Don’t applaud. Either laugh or don’t. (At the Comedy Cellar.)
Overview
This is a book about three things:
1. A room called the Comedy Cellar.
2. Who gets to speak in that room.
3. What they get to say.
The Comedy Cellar is a tiny basement club in New York’s Greenwich Village. Run according to the principles of its owners, the Dworman family, it became a safe place for stand-ups to take risks and experiment. Superstar comedians such as Amy Schumer, Dave Chappelle, Jon Stewart, and Louis CK became regulars, celebrities started to hang out, the club hosted debates, and everyone was encouraged to argue at its back table. Then the Comedy Cellar ended up on the frontline of the global culture war.
Andrew Hankinson speaks to the Cellar’s owner, comedians, and audience members, using interviews, emails, podcasts, letters, text messages, and previously private documents to create a conversation about who gets to speak and what they get to say, and why. Moving backwards in time from Louis CK’s downfall to when Manny Dworman used to host folk singers including Bob Dylan, this is about a comedy club, but it’s also about the widening cultural chasm.
Details
- Format
- Size
- Extent
- ISBN
- RRP
- Pub date
- Rights held
- Other rights
- Paperback
- 210mm x 148mm
- 400 pages
- 9781911617686
- GBP£14.99
- 27 August 2020
- World English + translation
- Toby Mundy Associates
Praise
‘For all those interested in comedy, free speech and how they do those things in New York, Andrew Hankinson’s Don’t applaud. Either laugh or don’t is really excellent, and has made me immediately want to read his other book.’
‘This book is fucking fantastic … Honestly one that was nearly impossible to stop reading.’
About the Author
Andrew Hankinson is a journalist who was born, raised, and lives in Newcastle upon Tyne, northern England. He started his career at Arena magazine and is now a freelance feature writer who has contributed to publications including GQ, The Observer, The Guardian, and Wired. His first book, You Could Do Something Amazing With Your Life [You Are Raoul Moat], won the CWA Non-Fiction Prize in 2016.
