The Last Laugh is a sharp, wisecracking novel of show business, newsroom hustle, and the fine line between being part of the joke—and becoming the punchline.
It’s the mid-1950s, the dawn of television. Hollywood reporter Sam Prior thinks his job is simple: review shows, file copy, keep out of trouble. But then he’s assigned a story on Carl Anda, America’s top comic and its most impossible personality. Anda’s ego, tantrums, and ravenous need for attention pull Sam into the frantic backstage bedlam of early TV—just as Sam’s own life starts to come apart.
Now Sam has to hold himself together while trapped in the blast radius of Anda’s chaos, deliver the story his editors expect, and somehow keep from losing the few things in his life that still matter.
“A bittersweet novel about the dog-eat-dog world that lurks behind the funny faces on the TV screens.” Birmingham News
“Sophisticated and — don’t let the title fool you — it’s not funny.” Times Picayune
“A light satire on TV comics and news wire services in a style that reminds the reader of Ring Lardner.” Hartford Courant
Charles Einstein /
Historical, Literary Fiction
