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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.