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Funnymen: A Novel
SIGMUND "ZIGGY" BLISSMAN isn't the best-looking, sanest boy in the world. Far, far from it. But this misfit child of a failed husband-and-wife vaudeville team has one (and only one) thing going for him: He can crack people up merely by batting his eyelashes.
And Vittorio "Vic" Fontana, the son of a fisherman, is a fraud. Barely able to carry a tune or even stay awake while attempting to, the indolent baritone (if that's what he is) has one thing going for him: Women love to look at him.
On their own, they're failures. But on one summer night in the Catskills, they step onstage and together become the funniest men -- and the hottest act -- in America.
Funnymen is the wildly inventive story of Fountain and Bliss, the comedy duo that delighted America in the 1940s and '50s. Conceived as a fictional oral biography and filled with more than seventy memorable characters, Funnymen details the extraordinary careers of two men whose professional success is never matched in their personal lives. The two men fight constantly with their managers, their wives, their children, their mistresses, and those responsible for their success: each other. The stories recounted about Vic and Ziggy -- and the truths Heller reveals about human ambition, egotism, and friendship -- make Funnymen a wild ride of a novel that is also a rare and imaginative masterpiece of storytelling.
And Vittorio "Vic" Fontana, the son of a fisherman, is a fraud. Barely able to carry a tune or even stay awake while attempting to, the indolent baritone (if that's what he is) has one thing going for him: Women love to look at him.
On their own, they're failures. But on one summer night in the Catskills, they step onstage and together become the funniest men -- and the hottest act -- in America.
Funnymen is the wildly inventive story of Fountain and Bliss, the comedy duo that delighted America in the 1940s and '50s. Conceived as a fictional oral biography and filled with more than seventy memorable characters, Funnymen details the extraordinary careers of two men whose professional success is never matched in their personal lives. The two men fight constantly with their managers, their wives, their children, their mistresses, and those responsible for their success: each other. The stories recounted about Vic and Ziggy -- and the truths Heller reveals about human ambition, egotism, and friendship -- make Funnymen a wild ride of a novel that is also a rare and imaginative masterpiece of storytelling.
- GenresFictionLiterary Fiction
416 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 2, 2002
4 people are currently reading
110 people want to read
About the author
Ted Heller
5Ìýbooks38ÌýfollowersHello, Reader.
I am the author of three—no, make that FOUR—novels. They are, in order of appearance: Slab Rat, Funnymen, Pocket Kings, and West of Babylon.
Slab Rat was a dark novel about office politics in the magazine business and how one man (the book's narrator) would sink to any level to succeed. The Washington Post named it one of the year's 10 best books.
Funnymen was a slightly less dark, fictitious "oral biography" about a Martin-and-Lewis-type comedy team. It followed them from cradle to grave. If there's a better novel out there about comedians, I don't know about it.
Pocket Kings, which came out in 2012, was a very, very dark novel about a failed writer who achieves playing online poker the success and glory he sought in the literary world. Thought he makes hundreds of thousands of dollars playing, he still manages to lose everything else.
And now comes West of Babylon. It's not really that dark at all but, compared to Pocket Kings, neither is a black room with no windows, doors, light and air. West of Babylon is about a Long Island-based rock band that's been together for almost forty years. Although their heyday is long gone, they still record and play. They now face their most serious crisis ever, though, as one of the band members is seriously ill.
My agent and I sent out West of Babylon on the heels of the rave reviews for Pocket Kings, but publishers passed on it. I thought that this book was too good to not publish so I am publishing it myself, in electronic format only. There was no way I was going to let this story and these characters die.
I had a lot of fun writing and researching West of Babylon. I listened to music I hadn't listened to for a while and read books about the Rolling Stones, the Band, the Allman Brothers, etc.
I hope you read West of Babylon and really like it.
Thanks
I am the author of three—no, make that FOUR—novels. They are, in order of appearance: Slab Rat, Funnymen, Pocket Kings, and West of Babylon.
Slab Rat was a dark novel about office politics in the magazine business and how one man (the book's narrator) would sink to any level to succeed. The Washington Post named it one of the year's 10 best books.
Funnymen was a slightly less dark, fictitious "oral biography" about a Martin-and-Lewis-type comedy team. It followed them from cradle to grave. If there's a better novel out there about comedians, I don't know about it.
Pocket Kings, which came out in 2012, was a very, very dark novel about a failed writer who achieves playing online poker the success and glory he sought in the literary world. Thought he makes hundreds of thousands of dollars playing, he still manages to lose everything else.
And now comes West of Babylon. It's not really that dark at all but, compared to Pocket Kings, neither is a black room with no windows, doors, light and air. West of Babylon is about a Long Island-based rock band that's been together for almost forty years. Although their heyday is long gone, they still record and play. They now face their most serious crisis ever, though, as one of the band members is seriously ill.
