Going Too Far

Rating:
Summary: A fascinating history of 20th century humor from Sahl to SNL
Review: A fascinating, well-written and funny overview of what the author calls "Boomer Humor." Hendra traces this phenomenon from Mort Sahl to the "National Lampoon" and "Saturday Night Live," (you may be surprised at his iconoclastic assessment of the latter). The book is exhaustive in its detail; if you want to read about Sahl, Lenny Bruce, The Committee, or the National Lampoon (he was an editor in its heyday), there is no better source than this book.

Rating:
Summary: WARNING: Another Boomer Narcissist Shows Us His Spleen.
Review: GOING TOO FAR is a haphazard and poorly edited attempt to stuff three books into one. Author Tony Hendra should have started out with attempt to explain just how countercultural "Boomer" humor came about, but aside from rare and banal observations (e.g., "(C)omics got their start in a network of jazz clubs..."), his "explanation" of the phenomenon is really an unrelieved rant about the Post WWII military-industrial complex and blandness of American mass-culture. The fascinating story of how the military, "multiveristies", and the FCC tried to blandize American society (for reasons of "national security") is not one you will read in this book, as all Hendra does is snarl.

The First Book of uninformed social commentary flows into a Second Book of short biographical sketches of various comic minds. There are some very funny bits here only because Hendra quotes at length brilliant humorists such as Mort Sahl, Bob Newhart, and Dick Gregory. It is good that there is so much quotation because with the exception of the chapter on Sahl, and an interesting story of the Smother's Brothers battle with Cold War censorship, there is no sense of the times or the flavor of the comic styles. The chapter on the history of the Second City school of improvisation just gives names and dates, so only those already familiar with the Second City style would understand what Hendra is talking about.

The entire book is riddled with factual errors. Hendra's incompetence as a historian of humor is most clearly shown by his stupid one paragraph write off of the inventive surrealist troupe The Firesign Theatre. Hendra wrongly categorizes TFT as "drug humor"; Hendra just confused TFT with Cheech and Chong. (Since Hendra did not offer an insightful view of the Cold War, it would be instructive to listen to the Firesign's classic--and drug-reference free--commentary on Cold War media, the album DON'T CRUSH THAT DWARF, HAND ME THE PLIERS.)

Eventually the Second Book of history peters out into a pathetic and very long memoir of Hendra's time at the NATIONAL LAMPOON. Over a third of this tome is an example of a major Boomer trait: SELF-ABSORPTION. We are treated to a laundry list of every issue of the LAMPOON that Hendra was involved in. Hendra ignores major comic figures to dwell on his unimportant friends. He expresses envy toward his more successful contemporaries (such as Lorne Michaels and PJ O'Rourke) and and then tries to excuse his raving by accusing his brethren of not being "progressive" enough. After a couple of hundred pages of snarling at religion we are eventully told of his personal falling out with religion--"the Personal is the Political" indeed! Hendra discusses his personal drug use and goes into a tortured blow by blow account of his acts of adultery. A typical Boomer narcissist, Hendra admits that he ignored his family, and evaluates the the story of his infidelity with "And it must have been fun for my wife." As low as all that is, Hendra hits rock bottom when he tries to drum up excuses for his passing a Monty Python routine off as his own. Apparently his early '70s act of plagiarism was still hurting his career in 1987 when he published GOING TOO FAR, as it should. Hendra would have us believe that he is not a plagiarist, but a victim of circumstance--yet another Boomer trait.

In short, GOING TOO FAR is a pathetic manuscript of a hack comic writer. Apparently the publisher did not assign an editor to this 400+ page monstrosity.

Rating:
Summary: VERY INTERESTING, BUT...
Review: The premise is that "boomer humor" equals getting a laugh while prodding the sacred cows of post-WW2 America.

Along with scattered remarks about other humorists/comedians, Hendra tracks a progression from Saul to Bruce to Second City and the Committee to R. Crumb to the National Lampoon to Saturday Night Live, where he says "boomer humor" becomes co-opted, loses its vitality, and dies. The analysis is very good, his writing is clear and clever, and there are plenty of reprinted examples.

But Hendra gets long-winded and defensive when covering his involvement with the Lampoon and "Lemmings". We get far too many pages about his interpersonal dealings with his associates ("I did not steal O'Donohue's girlfriend", "I did not introduce Belushi to coke", "I did not rip-off Monty Python"), while dozens of great artists are ignored in this 454 page book. Aside from the denial, for example, you get nothing else about Monty Python.

