Lawrence J. Epstein, Mixed Nuts (+ Author Interview)

In his highly readable book Mixed Nuts, author Lawrence Epstein tracks the history of the comedy team from its origins in minstrel shows through vaudeville, radio, and film to its current incarnation in television sitcoms. Along the way, Epstein discusses a host of old favorites—from Burns and Allen to Laurel and Hardy, Hope and Crosby to Martin and Lewis—as well as teams many readers will probably never have heard of. The book provides brief accounts of the teams' backgrounds and history, sometimes quoting material from their acts (Epstein provides, for example, a version of Abbott and Costello's "Who's on First," which was a pleasure to read) and explaining the teams' appeal given the social milieu of their eras. Gracie Allen's likeable character, for example, a non-threatening woman who maintained her dignity despite her trademark illogic, was "a perfect symbol for women caught between Victorian morality and modern mores." Jackie Gleason's Ralph Kramden, struggling to afford the accoutrements of middle-class life in the post-War period, appealed to an audience that was striving for, or had only recently achieved, similar goals. Comedy teams were affected not only by the historical circumstances of their times, of course, but more specifically by technological change. The advent of radio, free entertainment for the masses, is said to have killed vaudeville, but old vaudeville stars such as Burns and Allen who could adapt to the new medium—whose rate of delivery was right for performance on air, whose humor did not depend on visual cues and appealed to a broad audience—thrived in radio.

Epstein's account of the comedy team is a quick and absorbing read. Though it is the product of a mountain of research, including dozens of interviews (with the likes of Jerry Stiller, Sid Caesar, and Soupy Sales), the book wears its erudition lightly. Mixed Nuts is filled with interesting bits of information, from the poignant—the tragic death of Lou Costello's infant son—to the just plain neat: Homer Simpson owes his "D'oh," for example, to Laurel and Hardy. Most importantly, however, in tracking the development of the comedy team, and in identifying for readers the strands that link current comedy teams—such as Frasier and Niles Crane of the sitcom Frasier—to their comic forebears, Epstein enriches our appreciation of comedians present and past.

Author Interview

Originally posted July 25, 2004.

Lawrence Epstein is a professor of English and the author of The Haunted Smile: The Story of Jewish Comedians in America and Mixed Nuts: America's Love Affair with Comedy Teams From Burns and Allen to Belushi and Aykroyd. He frequently lectures on American popular culture.

1. Tell us a little about your most recent book, Mixed Nuts.

Mixed Nuts is a celebration of comedy teams. I wanted to include the jokes and the routines, but also the sometimes sad stories behind the laughs. All of the major teams are included starting in vaudeville, through radio, films, and television. So, of course, there are Laurel and Hardy, the Marx Brothers, the Three Stooges and so on. But I included some unexpected teams, such as Lucille Ball and Vivian Vance. There was quite a tradition of women teams early on, and I wanted to show a modern example. I ended the book discussing how the teams influenced contemporary comedies such as Friends and Frasier.

2. You interviewed a number of celebrities when researching the book, including Sid Caesar, Steve Allen, and Avery Schreiber. In your acknowledgments, you even mention that you were on stage in Beverly Hills with Jerry Stiller. You must have some good stories to tell about these interviews.

These comedians were very kind. Jerry Stiller provided a wonderful quote for the cover of Mixed Nuts. I interviewed Steve Allen about six months before he died. Somehow I got it in my head that if I could make him laugh, I could write this book. I'm glad to say he was very generous with his laughter. I ended up doing about 150 interviews for my last two books, and I found warm, generous people like Tom Smothers and many other people.

3. Was there anything you learned while researching and writing the book that surprised you?

Of course, the exciting part of research is uncovering what you didn't know and presenting it to readers. I didn't know that Gracie Allen never wore short sleeves. The story is sad. I didn't know the stories behind some of the teams. I certainly hadn't thought before about why some teams were popular for a short while and others for much longer. I was surprised at how much the teams reflected their times. The job of a writer is to capture this excitement and pass it on. That's what I tried to do.

4. Your section on the Road pictures of Bob Hope and Bing Crosby got me thinking about Aristophanes' Frogs, a comedy in which the god Dionysos and his slave Xanthias travel to the Underworld to retrieve a dead tragedian. Hope and Crosby would have made a great, funny adaptation of the Frogs. (Road to Hades?)

I'm not sure they'd have been ready to go to Hades, but there was a final Road picture planned that was never filmed. Hope was supposed to make a film with George Burns called The Road to the Fountain of Youth. Now that would have been a picture.

5. If they were just starting out today, which of the classic teams do you think would be most successful given the current social milieu?

The Marx Brothers and Hope and Crosby because Groucho and Hope did so many one-liners. Today's comedy focuses on the individual while teams emphasized community. Therefore comedians starting out today need to develop a personality.

6. You're an English professor. Who are some of your favorite authors, and how much do you read?

I read incessantly. I get nervous if there's not a book around. I read all kinds of literature. Suspense and mystery fiction is my favorite popular fiction.

7. If you had to pick any single comedian or comedy team to be stranded on a desert island with, who would it be and why?

Abbott and Costello because they could improvise so well. They'd always keep me laughing.

8. Are you working on a new project?

I'm still looking.