My agent and I sent out West of Babylon on the heels of the rave reviews for Pocket Kings, but publishers passed on it. I thought that this book was too good to not publish so I am publishing it myself, in electronic format only. There was no way I was going to let this story and these characters die.
I had a lot of fun writing and researching West of Babylon. I listened to music I hadn't listened to for a while and read books about the Rolling Stones, the Band, the Allman Brothers, etc.
I hope you read West of Babylon and really like it.
Thanks
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
March 1, 2025
Ted Heller imagines the lives of comedy legends Vic Fountain and Ziggy Bliss—two very different men who come together in the oddest way in the 40s and 50s. Vic is a crooner who grew up in a poor, working family on the Atlantic coast in New York. Ziggy is the son of a vaudevillian couple raised basically on the stage of Loch Sheldrake in the Catskill mountains. Each man breaks their way into the business, fledgling as they go. Vic works with different bands and groups, singing for a living. Ziggy gains stardom as a comedian, making fun of his semi-famous parents and interrupting their show for big laughs. Circumstances bring the two men together, forming a show and hitting stardom. But show business is complicated, and as we know, show business teams like Fountain and Bliss rarely last a lifetime.
Heller brings these larger-than-life characters to life with crazy stories and strange companions. Although this is a book of fiction, and of course, it is because the antics of Fountain and Bliss are unthinkable, it is apparently loosely based on the lives of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis...who appear as characters in the book as well.
I was hot and cold on this one. Sometimes, it was very readable and interesting, and other times it was a bit too much for me...a little too much Hollywood with a bit of smut in there that I could do without. It seemed like the author wanted to show the characters doing the most vilest things a person would do in show biz. Possibly not that far-fetched but...it was an okay book but not riveting.
Heller brings these larger-than-life characters to life with crazy stories and strange companions. Although this is a book of fiction, and of course, it is because the antics of Fountain and Bliss are unthinkable, it is apparently loosely based on the lives of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis...who appear as characters in the book as well.
I was hot and cold on this one. Sometimes, it was very readable and interesting, and other times it was a bit too much for me...a little too much Hollywood with a bit of smut in there that I could do without. It seemed like the author wanted to show the characters doing the most vilest things a person would do in show biz. Possibly not that far-fetched but...it was an okay book but not riveting.
January 14, 2010
It's been a few years since I first read Funnymen by Ted Heller (it was published in 2002). I read so many books, and my memory is shot anyway, so it was time to give it another go (Heller is also the author of one of my all-time favorite comic novels, Slab Rat.)
The "funnymen" of the novel are the fictional comedy duo of Fountain & Bliss, loosely based on the legendary team of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. The narrative is unique, set up documentary style, as if Heller himself had interviewed all the major and minor characters of the Fountain & Bliss world. All of these characters (and boy are they characters!) tell of the meeting, union, and rise of the loony comedian (Bliss) and the girl-chasing crooner (Fountain), from the Catskills in the 1940s, to Hollywood of the 1960s, and beyond—past their eventual breakup, and into old age. Each character tells his/her version of events in a unique, identifiable voice, which I know (as a writer) is a hard trick to pull off.
The storytelling in Funnymen is engaging, spot-on, satisfying, exhausting, and more importantly—funny. When the laughs come (and there are plenty of them), it's because you as the reader know the characters so intimately, that you get the joke on every level, as if you are laughing at a long-time friend or family member.
Looking forward to more from Mr. Heller.
The "funnymen" of the novel are the fictional comedy duo of Fountain & Bliss, loosely based on the legendary team of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. The narrative is unique, set up documentary style, as if Heller himself had interviewed all the major and minor characters of the Fountain & Bliss world. All of these characters (and boy are they characters!) tell of the meeting, union, and rise of the loony comedian (Bliss) and the girl-chasing crooner (Fountain), from the Catskills in the 1940s, to Hollywood of the 1960s, and beyond—past their eventual breakup, and into old age. Each character tells his/her version of events in a unique, identifiable voice, which I know (as a writer) is a hard trick to pull off.
The storytelling in Funnymen is engaging, spot-on, satisfying, exhausting, and more importantly—funny. When the laughs come (and there are plenty of them), it's because you as the reader know the characters so intimately, that you get the joke on every level, as if you are laughing at a long-time friend or family member.
Looking forward to more from Mr. Heller.
