I Killed True Stories of the Road from America's Top Comics

Some of the funniest - and most outrageous - stories a comedian has don't get told onstage. They're passed around after hours and derive from the bizarre intersection of travel, intoxicants and the colorful characters on the fringes of the comedy world. (A little poverty can't hurt - the best stories from "top comics" often come from the early days.) In this collection, Ron Shock tells of being goaded by outlaw comic Bill Hicks into dropping acid before a show, infuriating the audience and escaping just in time. Jay Leno recounts how he accidentally left a groupie tied to her bed overnight - and she loved it. Black comic Alonzo Bodden recalls ripping into a redneck from the stage and having audience members tell him later that his target ran the local Klan. Shydner, early in his career, performed regularly at a variety of bars around Washington, D.C., and found himself opening for a riled-up audience eager to see the Ramones. He suffered through a "beer shower," and one of the Ramones thought that was his act: human beer sponge. Jerry Seinfeld, in his foreword, calls comedy "one of the Great Jobs"; this volume makes for excellent bathroom reading - and that's a compliment.

Ritch Shydner did everything he was told to be to become a star: appearances on all the talk shows, his own sitcom pilot, roles on hit sitcoms, HBO specials, and movie roles. He's written for numerous TV shows, including Roseanne, The Jeff Foxworthy Show, Becker, Titus, and Mind of the Married Man and was a co-executive producer of the WB's Blue Collar TV. Shydner is the author of Kicking Through the Ashes: My Life as a Stand-up in the 1980s Comedy Boom. He is also the coauthor of a book on stand-up, I Killed. In the '80s, he made numerous TV appearances, including on Late Night with David Letterman and The Tonight Show with both Johnny Carson and Jay Leno.

Mark Schiff is a stand-up comedian, actor, and the coauthor of a book on stand-up, I Killed. Jerry Seinfeld says that "Mark Schiff is one of the funniest, the brightest, the best stage comics I have ever seen." As a comedian, Schiff has been a headlining in all the major clubs and casinos across the United States for over 20 years. He has written for Mad About You, Roseanne, and Blue Collar TV, and is the author of four critically acclaimed plays.