It's been a few years since I first read Funnymen by Ted Heller (it was published in 2002). I read so many books, and my memory is shot anyway, so it was time to give it another go (Heller is also the author of one of my all-time favorite comic novels, Slab Rat.) The "funnymen" of the novel are the fictional comedy duo of Fountain & Bliss, loosely based on the legendary team of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. The narrative is unique, set up documentary style, as if Heller himself had interviewed all the major and minor characters of the Fountain & Bliss world. All of these characters (and boy are they characters!) tell of the meeting, union, and rise of the loony comedian (Bliss) and the girl-chasing crooner (Fountain), from the Catskills in the 1940s, to Hollywood of the 1960s, and beyond—past their eventual breakup, and into old age. Each character tells his/her version of events in a unique, identifiable voice, which I know (as a writer) is a hard trick to pull off. The storytelling in Funnymen is engaging, spot-on, satisfying, exhausting, and more importantly—funny. When the laughs come (and there are plenty of them), it's because you as the reader know the characters so intimately, that you get the joke on every level, as if you are laughing at a long-time friend or family member.Looking forward to more from Mr. Heller.
I've had this library book since mid-February. Since it is not a new release and nobody has requested it, I've been allowed to renew it 5 or 6 times. Now the library is cutting me off and I have to return it. Somehow Funnymen seemed interesting enough that I kept thinking I would finish it. Although it is fiction, the story is told like an oral history by friends and relatives of a couple comedians. Each "interview" is short, often just half a page. The next "interview" may or may not have anything to do with the the one you just read. Eventually they do form a whole story which is kind of clever, but also very easy to put down. The characters are not likable and don't live in a world I know so it was hard to care about them. I did skip to the end to see what happened. (view spoiler)[ The two main characters lived to be sad old men. Then they died. (hide spoiler)]
