Mike Vance – författare

Stand-Up Stories brings you tales that you will not find anywhere else, all told by someone who made a living headlining clubs across the country for 16 years. It is the ultimate insider''s look backstage. The glimpses into the world of comedy will have you laughing out loud from cover to cover.

The 1980s were the golden age of stand-up comedy, the first time that professional funny people from television came to stages in towns all across America. It was new. The comedy was fresh, and the performers were dedicated both to their art and to having the most fun humanly possible.

The Stand-Up Stories include inside scoop about dozens of famous comedy names including Bill Hicks, Sam Kinison, Jay Leno, Richard Lewis, Garry Shandling, Bob Saget and Dick Gregory.

When 116-year old Rube Wingo reflects back on the start of his life, he remembers a dirt-poor Southern boy who lived baseball and dreamed of future diamond greatness. His positivity landed him in the game all right, but not in the role he envisioned. When happenstance then brings Rube to the Polo Grounds in New York City in 1922, he jumps at the chance for a piece of the big leagues. One of his first assignments is the daunting task of keeping the great Babe Ruth on the straight and narrow.

Outside the confines of rowdy, odiferous locker rooms, Rube and his friends make the world their oyster despite Prohibition and moth-eaten pocketbooks. As he valiantly tries to hang on to his dream job while simultaneously coming to grips with the broad injustice of America, Rube struggles to find his own place beyond the game he loves.

From consummate history storyteller Mike Vance comes a captivating and hysterical romp through an American century of life, love, race and baseball.