Show People: Profiles in Entertainment

by Kenneth Tynan

Essays on Ralph Richardson, Tom Stoppard, Johnny Carson, Mel Brooks and Louise Brooks. Kenneth Peacock Tynan (1927-1980) was an English theater critic and writer. He partially wrote "Oh! Calcutta!", which debuted in 1969 and became one of the most successful theater hits of all time.

317 pages, Hardcover

First published February 1, 1980

Reviews

[Leta]

I read this one for two reasons: I like reading biographical material about theater people and because I was doing a show that featured Kenneth Tynan as a character, which made the book doubly rewarding.

Tynan's writing is as sharp, clear, and illuminating as the character in "Orson's Shadow" would lead us to expect and the subjects chosen from the profiles he's written for the New Yorker (stage-actor Sir Ralph Richardson, playwright Tom Stoppard, television talk-show host Johnny Carson, screen writer and director Mel Brooks, and film actress Louise Brooks) present an interesting cross section of entertainment. Each is well-known (well, except probably for Miss Brooks at this point) and yet each is largely unknown past their persona. Johnny Carson, particularly, preferred to present a mirror rather than a window to his audience, I think.

At a little over 300 pages, these are fairly long profiles and if I sometimes flipped ahead to see when the next would start that should say more of this reader than of the author.

[Louis]

I first read this in my 20s, and have read it a couple times since, including in 2025. Great writing about very interesting people, although I assume you have to be of a certain age.