It's an entertaining and informative read, but a very subjective and narrow treatment, given its length. Nevertheless, if you're interested in the subject, it's worth your time.

Rating:
Summary: not far enough
Review: The premise is that "boomer humor" equals getting a laugh while prodding the sacred cows of post-WW2 America. Along with scattered remarks about other humorists/comedians, Hendra tracks a progression from Saul to Bruce to Second City and the Committee to R. Crumb to the National Lampoon to Saturday Night Live, where he says "boomer humor" becomes co-opted, loses its vitality, and dies. The analysis is very good, his writing is clear and clever, and there are plenty of reprinted examples.

But Hendra gets long-winded and defensive when covering his involvement with the Lampoon and "Lemmings". We get far too many pages about his interpersonal dealings with his associates ...,("I did not steal O'Donohue's girlfriend", "I did not introduce Belushi to coke", "I did not rip-off Monty Python") while dozens of great artists are ignored in this 454 page book. Aside from the denial, for example, you get nothing else about Monty Python.

It's an entertaining and informative read, but a very subjective and narrow treatment, given its length. Nevertheless, if you're interested in the subject, it's worth your time.

Rating:
Summary: not far enough
Review: The premise is that "boomer humor" equals getting a laugh while prodding the sacred cows of post-WW2 America.

Along with scattered remarks about other humorists/comedians, Hendra tracks a progression from Saul to Bruce to Second City and the Committee to R. Crumb to the National Lampoon to Saturday Night Live, where he says "boomer humor" becomes co-opted, loses its vitality, and dies. The analysis is very good, his writing is clear and clever, and there are plenty of reprinted examples.

But Hendra gets long-winded and defensive when covering his involvement with the Lampoon and "Lemmings". We get far too many pages about his interpersonal dealings with his associates ("I did not steal O'Donohue's girlfriend", "I did not introduce Belushi to coke", "I did not rip-off Monty Python"), while dozens of great artists are ignored in this 454 page book. Aside from the denial, for example, you get nothing else about Monty Python.

It's an entertaining and informative read, but a very subjective and narrow treatment, given its length. Nevertheless, if you're interested in the subject, it's worth your time.

Rating:
Summary: VERY INTERESTING, BUT...
Review: The premise is that "boomer humor" equals getting a laugh while prodding the sacred cows of post-WW2 America.

Along with scattered remarks about other humorists/comedians, Hendra tracks a progression from Saul to Bruce to Second City and the Committee to R. Crumb to the National Lampoon to Saturday Night Live, where he says "boomer humor" becomes co-opted, loses its vitality, and dies. The analysis is very good, his writing is clear and clever, and there are plenty of reprinted examples.

But Hendra gets long-winded and defensive when covering his involvement with the Lampoon and "Lemmings". We get far too many pages about his interpersonal dealings with his associates ("I did not steal O'Donohue's girlfriend", "I did not introduce Belushi to coke", "I did not rip-off Monty Python"), while dozens of great artists are ignored in this 454 page book. Aside from the denial, for example, you get nothing else about Monty Python.

It's an entertaining and informative read, but a very subjective and narrow treatment, given its length. Nevertheless, if you're interested in the subject, it's worth your time.

Rating:
Summary: Informative, egotistical, overblown...
Review: Yes, the contradictions in the review title describe the way Tony Hendra chose to do his "history" of Boomer humor, which he tracks down from Mort Sahl through Second City, Nichols and May, Lenny Bruce, right up to the National Lampoon and SNL. Witty, welldone, but also reaching in many respects, this is a good primer on the way humor came to shape national consciousness in the Fifties and beyond.

I picked up Hendra's tome for the Lampoon memoir alone (having aspirations of getting published on the web version myself) and hadn't really intended to read the first section dealing with the Fifties and so on. But I decided to do so anyway, and found it to be very interesting and essential to setting up Hendra's own time at National Lampoon.

There are problems I have with the book, starting with the bitching about pretty much everything P.J. O'Rourke did at the Lamp. Hendra, writing this in '87, might very well be telling the truth about his feelings towards the more successful O'Rourke, but it comes off as petty in the book. Hendra is not himself totally without fault. As a previous reviewer points out, Hendra's vehement denials and so forth seem to serve the opposite purpose of giving lie to his statements.

