ORAL HISTORY VIDEOS

Currently, we have the following excerpts available:

Shelley Berman discusses the importance of the role of the comedian in history.

Lewis Black explains why it is possible to teach a course on comedy.

Bill Dana demonstrates the origin of a character he wrote for Don Adams.

Phyllis Diller talks about why a joke is funny.

Larry Gelbart ponders why his show M*A*S*H dealt with heavy issues but was still able to be funny.

Dick Gregory talks about how to turn a negative into something humorous, and how comedians need to have respect for their audience.

Norman Lear demonstrates one of the most important lessons to learn about delivering a comedic line.

Bill Persky discusses how comedy reveals something deeper about who we are as people.

Tom Poston gives advice on how to develop a comedy act.

Howard Storm tells the old vaudeville joke “You got Twenty..”

Jonathan Winters talks about teasing people with one of his many characters, Leland Buckhorn.

For transcripts of the entire interviews for these and other comedians, go to Transcripts. For information concerning material that is currently available for viewing at the Archives, including the entire video interviews, please contact the archivist.