[Justin Cosgrove · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is actually a three and a half star review. I am endlessly fascinated by culture warriors. These people make a lot of noise over very little in terms of substance. So I was very excited to read this book. I had read the author's previous book, The Comedians, and found it very interesting and insightful. I found this book to be interesting and insightful, especially in describing the early years of the culture wars. The second half of the book, while informative to those who may not know, was a rehash of many books I have read telling the rise of the modern right in America. Crew type. That's not a bad thing if you are unfamiliar with this information, and it provides a different perspective, but it became quite repetitive over the last several chapters.

[Andy Mascola · Rating 5 out of 5]

A jaw-dropping chronological detailing of censorship in America as it relates to the entertainment industry. Some stories you’ll know, others you won’t. The hypocrites are exposed in glorious fashion. Loved this book.

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

My thanks to both NetGalley and the publisher Abrams Press for an advance copy of this look at the world of entertainment, censorship, controversy both real and imagined, and how every new art form is looked at as a threat, by elders in entertainment, or by people making money on protest for both profit and power.

Being a comedian is almost impossible today, nobody likes jokes. The music is for degenerates from degenerates. Politicians should do something, or we will. God is Angry. These sound like bits that lead any network TV show, political mailer, and talking points on most debates about culture from last night. However like history these same arguments repeat themselves. Groucho Marx was complaining about how hard people were making it to be funny in the 1950's. Bing Crosby's crooning music was called to sexual by the Catholic Church in the 1920's. Crooning music. Religious groups and ethnic groups, along with politicians have always tried to keep control of people by making their taste the taste of the American people. and God has been angry at things far worse than blues music, or women wanting an end to wife jokes. Even the violence is the same. Autonomous threats through the mail, the FBI firebombing a black entertainment center, pipe bombs outside theaters to stop movies, or shows. Even beating entertainers for daring to be thought of as human. Kliph Nesteroff, cultural historian, writer and king of comedy lore has in Outrageous: A History of Showbiz and the Culture Wars written a history of entertainment and the attempts to suppress it from a unique view, from both sides of the issue, detailing that what is happening today is just the latest battles in a war that will continue for as long as people want to be entertained.

The book begins with a study of the politics behind the culture war, from the John Birch Society to the many groups who seem to be maddened by everything that happens that they don't like. This will come up in this book quite a bit, but while the names of the organizations change, the names do not, showing the power of the culture wars grift in giving people power and even more important money. From there it is a chronological trip through entertainment, starting with blackface and dialects that were once so popular, and the history of Amos and Andy, which I never knew, through movies, comedy, stage shows, radio, television and more up to the present day. What I found again interesting was that again the names stayed the same. People hated Frank Sinatra's music for its debase sound, Sinatra in turn found rock music gross and wrong. Steve Allen was receiving death threats for the Commies he had on his show, as his fame faded and entertainment changed, suddenly he didn't like the new stuff, and complained about it. Danny Thomas didn't like that you couldn't do ethnic humor. Mort Sahl became misogynistic. And this being America, violence being our number one entertainment always seemed to the solution to everything.

A fascinating book, a book I found myself endlessly sharing with friends and coworkers. Hating Bing Crosby being the big shocker. But the story of the Frito Bandito, Groucho on not being funny. The violence. The same words used over and over from the blues, to rap to Bart Simpson. Nesteroff is a great writer, one with a gift for entertainment knowledge, and an ability to share it in a very informative interesting way. Nesteroff also has a very good grasp on the politics, what makes these political groups want to make waves, the control that people want, and of course the money. And the money and fame is why many entertainers gatekeep so much, complaining about the next generation while watching their opportunities fade. A book that was far more than I expected, and one I really enjoyed, and loved to share.

Recommended for fans of entertainment, and those who care about what is happening in the world. It is reassuring in a way to find that this has been going on since well the first man started riffing in front of fire in a cave. And yet seeing that representation in media scares so many people, saying you are ruining my movie, music, show, podcast with your woke agenda, is discouraging, as people are still being lead. A book that will really make one think about entertainment, and what to fight for.

