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Wild and Crazy Guys

How the Comedy Mavericks of the '80s Changed Hollywood Forever

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Wild and Crazy Guys

By: Nick de Semlyen
Narrated by: Curtis Armstrong
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About this listen

Wild and Crazy Guys is the larger-than-life story of the much-loved Hollywood comedy stars that ruled the 1980s.

As well as delving behind the scenes of classic movies such as Ghostbusters, Beverly Hills Cop, The Blues Brothers, Trading Places and dozens more, it chronicles the off-screen, larger-than-life antics of Bill Murray, Eddie Murphy, Chevy Chase, Steve Martin, John Candy et al. It’s got drugs, sex, punch-ups, webbed toes and Bill Murray being pushed into a swimming pool by Hunter S Thompson, while tied to a lawn chair.

It’s akin to Peter Biskind’s Easy Riders, Raging Bulls, following the key players through their highs and lows, and their often turbulent relationships with each other. Nick de Semlyen has already interviewed pretty much all the big names for Empire, as well as directors such as Walter Hill, John Landis and Carl Reiner, and is sitting on lots of unseen material.

Taking you on a trip through the tumultuous ’80s, Wild And Crazy Guys explores the friendships, feuds, triumphs and disasters experienced by these iconic funnymen. Based on candid interviews from the stars themselves, as well as those who entered their orbit, it reveals the hidden history behind the most fertile period ever for screen comedy.

 Entertainment & Celebrities Entertainment & Performing Arts Film & TV Performing Arts Celebrity Comedy Entertainment Funny Witty Suspenseful

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If you're a fan of American comedy movies from the Eighties such as Caddyshack, 48 Hours, The Jerk, The Blues Brothers, Ghostbusters, Planes, Trains and Automobiles, Groundhog Day then you'll find a lot to enjoy in this audiobook. If you're a mega-fan, you might be disappointed because you might have heard a lot of the material and anecdotes before. With a focus on specific comics and their movies, a narrative is built out of stories and quotes that you feel you could quite easily find via Google or back issues of Empire or Premier. The trick has been to pull all these together in a neat way, and in a style where I think that this author never directly interviewed any of the key players - but I'm not sure that he didn't. Steve Martin, Eddie Murphy, Bill Murray, Chevy Chase are all liberally cited but, as I say, their comments seem to have been lifted from other interviews. However, if you enjoyed these films and enjoy podcasts like The Rewatchables, you'll find a lot to enjoy here. (For the record though, I never got Saturday Night Live.)

American Movie Comedy

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I was recommended this by a friend and it didn’t disappoint - it was so eye opening to some of my comedy legends and explained a lot about the characters they are along with inside information - a must listen to!

Class act!

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The 1970s and ‘80s saw the rise of movie comedy giants who’d started out on TV, mainly Saturday Night Live. This comprehensive book charts the shifting fortunes of these stars - their successes and flops. There were certainly some turkeys among the hits, better left forgotten… but from Groundhog Day to Ghostbusters there were also classics, and some of the stars crossed over into dramatic acting, perhaps most notably Bill Murray. It was a time of manic creativity, though one or two of the comedy titans paid a heavy price for hell-raising lifestyles, including John Belushi. There were animosities and rivalries. The book reminds us of an era when big-budget, big-screen comedy could top box office charts, and of course it can still do so, but perhaps not as much. The book also reminds us that there are plenty of comic actors around who took up the baton from Murray et al - eg Ben Stiller. But overall film comedy seems pretty moribund these days, by comparison to the ‘70s and ‘80s. Wild and Crazy Guys is the story of an era when stars like Chevy Chase ruled the roost - but it’s perhaps at its most powerful when it examines what went wrong, illustrating that every golden age, supposed or otherwise, has its fair share of tragedy and failure - a necessary by-product of commercial success on this scale. The narration fits the material well - slightly breathless at times and maybe a little OTT, but then so was a lot of the comedy. Recent interviews with some of the big names, and behind-the-scenes revelations about the making of the movies, make this well worth a listen, even if you’re not a disciple of any of these stars. I admired a few of them, and knew quite a lot of the films, but wasn’t an expert on any of them - at least before listening to the book. It should appeal to anyone with an interest in comedy, as opposed just to hardcore fans of this era and these stars. It’s a compulsive listen; towards the end I slightly speeded up the narration to 1.5 and enjoyed it more - it is arguably on the slow side at times, despite the generally animated delivery.

Clash of the comedy Titans

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Quite simply a great collection of tales and trivia, brilliantly interwoven by the author. Charting the SNL key comedy players' movies and events from the 80s through to the mid 90s. Highly recommended.

As potent as a Land Shark...

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I usually read novels but I'm very glad I gave this a whirl! It's extremely well researched but the style is actually quite similar to a novel, giving nuggets of information, quotes, and really interesting context and background that just gives the whole book a depth and texture that really helps understand all these stars from the 80s! It's written with really good pace and intrigue...very funny and at times poignant, but always urging me to see what happens on the next page. I did love all these movies from the 80s but had no idea the stories behind their coming into being or of the personal lives of all the amazing actors. Fully recommended!

Brilliant and eye opening! I loved this book!

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