Laughing in the dark

by Laurie Stone

In this entertaining survey of the last ten years in comedy, Stone covers the new generation of daring and thoughtful comedians and performers - innovators with fresh outlooks and unmuzzled voices. Stone lends critical attention to stand-up, honoring the craft and guts required for the solo stroll. Here is the entire comic circus under one tent: iconoclasts and political provocateurs, soloists and troupes, and TV top dogs. Richard Pryor, Whoopi Goldberg, Eric Bogosian, Holly Hughes, Spalding Gray, Rosie O'Donnell, Tracey Ullman, Richard Lewis, Penn & Teller, Leno and Letterman are included - but so are the brightest, lesser-known artists. Stone especially champions boundary bashers: comics on the social margins who juice language and goose social taboos.