[Jeremy Murray · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a strange book to rate, given the demonstrable expertise of the author, the competence of the writing, and the extent of the dishonesty in the framing of the central argument.

I first encountered author Kliph Nesteroff in CNN's docuseries "The History of Comedy" and found him perhaps the most informative commentator featured. "Outrageous", his history of controversy in American comedy, is packed with details of various controversies dating back to the 19th century, underlining his encyclopedic knowledge of the subject.

But here, not a talking head in service of another's story, but telling his own, Nesteroff's bias is on full display. To me, I should say - I imagine other readers may exclaim 'what bias'?

Philosopher Dan Williams writes brilliantly on his Substack on misinformation, among other subjects, and he notes that much mis (or dis) information is not false, rather, it is misleadingly framed, omits critical considerations, or has an agenda (perhaps as banal as just getting published).

Nesteroff states in his introduction, and elaborates elsewhere, that his goal was to debunk the idea that free speech is in peril today, that you can't 'joke about anything', a common complaint of the right. This is his premise, and he goes on to not address it again throughout "Outrageous".

What he ignores is the present day reality of cancelation - not a threat in the past. He cheerfully admits that he won't be wading into modern culture war issues - because of course social media is the confounding variable he can't address in pursuing his agenda of arguing that our modern era is just a continuation of past history.

That this is such a common trope of the woke left (flood with fact, but fact that does not prove the thesis), that his historical examples serve to illustrate almost exclusively the uniquely racist, sexist nature of American history, that the book is actually NOT FUNNY (despite the Steve Martin quote on the back cover) - all these details reveal that this is a book with a political agenda, a polemic in academic guise, burying the activist agenda in a deluge of true details that conceal, rather than illuminate.

I read this with a sinking feeling, because these tactics are so familiar.

Recommended for two niche audiences - this is excellent history for those interested in the history of comedy - and this serves as a borderline Platonic ideal for how woke propaganda functions, for the reader who shares my contempt for dogma and groupthink.

[Bob · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoy Kliph Nesteroff's The Comedians quite a bit. It's a perfect book about comedians and had so many great stories.

With Outrageous: A History of Showbiz and the Culture Wars, Nesteroff shows that "cancel culture" has been around much, much longer than we'd think. With chapters covering fascinating tales centred around the extremely racist "Birth Of A Nation" film, the tumultuous time surrounding the John Birch Society and the controversial ad character, the Frito Bandito.

There are a lot of interesting sidebars here as well. For example, Steve Allen was once the target of censorship and became a vanguard of sorts for free speech, but during the boom of '80s stand-up with acts like Sam Kinison, Andrew Dice Clay and Eddie Murphy, Allen became a proponent of censoring comedians.

The only main criticism I have here is that the book is just that -- it's all accounts. Even in the epilogue, where perhaps you might expect a summation of these stories to provide some personal thoughts after much in-depth research, we instead get a mini-story about a cop who insisted on doing blackface Al Jolson cosplay. Again, it's interesting, but it didn't meet my expectations. When the audiobook ended, I found myself saying aloud: "That's it?"

I also would have liked more current instances of "Outrage" to show how it's either grown or remained much of the same.

The book is worth buying, reading and putting on your shelf, particularly if you are someone who is either outraged at comedy or if you're fearful of outrage. It's nothing new. As a people, we will continue to outrage and be outraged.

[H. Gewirtz · Rating 5 out of 5]

It would be easy to dismiss show business history as trivia, but we’ve always loved, gossiped, and fantasized about show people more than most presidents and princes. In his latest book, Nesteroff digs up a fascinating time capsule of showbiz personalities, some who suffered racism and had to degrade themselves in black face minstrel shows to earn a living. In the face of narrow-mindedness and provincial attitudes, some comedians either had to sanitize their acts or find themselves in jail. It would have been comforting to read this book as the history of another time which our enlightened attitudes have transcended, but we’re living in an era of regression where book burning and censorship have had an unwelcome resurgence. In short, crappy times are here again. This gives OUTRAGEOUS a timely relevance that even Nesteroff might not have fully realized when writing it. Frank Zappa, we learn, warned decades ago that our country could be headed towards a fascist theocracy—hello Speaker Mike Johnson. While it would be impossible to physically burn today’s digital music, phonograph LP’s were highly flammable and even Perry Como got burned, though I’m dying to know how “Mr. Relaxation” ended up in the same pyre as KISS! Though censorship and racism in showbiz is not an unknown topic, fortunately, we have Kliph Nesteroff to rummage through the yellowed pages of the trades to dig up fresh stories about worthy and influential entertainers who’ve slipped into obscurity.

