untitled

9 guide Dd-dd Month 2015

o

e

k

his was the most

important era in

standup comedy;

this is when it all changed,”

says Michael Aguilar,

executive producer of Sky

Atlantic’s high-profile new US

import, I’m Dying Up Here.

“This is when comedy went

from setup-punchline jokes

to storytelling, to therapy, to

creating characters.”

The era was the early

1970s, and the standup scene

was Los Angeles, where the

careers of many soon-to-be

comedy superstars, including

Richard Pryor, Steve Martin,

David Letterman and Robin

Williams, were just being

launched. “In 1973, when

[Johnny] Carson moved The

Tonight Show from New

York to LA, that became the

scene,” continues Aguilar. “It

moved from the east coast to

the west coast, and these guys

were suddenly

the kings of the

Sunset Strip.”

Which is

not to say that

those making

their first forays on

to the spotlit stage enjoyed

overnight success. Certain

of the struggles portrayed

in the comedy-drama

series come straight from

the annals of producer

Jim Carrey, who optioned

William Knoedelseder’s

2010 bestselling book

on the period – also

called I’m Dying Up

Here – on which the

show is based.

“I lived in a

closet when I first

came to LA,” he

confessed at a

Seriously funny

Richard Pryor

(below) in 1977,

the era depicted in

I’m Dying Up Here

‘T