Dead Funny

by Terry Johnson

In spite of my desperation I have been patient, in spite of my bewilderment I have been understanding, in spite of my feeling of utter abandonment ... I've been hanging on in there. Trying to help you come through this terrible thing.

While Eleanor wants a child, her willing partner, Richard, is too busy running the Dead Funny Society.

But in a week when British comedy heroes Frankie Howard and Benny Hill both kick the bucket,...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1350032255
• ISBN13: 9781350032255
• Release Date: October 2016
• Publisher: Methuen Drama
• Length: 112 Pages
• Weight: 0.26 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.2" x 5.1" x 7.8"

Customer Reviews

FUN AND GAMES

Terry Johnson is one of the finest playwrights working today. If he is not as well known in the USA as he is in his native England, it is just that his plays have not travelled to Broadway where, I believe, they would be instant "new classics."DEAD FUNNY is a brilliant dissection of two rotting marriages, friends who come together in the fan club they've created for the British "low" comedians who create laughter by pretending to be silly, sex-starved clowns. Perhaps the American equivalent would be Rodney Dangerfield, Lou Costello, Red Skelton or today's Adam Sandler...not the brainy, quick-witted stand-ups like Seinfeld or Joy Behar.It's a memorial service for Benny Hill which provides the setting for DEAD FUNNY. The hosts, Eleanor and Richard, a 30-something husband and wife who have long ago substituted excoriating wit for affection and their friends, Lisa and Nick, who seemingly have a happy, fulfilled family life, joined by their older, buffoonish friend, Brian for an evening of fun and games.This is a terribly funny, sad, bitter, hysterical, shocking play which deserves as big an audience in this country as it had in London during its long and very successful run. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.