Also of interest ... in the comedy trade

And Here’s the Kicker

by Mike Sacks

(Writer’s Digest, $18)

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This is a book “that needed to happen,” said Christopher Borrelli in the Chicago Tribune. A collection of interviews with great comedy writers, from the famous to the under­appreciated, it provides “fascinating evidence” that to be truly funny requires a “deeply pessimistic” outlook. The author might have more aggressively pushed such subjects as David Sedaris or Simpsons writer George Meyer to reveal the source of this melancholy. But hearing their workaday concerns is compelling, too, and the subjects are nothing if not candid.

Second City Unscripted

by Mike Thomas

(Villard, $26)

This “highly readable” oral history won’t teach you why the comedy so often works at Chicago’s famed Second City theater, said Jack Helbig in Booklist. But author Mike Thomas “has a flair for fashioning celebrity portraits from disparate sound bites,” and he’s created a “fast, easy” overview of the outfit that for half a century has been launching such luminaries as Joan Rivers, John Belushi, and Bill Murray. Too bad he couldn’t convince Murray to actually participate.

I Shudder

by Paul Rudnick

(Harper, $24)

Skip the stories about Paul Rudnick’s Jewish family, said Linda Winer in Newsday. This “lovable and astute” collection of essays from the New Jersey–born playwright and screenwriter is best when delivering juicy stories about Hollywood or delving into the “deeply intimate and personal diary” of a fictional New York perfectionist named Elyot Vionnet. A “stupendously amusing” creation, Vionnet has “a highly developed sense of right and wrong.” You’ll enjoy all five of his extended screeds, even if some hit close to home.

I’m Dying Up Here

by William Knoedelseder

(Public Affairs, $25)

William Knoedelseder’s new book about a crucial 1979 West Coast comedians’ strike is “full of dishy, I-was-there detail,” said Stephen Reiss in The Washington Post. But the former Los Angeles Times reporter is “so besotted” with the front-row view he had of Jay Leno, David Letterman, and a handful of other big-name picketers that he loses perspective. His story’s cardboard villain, club owner Mitzi Shore, should have been his most compelling character.