May 5, 2012
I've had this library book since mid-February. Since it is not a new release and nobody has requested it, I've been allowed to renew it 5 or 6 times. Now the library is cutting me off and I have to return it. Somehow Funnymen seemed interesting enough that I kept thinking I would finish it. Although it is fiction, the story is told like an oral history by friends and relatives of a couple comedians. Each "interview" is short, often just half a page. The next "interview" may or may not have anything to do with the the one you just read. Eventually they do form a whole story which is kind of clever, but also very easy to put down. The characters are not likable and don't live in a world I know so it was hard to care about them. I did skip to the end to see what happened.
May 17, 2023
It took me 20 years to read this great book. Don’t be an idiot like me. Read it now.
March 10, 2024
Slow, slow start. The two main characters are not particularly likeable, but their antics are funny to read about. It is interesting to read about showbusiness, but the pacing can be very slow.
January 14, 2010
It's been a few years since I first read Funnymen by Ted Heller (it was published in 2002). I read so many books, and my memory is shot anyway, so it was time to give it another go (Heller is also the author of one of my all-time favorite comic novels, Slab Rat.)
The "funnymen" of the novel are the fictional comedy duo of Fountain & Bliss, loosely based on the legendary team of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. The narrative is unique, set up documentary style, as if Heller himself had interviewed all the major and minor characters of the Fountain & Bliss world. All of these characters (and boy are they characters!) tell of the meeting, union, and rise of the loony comedian (Bliss) and the girl-chasing crooner (Fountain), from the Catskills in the 1940s, to Hollywood of the 1960s, and beyond—past their eventual breakup, and into old age. Each character tells his/her version of events in a unique, identifiable voice, which I know (as a writer) is a hard trick to pull off.
The storytelling in Funnymen is engaging, spot-on, satisfying, exhausting, and more importantly—funny. When the laughs come (and there are plenty of them), it's because you as the reader know the characters so intimately, that you get the joke on every level, as if you are laughing at a long-time friend or family member.
Looking forward to more from Mr. Heller.
The "funnymen" of the novel are the fictional comedy duo of Fountain & Bliss, loosely based on the legendary team of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. The narrative is unique, set up documentary style, as if Heller himself had interviewed all the major and minor characters of the Fountain & Bliss world. All of these characters (and boy are they characters!) tell of the meeting, union, and rise of the loony comedian (Bliss) and the girl-chasing crooner (Fountain), from the Catskills in the 1940s, to Hollywood of the 1960s, and beyond—past their eventual breakup, and into old age. Each character tells his/her version of events in a unique, identifiable voice, which I know (as a writer) is a hard trick to pull off.
The storytelling in Funnymen is engaging, spot-on, satisfying, exhausting, and more importantly—funny. When the laughs come (and there are plenty of them), it's because you as the reader know the characters so intimately, that you get the joke on every level, as if you are laughing at a long-time friend or family member.
Looking forward to more from Mr. Heller.
November 15, 2010
This book reminded me a lot of "World War Z" (stay with me for a moment). In that book, Brooks invents and entire zombie war and then re-tells is, fictionally, as a living history or documentary. In "Funnymen", Ted Heller does the same thing in that he invents a classic straight man, funny man act and then invents and entire supporting cast around them to tell their story as if he was the modern interviewer and they were the ones who lived the stories they're telling. I think it's a brilliant device and Heller uses it so well that I kept forgetting that everyone he was talking about wasn't real. I kept getting the urge to look up one of their old acts, stopping myself just as I was reaching for youtube to look them up. Ultimately that's why I liked the book. Every character was believable and fully realized. I felt for their tragedies, I laughed at their foibles and there wasn't a single page in the entire book i wasn't fully invested in.
I liked Heller's first book "Slab Rat" but I -loved- "Funnymen" and would have no problem recommending it to just about anyone.
I liked Heller's first book "Slab Rat" but I -loved- "Funnymen" and would have no problem recommending it to just about anyone.
September 8, 2010
Wow. I've never read a book quite like this. Sort of an interview-magazine piece, as a novel. An absolutely amazing romp of a book, funny and real. I swear I was reading about Martin and Lewis, but better.
August 27, 2008
this was a very funny book and surprisingly sweet at the end. What is so different about it is that the entire book is through interviews from people who knew the two main characters. The interviewees (is that a word?) talk to the author, so it almost seems like they are talking straight to you.
June 28, 2015
F**king hilarious, touchingly reverent while scathing about that particular generation of entertainers caught in the move from the Old Ways to the (then) New (movies, then TV god help them).
November 29, 2016
Hilarious oral history of fictional post war double act
October 23, 2024
"If there's a better novel out there about comedians, I don't know about it", says the author Ted Heller. And do you know what? I don't know of one either.
A fabulous read x
A fabulous read x
October 25, 2011
The author is a friend of mine, so maybe I'm biased. But it's a great, witty read.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
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