A funny time to be gay /

Stand-up comedian and writer Karvoski points out that the proliferation of gay and lesbian comedy on cable‘and occasionally broadcast‘television and at comedy clubs is an important development in the entertainment industry. His goal here is to document this development, though his enjoyable compilation is more a selective overview than a thorough documentation (e.g., why isn't Lea Delaria included?). He serves up very brief interviews with 32 openly gay and lesbian comics to accompany longer examples of their material. Some of the pieces are hysterical and very biting, but many of the routines fall flat on the printed page. The book is well organized by place and time, covering the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, mostly from the obvious locales of San Francisco and New York, and contact and booking information for selected comedians is provided. A good complement to Growing Up Gay (Hyperion, 1995) and Out, Loud and Laughing (Anchor, 1995), both of which include only contemporary works, this book will benefit curious readers and those without cable television or comedy club access. For public libraries with popular gay and lesbian collections.‘Christopher Lee Cochran, Acad. for Educational Development Lib., Washington, D.C. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.