Hi, I'm Matt Bobola from Moyock, North Carolina.

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Live on tape from my house in Los Angeles, I'm Jesse Thorn,

and this is the Sound of Young America from MaximumFund.org.

It's the Sound of Young America, I'm Jesse Thorn America's radio sweetheart.

My guest on the program is Richard Zogglin, his new book is

Comedy at the Edge, How Stand Up in the 1970s changed America.

It's the story of how comedy went essentially from Bill Cosby and Bob

new heart to the comedy boom of the 1980s and what the various

turning points and key figures in the intervening period were.

Richard, welcome to the Sound of Young America.

Great to be with you.

So you choose as the beginning point of your book,

The End of Lenny Bruce.

Why did you choose that to start?

Yeah, I really, after listening to a lot of Lenny Bruce,

Lenny Bruce was someone I had listened to over the years,

but never thought that much of really.

He just didn't see how you listened to it.

...