"Comedy at the Edge: How Stand-Up in the 1970s Changed America," is a book by Richard Zoglin and he uses it to show how a wave of artistic innovation grew and how it continues to influence American comedy even during this 21st century. The 1970s in America was a period of stand-up comedy which he describes as a process of rupture, experimentation, and reintegration into mainstream society. His main aim is to show how stand-up comedy had been absorbed into mass culture. His book offers some fun surprises as well as insights into the stand-up period which is considered to be a very important period but which most people overlook or take for granted given its ability to influence the comic sensibilities in the United States and beyond. The main chapters of Zoglin's book serve to chronicle the competition between new comedy clubs that sprang during the 1970s America. During this time there was a small group of brilliant and iconoclastic comedians who travelled through the country and became big rock stars (Zoglin 166). These comedians were led by other comedians such as Richard Pryor, George Carlin, and Robert Klein. These comedians presented a new way to do comedy and this was by making fun of the evil things that were happening in the society like the hypocrisy with the people and through this more themes were brought into light. .
Adam Kotsko, on the other hand, is the author of "Awkwardness," and he serves to show the philosophical and historical approaches to one of the most notable features of comedy today which is "awkwardness." Kotsko makes a very convincing case where he shows that the role of awkwardness of comedy is not simply a matter of playing upon the familiarity of everyday awkwardness. He explains that there are two kinds of awkwardness the first one being awkwardness resulting from the violation of a social norm and the second one being awkwardness resulting from the absence of a social norm (Kotsko 16).