I came away from this book liking Hendra in spite of his more self-absorbed writings. In contrast to the same reviewer whom I cited earlier, I found the descriptions of the various issues of Lampoon to be fascinating (I wish I knew of a store in my area that sold old issues, just so I could see for myself). Also, the portraits that emerge of Hendra's collegues (Doug Kenney, O'Donaghue, Henry Beard, Bruce McCall, Chris Miller and even P.J. O'Rourke to an extent) show them for all their faults to be the best writers at that time for the Lampoon.

All in all, I'd recommend this to anyone interested in the arc of Boomer humor, or just postwar comedy in general. The railing Hendra does against TV should also be of interest to social historians, because it justifies attacks on television as being artifical (contrary to reality shows' bread and butter), and narcotic in its effects. The brief time spent on SNL was illuminating because it revealed what I felt all along: Lorne Michaels is a phony.

True, some will argue that Hendra's speil against Michaels and others is part of some bitterness over not being as successful as his peers. That certainly tempers the book for an informed reader, but it shouldn't distract from the fact that, while associated with the Lampoon, Hendra did some very good work that shouldn't be forgotten or tossed aside. Also, his is the only real "history" of the Lampoon that I would trust for an introduction.

So get this book if you want to learn the real meanings behind Animal House, the story of great writers like Kenney, Beard, et. al, and the contributions of Bruce and Sahl and so many others. A more expansive volume covering the period would be desired, but so far this is the best that's out there. I enjoyed it, and I hope future readers of the book will too. (Fans of Reagan might not like it, but tough luck)

"Nothing is over until we say it is!"

Rating:
Summary: Informative, egotistical, overblown...
Review: Yes, the contradictions in the review title describe the way Tony Hendra chose to do his "history" of Boomer humor, which he tracks down from Mort Sahl through Second City, Nichols and May, Lenny Bruce, right up to the National Lampoon and SNL. Witty, welldone, but also reaching in many respects, this is a good primer on the way humor came to shape national consciousness in the Fifties and beyond.

I picked up Hendra's tome for the Lampoon memoir alone (having aspirations of getting published on the web version myself) and hadn't really intended to read the first section dealing with the Fifties and so on. But I decided to do so anyway, and found it to be very interesting and essential to setting up Hendra's own time at National Lampoon.

There are problems I have with the book, starting with the bitching about pretty much everything P.J. O'Rourke did at the Lamp. Hendra, writing this in '87, might very well be telling the truth about his feelings towards the more successful O'Rourke, but it comes off as petty in the book. Hendra is not himself totally without fault. As a previous reviewer points out, Hendra's vehement denials and so forth seem to serve the opposite purpose of giving lie to his statements.

I came away from this book liking Hendra in spite of his more self-absorbed writings. In contrast to the same reviewer whom I cited earlier, I found the descriptions of the various issues of Lampoon to be fascinating (I wish I knew of a store in my area that sold old issues, just so I could see for myself). Also, the portraits that emerge of Hendra's collegues (Doug Kenney, O'Donaghue, Henry Beard, Bruce McCall, Chris Miller and even P.J. O'Rourke to an extent) show them for all their faults to be the best writers at that time for the Lampoon.

All in all, I'd recommend this to anyone interested in the arc of Boomer humor, or just postwar comedy in general. The railing Hendra does against TV should also be of interest to social historians, because it justifies attacks on television as being artifical (contrary to reality shows' bread and butter), and narcotic in its effects. The brief time spent on SNL was illuminating because it revealed what I felt all along: Lorne Michaels is a phony.

True, some will argue that Hendra's speil against Michaels and others is part of some bitterness over not being as successful as his peers. That certainly tempers the book for an informed reader, but it shouldn't distract from the fact that, while associated with the Lampoon, Hendra did some very good work that shouldn't be forgotten or tossed aside. Also, his is the only real "history" of the Lampoon that I would trust for an introduction.

So get this book if you want to learn the real meanings behind Animal House, the story of great writers like Kenney, Beard, et. al, and the contributions of Bruce and Sahl and so many others. A more expansive volume covering the period would be desired, but so far this is the best that's out there. I enjoyed it, and I hope future readers of the book will too. (Fans of Reagan might not like it, but tough luck)

"Nothing is over until we say it is!"