Hoboken Comedy

by John Langsdorf, Mark Rogers (Foreword)

"Some of us reach the end of the line and stay there.Others just fall and keep falling—no more line and no more end.The eternal tailspin."John Langsdorf John Langsdorf once told me, “If ever I can do anything for you—just ask. I won’t be able to do it of course, but no harm asking.”We met in the early 80s when Hoboken was transforming from an On the Waterfront hardscrabble town into a crepes and craft beer mediocrity. This transitional period was an exciting time—socializing was done in shot and a beer taverns, on the street, and in railroad flats cheap enough that artists, writers, and musicians could easily get by working a part-time job.John immediately knocked me out as an authentic talent. He had piles of first-rate manuscript—much of it autobiographical, squarely in the Henry Miller, Charles Bukowski tradition, where a scrape could be turned into a story. John was hooked on Valium, drank MeisterBrau by the case, and—as long as he had the cash or could promote a few bucks from a friend—was never without a pack of Newports. John was also agoraphobic making steady work impossible. A few days here and there were all he could manage.Even when John was homeless and near broke he was renting a typewriter at the Hoboken Public Library—50 cents an hour—still getting the word down.

117 pages, Paperback

Published October 17, 2019