Description: The Laugh-Makers is an intensive sociological field study of the drive to become a successful stand-up comic in Canada. Robert Stebbins interviewed fifty-seven practising stand-up comedians and fifteen booking agents, show organizers, personal managers, and club managers and owners. He also observed the performances of approximately 140 amateurs and professionals from Vancouver to Halifax. Televised comedy - especially important in French Canada - and informal discussions with some twenty additional comics were also a valuable component of his research.
Brief description: Robert A. Stebbins is professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Calgary.
Review Quotes: "Stand-up comedy is a new occupation; and this book is, so far as I know, the only contribution to the field! It is also a useful contribution to the sociology of occupations." Anthony Synnott, Department of Sociology, Concordia University. "There is nothing else so meticulously researched in Canada, nor, probably, anywhere else ... the documentation is so good and so unique ... [This] book has the unusual potential of being both an academic book and a popular one." I. Davies, Department of Sociology, York University.