The World

1970s comedy

Author Richard Zoglin talks to Faith about his new book Comedy at the Edge, which describes the stand-up comedy revolution that took place in the 1970s.

Back in the ’70s, innovative, iconoclastic comedians such as George Carlin, Richard Pryor, Andy Kaufman, and Steve Martin rebelled against audience expectations and made stand-up comedy a vital, highly influential part of the cultural landscape. Richard Zoglin is a senior editor at Time magazine whose new book Comedy At The Edge tells the story of this sea change in American humor.