[Jeremy Cohen · Rating 4 out of 5]

My 20th book in at the buzzer ! Actually had higher expectations for this book, it’s a bit muddled in purpose - but does trace the byplay throughout American history since before vaudeville on of the conflicting polarities of changing cultural mores changing what is acceptable to joke or make entertainment about (or who) and the other tendency to censor material deemed culturally offensive. It’s thorough almost to a fault - seems to want to make an argument as it increasingly focuses on the heritage foundation and Paul Weyrich in the closing sections - but seems to list too hard into politics and lose the cultural thread. Reminded be a bit of Fantasyland in its compendium like style but whizzes through so much hard for anything to really stick. Based on Nesteroff’s other work and his Twitter feed thought this was gonna basically be a history of “being cancelled” and how that has been with us since people were making fun of Italians and the Irish (and Jews and blacks of course ) - it is kind of this but also much more and ends up being a bit diffuse, though interesting. (Also stops abruptly at the iraq war before really getting to the internet / Trump/ Fox News etc)

Anyhow happy new year anyone who bothered to read this !

[Austin Gilbert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful book. Kliph did it again.

I've been anxiously waiting for this latest release from Kliph Nesteroff since the day it was announced, and it did not disappoint. This feels like such a natural next step in his work chronicling the history of comedy in America. This time, we're looking at the "culture wars" and the belief that "you can't joke about anything anymore," which stretches back as far as Americans have been telling jokes and stories for money.

What got me, beyond the fact that the idea of a culture war has always been ridiculous, is that the talking points have been verbatim since the beginning. You have Mort Sahl and Anita Bryant in the 70s crying about losing their careers over "radical liberals" when they refuse to adapt to changing tastes (or go all-in on "groomer" conspiracies). Yet, while the culture warriors decry the loss of ethnic jokes, they're backed by John Birchers and the Coors family to harangue comedians and shows that poke fun at elites, or dare to show a world with a faint whiff of equality. It's the same story, down to a handful of housewives challenging books and TV across the country!

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great read that shows we’ve always been polarized in the US, and for much of our history there’s been a Koch or two behind the curtain, pulling the strings.

I grew up about 2 miles from a small, unassuming John Birch Society billboard. I’m glad I had no idea what that was until I was older. This book points out that one side of the culture wars has been recycling ideas from the John Birch playbook for decades. People are still falling for it.

A large part of the book talks about events I lived through. There were some names I had forgotten-- Lyndon LaRouche, Michael Medved-- and many I wish I could forget.

Turns out vaudeville comedians did not cause the fall of Western civilization. Neither did Elvis’s hips, allowing black and white people to casually touch each other on variety shows, putting gay characters in sitcoms, the lyrics of Eighties music, or even-- gasp-- The Simpsons. “Don’t have a cow, man,” is truly a slogan for the ages.

Judging from my social media feeds and news coverage, no one has learned a thing from history, and outrage is still… all the rage.

[J.J. Lair · Rating 3 out of 5]

A history of banned books, songs and movies. Naturally, I went to the Internet to find these examples. He doesn’t get into exact words or comedy bits that got banned but he explains it. I’m hooked on finding Stan Freberg.
There isn’t a author’s analysis of this situation. It is clear that moralists hucksters, far right players and politicians are the ones censoring artists.
It does get into the times when stand up comedians insulted a particular group whether ethnic or social. He says they got flack but doesn’t say it ruined careers. Most of the time, there was backlash but Eddie Murphy survived it. Richard Pryor still had a career.
It was sad to read as older comedians of the 1940-1960s called new comedians trash or foul. Not because of trash but because you knew their time passed and they weren’t happy about it.